It’s easy to be snarky or cynical about holiday schmaltz like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, which will be lit in a ceremony on Wednesday night. But, as TIME’s Richard Corliss pointed out in an essay that appeared in the magazine 20 years ago this month, it’s also easy to get swept away.
That’s because the holiday festivities represent a way to pretend the world is a little bit, well, easier:
In its totality, the visit is a time trip to a prettier New York and a sweeter America. ”When I was little, I used to come with my grandmother,” says Nancy Murray of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, of her annual trip to Radio City. ”I loved it; the show always gave me the Christmas spirit. It still does. And when my son is old enough, I hope he will come with his grandmother.”
The big Christmas tree — like window shopping and productions of The Nutcracker — is a symbol of that fantasy.
Read the full essay here, in the TIME Vault: I Like New York in Yule
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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com