O, Christmas Tree

Some bad to begin the holiday season, the beloved Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was burned down this Wednesday.

The 79 foot tall Norway spruce tree set a record this year for being the tallest tree in the past four years. This year the tree was decorated with 10,000 bulb ornaments and 100,000 lights which took a team of men 21 hours to assemble.

Those men’s hard work was put to waste however when the man set fire to the beautiful tree. A 49 year old man named Craig Tamanaha was the culprit to this crime. Tamanaha was charged with a list of crimes such as arson, reckless, endangerment, criminal mischief and trespassing.

Fire marshals estimate $500,000 dollars worth of property damage caused by this fire. Luckily no one was injured from this incident.

The strange thing about this whole case is the fact that Tamanaha was freed with no bail. However it is known that this was not a political or a religious statement.

Some good news after this there are plans in the works to find a new tree and decorate that in it’s stead. However it is unclear if the lighting of this tree will broadcasted or not.

This incident will sure to go down in Christmas history and will be talked about for years to come. Partially what will make it talked about is the debate around it.

Some people think that it is a horrible incident that is very anti Christmas. Other people see the humor in it. Some people believe the fact that the FOX Christmas tree was burnt down and it wasn’t politically motivated makes it humorous. Tamanaha has been compared to the Grinch since the Grinch in the movie burnt down the Whoville Christmas tree.

Hopefully Tamanaha’s heart will grow two sizes in the coming year and won’t burn down anymore trees.