All across America, cities and towns and villages light up for the holidays, and the mundane, functional and ordinary are magically transformed. Harsh edges soften, familiar monochrome buildings turn luminous, everything glows, nostalgia sets in.  The traditional sights, sounds and tastes of the season are embracing, triggering memories of Christmas past, of loved ones now gone, of simple pleasures and simpler times. We take our children to experience these comfortable traditions hoping they, too, will catch the feeling and create memories of their own.Whether in big cities or small towns, with the flip of a switch, millions of lights outline trees and buildings, making them appear like glittery lace cutouts of their former selves. Specimen Christmas trees glowing with thousands of lights reach way into the night sky. Store windows transport children of all ages into elaborate winter fantasylands, and inside, endless gift selections piled high are temptingly displayed. Christmas concerts stir the soul; church choirs sing Alleluia in rising voices; Nutcracker performers leap and twirl, fabulously frothed in pink and white. 

New York City is the ultimate urban Christmas experience, and nothing lifts the spirit more than its festive atmosphere and glamorous glitz.  Everyone, New Yorkers walking briskly and visitors gawking in awe, navigate their way through the press of people, ladened with shopping bags in red, green, and gold, embossed with signature names boldy proclaiming their origin. 

The air is more than nippy, steam rises from the sidewalk grates, everything glitters and glows. Young and old queue up, patiently waiting their turn to feel transported for a moment into the magic of Christmas, so real-looking behind the glass of department store windows. Familiar Salvation Army bells ring on every corner, strangers hum along to endless muzak holiday music, and a festive spirit emanates even from normally grumbly New Yorkers.  

Here, Christmas decorations are oversized and over-the-top, beginning with the most famous tree of all, the magnificent Rockefeller Center Tree, this year blue-hued.  The giant snowflake suspended at the corner of 57^th Street and 5^th Avenue, is so white it glistens.  Colored lights top the Empire State Building - red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Hannukkah - signal the season for all to see, and two miles of trees laced with white lights make Park Avenue glow. Huge wreaths, massive green boughs heavy with bigger-than-life ornaments, hang in hotel lobbies and are suspended from department store atriums.    

One thousand graceful paper cranes soar around the Peace Tree in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  Brightly colored, intricately folded ornaments depicting objects in their collection grace the Origami Tree in the American Museum of Natural History. Elegant 18th century Neapolitan angels and cherubs grace the elegant tree next to the life-like Neapolitan Baroque crèche in the grand Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thousands of crystal ornaments twinkle as their facets catch the light on the Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree suspended above the lobby of Radio City Music Hall.

Strollers through South Street Seaport shop and dine in the glow of thousands of white lights, as the sounds of the St. Cecelia Chorus and other choirs gathered around the giant Chorus Tree fill the air.  Grand Central Terminal’s Sky Ceiling comes alive in the Holiday Laser Light Show, made all the grander by choreographed holiday music.

Ice skaters circle round and round under the grand Rockefeller Center tree, entertaining passersby; people of all ages and from all over the world skate joyously in the two ice rinks in Central Park, picturesque, small town fun in the middle of the world’s most cosmopolitan city. Bundled up couples go for romantic carriage rides through Central Park, creating a winter wonderland picture postcard as they pass by the legendary glow of Tavern on the Green.

The elaborately detailed Christmas themed scenes of the windows at Macys, Saks, and Lord & Taylor provide imaginative escapes for all ages. Highly anticipated year after year, these animated, imaginatively intricate storybook scenes, surely created by the elves themselves, are main attractions, mesmerizing children - and adults too.  At the wildly popular Holiday Garden and Train Show in New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, miniature trains puff and chug all around and through 100 replicas of New York City’s landmark buildings and bridges, quite incredulously made of plant parts.   

High Tea at Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon in the elegant Victorian Inn at Irving Place in Gramercy Park, at the Ritz Carleton, a properly restrained event complete with harp music, or in the Rotunda at the palatial Pierre Hotel are delightful respites from the sensory overload.  Kids, too, love a break from the maddening crowds, especially a cup of hot chocolate and yummy cupcake at whimsical Alice’s Tea Cup on the Upper West Side.  Le Maison du Chocolat on Madison Avenue will more than satisfy the need for a sugar boost, with divine subtle flavors. 

On seasonal cue, the splendidly elegant New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker at the New York State Theater, or the wondrous Balanchine interpretation of the classic by the City Ballet enchant audiences. Fast-paced and breathtaking, Radio City Christmas Spectacular lives up to its billing as wooden soldiers move with signature Rockette precision, Santa flies to the North Pole to his incredible toy warehouse, and the holiday New York skyline comes to life on stage. 

Choirs, orchestras and carolers perform throughout December.  The magnificent acoustics of Carnegie Hall create the perfect Handel’s Messiah, splendidly rendered on various dates by wonderful orchestras accompanying stellar soloists.  Christmas music and readings take place in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and in other churches about town.

Christmas is fast approaching, but there is still time to soak up the Christmas spirit, if not in New York City, in a large city nearby, or in your own city or town.  Treat yourself and your family to the magic.  It’s beautiful, memorable, and priceless.
  

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