Growing up in NY Christmas traditions for us involved going into Manhattan and seeing the decorated store windows of large department stores like Macy's and Saks 5th Avenue. I saw on the news that this year was Lord and Taylor's last Christmas season and the building will be taken over by some kind of staffing company.
At Macy's when we were little we would visit Santa and see the amazing workshop that was designed every year featuring elves working and a large train display. That would be followed up by a puppet show in a small theater. I know the display has changed a lot since I was a child; much of the old display has been swapped out for tv screens that kids can interact with instead of just looking around I suppose. I don't know if the puppet show is still there but I hope it is.
We would also fight the city crowds to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the famed toy store FAO Schwartz.
Each year even though we did the same thing there were changes in the decorations and it was always different. The city is a pretty awesome place to be around Christmas time. The smell of chestnuts and roasted peanuts fills the air and sometimes if you are lucky you will get a flurry of snow, the perfect amount to make it pretty but not stick and cause a mess. I mean also be prepared to be buried in a sea of humanity balancing between people who are in way too much of a hurry and other people who are going way too slow. You will be crammed on to sidewalks where there is no space to move side to side and you have to let the crowd take you.
This yearly tradition was so important to us that the year Meg was in a car accident we rented a wheel chair for her to use so we could go into Manhattan together. It was a struggle for sure. While most of the streets have handicapped ramps a lot of those ramps are in bad shape ( I accidentally almost dumped Meg at least twice) also that sea of humanity I mentioned earlier. They were standing in front of the ramps waiting to cross in the opposite direction so even finding space to get back on the sidewalk was challenging. But this year also lead to one of my favorite memories of all at Christmas and certainly on the Long Island Rail Road, LIRR. We were getting on the train to come home. Certain train cars have reserved seats for handicapped. The seat bottom can flip up to allow space for wheelchairs, walkers, and carriages. We finally found a train car that 1. had enough room for us to get on and 2. was a handicapped train car. We got on and the people sitting in the handicapped seats did not get up. Which we were not fighting with them on because we had room to be in and Meg was sitting in the chair it just meant we were in open area where the doors were. Well these two boys (and by boys I mean probably my age at the time so mid/early 20s) got on and looked around. They saw Meg in the wheelchair in the doorway where there is standing room and the people all sitting in the handicap seats. Now these boys were apparently at the perfect level of intoxication for the moment. Any more intoxicated and they may not have noticed any less and they may have just gone about their night like we had accepted. But not them. They were drunk enough to lose that inhibition of just keeping ones mouth shut and minding their own business. So they looked from Meg to the handicapped seats and said (paraphrase) "Those seats are handicapped seats what is wrong with you. Move. She is in a f-----g wheel chair. You can stand." And the people got up, we pushed Meg into the space now clear because we could raise the seats, and the boys wished us a Merry Christmas and went on to find themselves some place to sit.
Not every year but several times we also went to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn to see some of the most amazing decorations as an entire neighborhood works to out decorate their neighbor.
Now that we are in TN a trip to Manhattan would be a bit far so we have new yearly traditions. We drove out to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniel's distillery and the "Barrel Tree" and then spent half the day walking around the town looking in small craft and antique shops.
We drove back to Nashville and walked around the Gaylord Omni Hotel and Convention Center to see the beautiful light displays in the Delta, Cascades, and Magnolia lobby. And then we went to the Wilson County Fairgrounds to see the Dancing Lights of Christmas. If you are near Nashville this is so worth it! Dancing Lights The Dancing Lights are over an hour of music that plays over the radio while you are completely immersed in a synchronized light show. It is beautiful.
Then I came home to my house and got to enjoy my own Christmas decorations. Which take a really really long time to put up so that on one day I can have family over to enjoy the decorations :-) Well accept for outside lots of people could see that as they drive by and there is part of me that thinks back to years of seeing the windows in New York City or the decorations on the houses in Dyker Heights Brooklyn and this is my mini version of their work.
I do want to add more outside and I think I slowly will.
My goal is also to eventually have decorations in every room of my first floor. In my living room I have a display around the fireplace.
I also have Meghan's Nutcrackers, Meghan's Santa collection, and a variety of snow globes that my Mom has collected over the years, my Russian Nesting doll collection, a variety of Penguins cause they are awesome, and a beautiful angel display with a Church and Noel and Peace, and our Nativity display from Naples, Italy.
Each piece was handmade and has amazing detail on them.
I know some people set the Nativity up immediately with the complete Holy Family but we have always left out Jesus until Christmas Day.
In my sitting room I have my tree and Christmas Village. Now my village is a lot of pieces that I have bought at Good Will or as end of season displays. As a result many don't have boxes and some had little delicate pieces that have broken off. So I set up myself a work station of amazing awesome loctite and multiple sizes of batteries (at the end of each season I take batteries out). Tip tried to help, and by help I mean got in my way at every step and knocked the batteries and glue off my table whenever I put them down.
It took me two days to get everything out of storage, set up, batteries, glued, and plugged in and I think it came out well.
And of course our Christmas Tree.
Thank you for checking out my Christmas decorations and have a Merry Christmas I wish anyone reading this a joyous holiday season and a healthy and Happy New Year. I know this is a fun post about decorations but the most important thing about these decorations or the traditions that we have had or still continue is that they are spent with loved ones- friends and family. Whether it was going into the city or spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Days surrounded by people who loved us the holidays are best spent with others.
Merry Christmas!
