christmas in the city

Browsing the holiday store front window displays in Midtown Manhattan has become a Christmas tradition in our family, and one which we enjoyed on Saturday evening with Frank and Laura, our old friends from Blake's Ball State days in Muncie, who are in town for a visit. When we began our usual loop, a cold but manageable bit of rain was falling, but it didn't take long for it to transition into big, wet snowflakes -- the city's first. Consequently, our views of the windows were a little more rushed than we would have liked. Still, though, we saw some great displays. My favorites were Barneys, which did a hilarious tribute to Saturday Night Live, and Bergdorf Goodman, whose elegant windows followed the theme "A Compendium of Curiosities." (Click the links to see better photos.)

Nothing, though, says "New York City Christmas" more to me than standing amid the crowds on 5th Avenue, with the Rockefeller Tree down the plaza on one side, and the Saks snowflakes chiming "Carol of the Bells" above you on the other. The fact that we did so during the city's first snowfall of the season only magnified the experience.