From the diaries. The perfect holiday mood post ... and to all a good night. SusanG
Good evening and Merry Christmas to all. This is my second New York Christmas card to the Daily Kos community. If you haven't seen the first, Got a Happy Story? NYBG Holiday Train Show Edition I think both you and your children would enjoy seeing it.
I really don't have much of a clue what Christmas is like in other places in this nation. I travel but I've never been out of town during the holiday season. I'm sure that many of the good things about the season are the same, the giving nature that the season brings on is universal. But I am very fond of the New York sights and sounds. So I'll share a few photos from here.
Of course Rockefeller Center is the most familiar.
But there are a few other things to see in the big city.
I'm going to start off with something that I think is unique to New York and I hope you have time to fill the comment area with Christmas traditions that you find unique to your area.
I'm not going to start off with the New York home owners that get in the news most years for going insane decorating their houses. I have some other New Yorkers in mind. The people who don't have houses to decorate.
For many New Yorkers the only exposure they have to the outside world is a door in a corridor of some building. In the spirit of putting our best face forward and displaying Christmas decorations for all the world to see, many of the hallway doors in New York City are gaily decorated for the holiday season.
The reason I I've been fascinated by this tradition for most of my life is because you can't walk into a store and pick up an apartment house door decorating package. Just like any homeowner creativity comes into play but the canvas is smaller and since neither Home Depot nor Lowe's has any say in the finished product the results seems magic. Every door represents something that seems long gone, a family arts and crafts project. Every door is unique.
Being that these doors are in a common hallway and few geniuses have figured out how to electrify a swinging door there are no lights. The main ingredient of these doors is Scotch tape and it could be as simple as Christmas cards or the children's drawings of Santa taped to the door. Often the entire door is covered with wrapping paper as a base canvas and decorations are added from there. I've sen people go as far as gluing styrofoam blocks to the door, then carving and painting Christmas scenes.
I think that living so close together there was a little competition for the most fully decorated door. The best part was that these common areas that always looked the same for the rest of the year, back in the days that I walked up flights of stairs the long climb was filled with holiday joy.
I don't see as much of this practice in my area anymore but I was visiting a friend and took a photo of his lobby for an example.
And now I get carried away with Christmas photos.
New York like everywhere else in America is a place of extremes. There are some who will celebrate and then sleep in a ritzy Fifth Avenue hotel.
And some will celebrate and sleep on the streets.
You can buy jewelery at a gift wrapped Cartier's.
Or greet a Santa buying some gift wrap outside of Love Cosmetics.
I saw something new this year at Grand Central Station. There is music and a light show in the great hall. There is also a kaleidoscope plasma screen Christmas tree. Both are hypnotizing.
Meanwhile Forty-second Street on the other side of town has no Christmas spirit at all. Outside of the Target advertisement that faces the zipper and A greeting at the Hard Rock Times Square is business as usual.
Not even the Times Square Toys r Us seems to have much Christmas spirit. I guess Times Square is all about Happy New Years but there is still plenty to see elsewhere.
I can't show you my two favorite New York Christmas trees because I didn't get out of the apartment much this year. Hopefully I'll get to both the exhibit of the crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Origami Holiday Tree across the park at the American Museum of Natural History.
New York City is always changing and because Lincoln Center is getting a facelift the fountain and plaza are temporally gone so I can't show my third favorite New York Christmas tree.
But I have old photos of the New York tree that is decorated with Wedgwood.
I was sad to hear that Patience and Fortitude, the lions that guard the books no longer get their annual decoration of a Christmas wreath. They seemed sad too.
Even Bryant Park is a little different.
The Tree has been redecorated and raised up to make room for more concessions.
But once again I have old photos of a very pretty tree.
Even the Radio City toy soldiers that usually get blown down and stand right back up are missing this year.
But the giant ornaments still decorate The Avenue of the Americas.
The Color Guards are still watching over the Rockefeller Center skating rink.
The Angels are still playing their trumpets.
And the kids seem to be having fun.
One of the newer additions to a Manhattan Christmas is The Shops at Columbus Circle. The lower floors of the Time Warner Center is a shopping mall and the simple stars that change colors make for a nice view of the monument and Central Park.
If you walk across Central Park South to the fountain out side of the Plaza Hotel it is filled with Christmas trees this time of year.
And on the first floor of that white building in the background, the one with the Christmas wreaths are the windows of Bergdorf Goodman. that store that is owned by the famous Dallas retailer Meaningless Markup puts on great displays each year and with the reflections of Central Park and skyscrapers I enjoyed photographing their version of the changing seasons.
After on of my fellow Kossacks told em about Holiday Windows 2008 on HGTV I was a bit surprised that many other cities put on great window displays and was more impresses with Bergdorf's parent company than anything in New York.
But I've always loved Christmas windows in New York and Macy's went for a whimsical version of Santa's workshop this year.
There was fun music and a voice over to the street in this fantasy version of Santa's helpers making garland and ornaments. I loved the Tinselator and there was even a crane so children could get involved.
My classic favorite Lord And Taylor's was the warmest and focused on a Classic Christmas. I hope the rumors that Federated is going to close the Lord And Taylor flagship store are false.
Well I hope you enjoyed my holiday photos and there is just one more to show. A walk to Central Park to remember John Lennon and his Christmas message.