Writing — Travel & Photography

Christmas in New York City — Something to Experience Once in a Lifetime

Globetrotters — Celebrations around the world

The lights, the decorations, the atmosphere and the excitement of Christmas in New York City is something to experience at least once in a lifetime. Doesn’t even matter if you celebrate Christmas or not. I wasn’t raised to celebrate it, as I wrote about previously, “Don’t Ever Take Your Freedom to Celebrate for Granted”, but I’ve come to appreciate it for all its positive qualities.

Several years ago now, while living in New Jersey, I decided to take my daughter to see Christmas in New York City. As everyone told me, it was something I had to do at least once. The window decorations at Macy’s alone were a must-see, but we also wanted to check out the skating rinks and of course Rockefeller Center.

Getting there

Where I lived in New Jersey was awesome as far as its close proximity to The City. Typically the commute was quick and painless, although I did have the luxury of never having to travel at peak times.

There were a few methods to choose from:

• Hop on the NJ transit train, which took about an hour — lucky enough a station was within close walking distance to my house.
• Drive to Jersey City, park and catch the Path train. This would usually shave the commute down to around 40 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic, and would cut out all the pesky route stops of the transit train.
• Drive the full way in. This could take as little as 30 minutes if traffic was decent, but then there was the tunnel toll to pay and parking to find.

There are pluses and misuses to each method and mostly it depends on where a person is headed to in The City.

Since Macy’s and everything else we wanted to see was in mid-town near Penn Station, the NJ transit train was the most logical choice. So we walked the short distance to the train station around noon and we were on our way.

Surprise, surprise, it’s cold!

Working in the travel industry for several years, I’ve learned a weird phenomenon. Many people fail to take weather conditions into consideration when traveling, especially to popular destinations.

Oh, how many times while working at Disney World did I hear this: “I didn’t know Orlando got so hot in the summer.”? Yep, it sure does!

Same with NYC. Let me tell you, it can get freakin’ cold in the winter! It can also be brutal with rain, snow and drizzly storms— they don’t typically show that side of things on TV or in the movies.

When we arrived at Penn Station it was early afternoon and so it was still rather sunny with a slight chill in the air. Of course, later in the evening after the sun went down it got extremely chilly. One thing I wished was that we would have brought thicker coats rather than jackets.

At a certain point, my nose started to drip and it never did stop until we got back home. I quickly went through all the tissues I had in my purse and thus was stealing napkins every time we passed a Starbucks or other such establishment.

My daughter was perfectly happy though. Not sure how we ever got so opposite, but she loves the cold and I don’t. Conversely, she hates heat and I don’t. Whatever!

Macy’s Window Decorations

Everyone was absolutely right! Seeing the window decorations at Macy’s was really amazing, and the highlight of the whole trip. They deck out those windows to the likes of which you can’t even believe.

My photos don’t even do the windows full justice so do check out this fantastic video posted by a YouTuber just last year… even better than I remember!

Ice Skating in The City

Ice skating is offered in several places in NYC. Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park are perhaps the most infamous so we decided to check them out.

It was fun to see people skating, the big trees and even bigger buildings— a sight we’d probably seen on TV and in the movies countless times. Being there to see it for real is always better.

While we’d thought about it, we opted not to skate ourselves. It was so crowded. I don’t mind the crowded New York streets at all — all part of the ambience — but crowds of people in NYC with ice skates on? Naw. We had an ice skating rink in a huge beautiful park near our house in New Jersey and it was much less crowded.

Still, it was fun to see these infamous skating rinks in person.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Seeing Rockefeller Center, including the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was a must do. The decorations were so beautiful and magical.

I got a cool photo of myself and a cardboard Matt Lauer, which everyone thought was real when I posted it on Facebook. Loved that photo… well, at least until a certain point when Matt Lauer became a notorious part of the #MeToo Movement. Not cool. Now instead of saying ‘me and Matt Lauer’ I can say ‘me and that one disgusting perv who we used to all think was cool’.

Various Lights and Decorations

Walking through mid-town NYC at Christmastime there will be all kinds of other lights and decorations to feast the eyes on.

Like this infamous Christmas ornament display. Don’t recall exactly where it was located although Radio City Music Hall is there in the background so that’s a big clue!

Empire State Building

By the time we got to the Empire State Building it was getting quite late and we were getting pretty tired from all the walking. So I got a few quick picks and we headed for Penn Station. We obviously missed the timing of any of the lights shows.

Plus, it’s not wise to be riding the trains too late at night. Anything before 10pm is a good cutoff time, in my opinion.

What happens when riding the NJ/NYC trains too late at night?

A word of caution here. I once rode the train late at night after working an event in NYC, as I did for extra money sometimes, and got stuck in one of the New Jersey stations. Some kind of mechanical problem with that line or something. Let me tell you, it was not worth the money I made to be that scared to death.

I actually had some crazy scary people start to chase me, but luckily there was one big fellow who swooped in and played hero. 100% true story, and luckily my daughter wasn’t with me that time.

Heading anywhere in the NYC metro area by train? Always a good idea to ask around about specific transit lines and stations, and their safety at night. Err on the side of caution, I say.

Conclusion

And so this was our glorious tour of Christmas lights and decorations in NYC.

New York City of course almost always involves a lot of walking. By the time we hit Penn Station and caught the transit train back home, we were quite tired and my dripping nose was driving me crazy. We got home safe and sound, well before 10pm and treated ourselves to some nice hot chocolate.

It was the most wonderful kind of tired, too. Seeing all the beautiful lights and decorations in NYC ranks high on my list of the most memorable travel experiences of my life. I sometimes even dream of it at night.

Oh, yes, you really must experience this at least once in your lifetime.

Have you experienced NYC at Christmas? Would love to hear about it!

Check out this great Christmas NYC post by Osan Fernando:

And this lovely Christmas post from Janin Lyndovsky:

Not a Medium member? Join the fun, and an awesome community of readers and writers! Join Medium with my referral link — JoAnn Ryan