Talk about a turnaround — Britney Spears started 2008 barricaded inside her L.A. home with her son while the police and ambulances waited outside.

And now, less than 11 months later, she’s got a hit single, an album ready to drop in two weeks, a 2009 tour in the works, and has just confirmed that she’ll be taking part in one the biggest annual Yuletide tradition: the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree!

Sources close to the pop superstar confirm that on Dec. 3, the day after she turns 27 and her new album, Circus, hits record stores, Britney will be in the Big Apple for the 76th annual tree-lighting extravaganza. What’s still unclear is whether or not she’ll be performing at the ceremony, or just hanging out with host Al Roker for the NBC broadcast of the event.

If Britney does perform, this could be her first live performance of one of her own songs since the 2007 Video Music Awards, where a dazed Brit slouched through a half-hearted production of her single, “Gimme More.”

The recently reformed singer did step out onto stage on Nov. 6, when she made a cameo appearance at Madonna’s concert at L.A.’s Dodgers Stadium. The mother of two and the Material Girl sang a duet of Madge’s hit, “Human Nature.”

To check out the tree-lighting ceremony for yourself, tune into NBC on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. ET.