This Christmas story is about the imagination of the many window designers who present the Holidays through New York City store windows.
Both through the glass and bounced off the surface of these windows, this Christmas story is also a reflection of New Yorkers. There is a little magic on both sides of the glass.
New York is a Christmas fairy tale. We even have the occasional miracles on 34th Street. So naturally you would expect a Saks Fifth Avenue Snow White to ask "Vendor, vendor on the street, what's the safest thing to eat?"
It's all called "Once Upon a Time in New York" and "Sleeping Beauty had trouble adjusting to the city that never sleeps."
In this Saks Fifth Ave art deco themed fairy tale "Cinderella fell madly in love with a pair of designer shoes."
And this Little Red Riding Hood is impressed with the size of the apartment where the Big Bad Wolf lives.
The flagship store is directly across the street from the Rockefeller Center Tree and riding the New York City Subway everyone knows that "Rumpelstiltskin was the most feared spin class instructor in all the land."
Macy's on Herald Square deserves the 2014 Science Award for Christmas windows. They take little boys and girls on a trip to the planets. A Holiday surprise for Alex and Dog Bella begins with Santa and a trip to Mercury.
Then it's off to Venus, where Santa keeps a workshop.
Next stop Mars where Olympus Mons is a big rock candy mountain.
Alex and Santa do some space walk racing around Jupiter and Saturn.
Then go watch Neptune and Uranus having a snowball fight.
And finally back down to earth, home for the holidays.
Lord & Taylor usually offers more traditional views. This year's theme is "a journey through the imagination, exploring the whimsical interiors of an enchanted mansion." The mice have taken over at the "Hall of Wisdom."
There's "The Fairytale Garden" that offers fairies and flowers dancing both under and behind the glass. "Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there."
"Christmas Tweetings" has no character limits but Cardinals are wearing assorted winter caps while enjoying beautiful bird houses and seasonal bird cakes.
And then there's "The Heritage Gallery" features posing pets in picture frames. Some of the dogs, cats and one giraffe are moving pictures that bring the portraits of Hogwarts to mind. In the center of it all the mice are opening their Christmas presents.
Most years my personal favorite set of New York Christmas windows, at least since B. Altman's went out of business, has been Bergdorf Goodman. They call it "Holiday Windows" because Christmas can be pretty hard to find most years. I look at it more like an art exhibit with mannequins.
The designer, David Hoey picked "Inspiration" as this year's theme. In the display dedicated to Sculpture the reflection of Central Park can be seen.
There is also Music;
Literature;
Painting;
Architecture;
Film;
Of course Theater;
And last but not least Dance;
For a return to the traditional, back to Macy's, this time the 34th Street side of the store and moving puppets that promise "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
Virginia and company;
I didn't know that Virginia made inquiries at the library.
But we all know the question she asked the newspaper.
And the answer came "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus."
Another favorite of mine and certainly the most innovate of New York City store windows is Barneys. One year they had a Saturday Night Live Christmas. This year, artist credits found here, proscenium arches stretch out into the sidewalk from a steam punk fantasy world. For Love the Boom Box is rockin' Christmas cheer.
There is the owl of Truth who is "all about that bass, bout the bass" moving about and sounding like Carl Castle celebrating while Madonna sings "Holiday."
Even a real live ice skater, representing Freedom while skating from window to window and waving to all.
For Beauty there are these swirling brass contraptions that are meant to show the "Spirits of the Snow Star" but one young lady thought it called for a snake charmer.
And I did get off a pretty decent self portrait there.
So ends my Christmas under glass tour of New York City. Merry Christmas to all from trusted user to troll. Democrat and Republican alike, have a warm and safe Holiday.