New Florida

New York City’s holiday festivities start as the confetti from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is still falling, with the arrival of Santa Claus to end the legendary parade. The following week the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is lit, and when I saw it this year, overlooking the Rockefeller Center skating rink, it was magnificent. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, of the Kennedys fame, is down the street, and taking a quick peek inside the legendary church is breathtaking. Good news for me this winter, it was also warm, which was a much needed respite after Rockefeller Center!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral is on Fifth Avenue – yes, the same Fifth Avenue as Saks, Cartier, Tiffany, Bloomingdale’s, and several dozen other stores. Though all of the stores on Fifth Avenue pull out all the stops for their window displays, all year long, Christmas is when the window displays become a critical part of the store experience, rather than just a way to display their wares. I waited in line for my turn to shuffle past Saks’ Christmas windows before doing the same in order to see Bloomingdale’s windows. They were filled with lush color, clever animatronics, and probably took up more electricity to run than the inside of the stores.

Of course the stores themselves were decorated to the nines. Bloomingdale’s was festooned with evergreen, as was the Macy’s at Herald Square, on 34th Street and 7th Avenue. I marveled at the sheer size of the Macy’s – so much bigger than the one near my suburban home! Not only does the store have seven floors, but there are “half” floors shoved in between! I was famished after riding just half of the escalators on my way up to the women’s shoes department, but, lo and behold, there was a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop located in the Macy’s to fix that!

The ultimate in Christmas in New York City, however, is at Radio City Music Hall, home to the world famous Rockette’s, and their Christmas Spectacular. I watched this year’s show with rapt attention, refusing to blink for fear I would miss something!