Christmas Day in Manhattan

Photo heavy post!!! More pictures available here.


What do Squid do on Christmas Day? (Please keep in mind that we are Jewish Squid.)

Usually the adults give or attempt to give blood at our synagogue's blood drive. We didn't do that this year since each adult gave in school drives not too long ago.

Instead, we took the subway uptown and walked home.

Sounds boring? Right?

Ah, but this is New York City and this is the Holiday Season.

As a general rule, I avoid Midtown like the plague during this time of year. Because, this is New York City and this is the Holiday Season. And everyone and their brother come out to see the sights. The last time I ventured in to midtown, on a workday during the holiday week, I found the sidewalks packed. As in sardine-like. Scary.

Last year, however, we took a chance after the blood drive and drove into midtown and parked. Gasp! Then we scooted around to see the holiday windows with a few handfuls of other people. Because we had the car to contend with, we didn't get a good feel for how many people were out and about. Apparently there were more then we realized.

This year, we decided to take the subway uptown and walk downtown. And here you go ...

Fifth Avenue (and connecting streets) during the Holiday Season.

We started out at Columbus Circle, 59th Street and Broadway and Seventh Avenue.


Walking east on 59th Street, we passed horse drawn carriages and Gainsborough Studios, which I never noticed before. Look at the detailed mosaic work in the second photo. Studios, by the way, refers to studio apartments -- one room.
As we approached Fifth Avenue we blinked our eyes in surprise as it appeared that people were going into FAO Schwarz. Um, what? It's Christmas. Everything, except Chinese restaurants, is supposed to be closed. Apparently not. No, no pictures, I was too dumbstruck as we wandered the aisles of a not-so-empty store.

Departing said monument to high priced toys, we sauntered down Fifth Avenue, by passing the Bergdorf Goodman windows in favor of Saks. First however, a pause to try to capture the beauty of the giant crystal star over 57th and Fifth. I do not do it justice. Sorry.

Then, passing Cartier, we pause to admire how they compensated for the construction work. Usually the building is wrapped in a giant red ribbon for the holidays. Notice all the people on the street. What happened to my empty city!
And on to DeBeers with it's "diamond" encrusted icicles.
Yes, we skipped the tree at Rockefeller Center -- I promise it for later in the week. We have to get to lunch near there this week so we'll get it then.

Saks took a snowman based approach this year.

I liked it a lot better then last year but I tend to prefer the simpler windows. They also had the easiest windows to photograph.

Continuing downtown we finally encountered Patience and Fortitude in their winter finery. Nope, can't tell you which is which.

And on to my favorite department store, Lord and Taylor.
Sorry for the massive refections -- these were not so easy to photograph even with the "through glass" setting on my camera.
They were pretty amazing, though.
At Macy's we encountered the Naughty and Nice List. I am, apparently, naughty. Yes, that is my head in the picture.
Their side windows are always based on "A Miracle on 34th Street." We pondered for a minute, what life would be like if the Macy's name were discontinued. What would happen to the parade? Our conclusion is that with all of the store names that have been dropped as the stores have merged, Macy's has survived because of it's iconic status with the parade and the movie. Yea, let us believe that.



Macy's is "doing" Shrek this year. We like Shrek.
And as we finish our walk, a decent shot of the main Post Office. I really love this building.
Hoping your day was a good one, no matter what you celebrate!