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Show 14 Supplement to Lakeside Review, Wednesday, November 21, 1984. Entire content is advertising. r- - Experience New York at Christmastime By HELEN KLEIN New York at Christmastime: A bustling metropolis, sparkling with ornaments and strung with lights, with Santas on every street corner and the sound of carols (albeit taped) in the air. j prf"' J !" F.A.O. Schwarz, the venerable toy store at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, is another perennial holiday time mecca, its d of windows a fantasy-lan- d stuffed animals, model trains and colorful toys of every description. t life-size- Rocke feller Center, where the great tree is trimmed early each December, to tower And, scarcely a youthful Christmas went by without my being bundled into the subway for a trip to Manhattan to watch another version of the Christmas classic, ' Tchaikovskys Nutcracker Suite. dramatically above the skating rink. The length of Fifth Avenue, where the chestnut vendors vie with the department store windows, specially decorated for the holiday season, for the attention of children and adults alike. The Empire State Building, glowing green and red against the chill night sky. Uptown, at the Metropolitan Museum, the medieval hall is the setting for a tall tree adorned with Neapolitan Baroque ornaments. Underneath, the traditional Neapolitan presepio (or creche) is taken to the degree of fine art. Here, the background music is apt to be provided by live minstrels, singing and strumming the sentiments of the season. Downtown, the South Street Seaport exudes the Christmas spirit, its boats, shops and restaurants festooned with greenery, and a light dusting of snow perhaps providing the icing on the Christmas cake. Fragrant trees and wreaths are for sale from street comer vendors, as are a myriad of crafts. A traditional New York Christmas has always begun for me at Radio City Music Hall,' where each year 1 would stand in line ,5 New York at Christmastime dazzles me even today, when other places and other seasons leave me jaded. Perhaps its the scent of Christmas carried in the air, or the packages full of mysterious surprises in the arms of strangers, or the ringing of bells that announce the season. .. v NEW YORK'S ROCKEFELLER CENTER, garbed in its Christmas best, is an ideal vantage point for taking in the spirit of the season. with my parents to see a grade B movie and a stage spectacular, the latter always taking the same form: A Nativity scene with all the trimmings. Afterwards, I would goggle amazed at the Lord & Taylor and B. Altmans windows (they still make my eyes widen), to watch marionettes move through their iday paces, in Christmas settings ranging from Olde New York to anonymous forest. LAYTON HILLS MALL bell-ringi- Ive never missed the Rockefeller Center tree, choosing a vantage point above the busy rink to stand rapt, equally fascinated by the glittering ornaments and by the graceful motions of the skaters. at Gallenkamp shoes Get the Gallenkamp Difference Dimes carefully hoarded would be dropped into the kettles and chimneys of the Santas: A walk along Fifth Avenue allowing sufficient opportunity of a child's gifts to charity. VKA Just y ChftrgaK" ANrAMli Perhaps its simply a memory of my childhood delights that returns with undiminished strength as the air takes on a chill and the aroma of roasting chestnuts mingles with my reminiscences, but Christmas for me is (and I suspect always will be) just that much more festive, celebrated in the shadow of the Empire State Building, in the richness and vastness of the cultural and sensory tapestry that is New York. |