Christmas anywhere in the world is a special time. But Christmas in New York is uniquely special. For starters, New Yorkers become nicer. Not that it would be noticeable to an outsider, but to a New Yorker, the difference is in the quicker smile, the extra patience when it comes to numerous tourists creating sidewalk gridlock, and the helpfulness in pointing the lost visitor to the right place.

A New York Christmas is busy, bright, colorful, and noisy. The traditional picture of hot chocolate in front of a cozy fire with family doesn't exist. How could it when there are very few fireplaces in the homes of 8 million New Yorkers? What New Yorkers have instead is a whole array of Christmas events so numerous that this hub can only highlight a few.

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First, a New York Christmas officially starts with the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. This event has grown so popular that the whole nation watches the Christmas Tree lighting on network television and has used it as a signal of the start of the Christmas season. And the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is not the only game in town. The American Museum of Natural History has an Origami Christmas Tree decorated with prehistoric animals in origami form. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's huge Christmas tree has 18^th century Neapolitan angels and cherubs as decorations that flank an extensive nativity scene. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine has a beautiful Peace Tree decorated with over 1000 cranes and other peace symbols.

Christmas Window Displays

A New York Christmas is also about windows. Six major department stores are famous for their elaborate Christmas window displays. Now granted, the displays are there to entice you to come in to the store to buy things, but these stores spent a lot of time, money and planning on their Christmas window displays and many people appreciate it. You will find many New Yorkers taking an evening stroll in Midtown to tour the Christmas windows.  You can find Christmas windows at Macy's on 34^th Street and Sixth Avenue, Lord & Taylor at 39^th Street and Fifth Avenue, Saks Fifth Avenue at 49^thStreet, Bergdorf Goodman at 57^th Street and Fifth Avenue, Barney's at 61^st Street and Madison Avenue, and Bloomingdale's at 59^th Street and Lexington Avenue.

If shopping is not your thing, then why not a Christmas show? The grandaddy of them all is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and its famed Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. Their high-kicking precision still amazes and the scene where the Rockettes dress up as toy soldiers that tumble like dominoes is still a favorite. A New York Christmas would not be the same without it. If ballet is your thing, then hurry over to Lincoln Center for the New York City Ballet's seasonal performance of The Nutcracker. It will delight the child as well as the child in the adult. For a different kind of show, enjoy the model trains and tiny replicas of over 140 New York City landmarks at the Holiday Train Show held at the New York Botanical Garden.

So if any of these activities sound remotely attractive, why not spend a Christmas in New York and have your own New York story.