New York City is quite magical during the Christmas holidays. While many movies do their best to portray this, my family liked seeing this first hand when I was a kid. That would happen early on a Saturday morning in the first or second week of December and it was then my family would board a Metro North train in Poughkeepsie to head to New York City for the day. I don’t remember how many times we did this outing, but what I do remember is how special each of them were to me.
They always began in Grand Central Station a few hours later where we would begin our day by heading into one of the several bakeries there. Chocolate croissants, buttered hard rolls, hot chocolates, and warm coffees in hands, we would all then venture out of the train station onto the busy streets of New York City. There was a particular smell that I grew quite fond over the years that hit me once I began walking with my family towards Macy’s, which was always our first stop. That smell was a combination of the roasting chestnuts, hot pretzels, and sizzling hot dogs on the grills from the many food stands we’d pass by along the way. My father made it a ritual to consume each of them during the course of the day and I specifically liked the slathering of a lot of mustard on a salty pretzel the most.
By the time we arrived at Macy’s on 34th Street and Herald Square, we consistently were freezing cold. I really can’t ever remember a warm Christmas outing in the city back then, but I was always quick to forget about the cold once I saw this store’s unique window displays looming in front of me. I never knew who was responsible for decorating them, but they definitely wowed me every single time I saw them. So as my family sifted through the line with the many others to see them, I was mesmerized by their moving parts going in various directions. At the end of this window show, my family would next walk into the main entrance of Macy’s with a smile. That’s also partially because we liked seeing the two Salvation Army people stationed at that door ringing their bells, dancing to Christmas music, and thanking people for donations in their red kettle.
Walking into Macy’s was always an absolutely breathtaking experience for me during the Christmas Holiday season. The store was filled everywhere with holiday tress, lights, and decorations. Even many of the store’s employees wore festive outfits while they worked. The pinnacle of my visit to Macy’s back then though was the ascent upwards through smaller and smaller fitting escalators that went from modernized to old wooden ones. At the top of that ascent was Santa’s Village where my family waited patiently in a long line for what generally seemed like hours just so my sister and I could walk through the village and sit on Santa’s lap. The wait was always worth it though.
When we left Macy’s, it was on to Times Square, which in my opinion, always looked like Christmas year round with all its brightly lit signs that existed high up on buildings there. There we would get lunch somewhere in that vicinity where my father always found some unique eatery for us to dine at. I specifically remember enjoying those oozing slices of oily New York Pizza and mile high sub sandwiches I’d get year after year.
After our bellies were full, it was onto Central Park to see the horse drawn carriages with their Christmas lights on their carts and the skaters that skid across the ice on the rink in the front of it. A hop, skip, and jump away from there was our next destination, which was FAO Schwartz. This toy store was once considered the largest in the country and it invariably held the most distinct toys and things such as huge stuffed animals, a tall moving tower with a smiling clock, a large piano you could walk across that was made famous in the movie Big, huge lego monstrosities, and so much more. To get into this store and see all these things though, we had to wait in another long line that wrapped around a building in the blustery cold. It too always ended up being worth the wait for me.
Upon leaving FAO Schwartz, my family would head down 5th Avenue stopping in many of the brightly lit retail stores. My favorite was the Warner Brothers store which sadly, no longer exists there. My parents were preferential to Trump Towers because of its gold colored glamor and glitz that existed within it’s walls. Next was our quiet walk into St. Patricks Cathedral and a silent rest in the pews while we regained our stamina.
By the time we emerged from there, it usually was dark so we headed over to Rockefeller Center to see the mammoth Christmas tree lit up and the skaters on the rink swishing around on the ice below it. If I was to place one moment to be the most magical filled on our annual Christmas outing, it would have been that one, maybe because it’s how that trip always ended for us each year.
Well actually, the real end to this trip was our rush from Rockefeller Center to the train station to catch the next one going to Poughkeepsie. On our way there was usually a grab and go of something to eat. But once those doors were safely closed on the train and us all in our seats, my eyes would get heavy and close with my final thoughts for the day always being the same. That I was able to truly enjoy my own very special New York Christmas Story.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson