NYC Window Displays

Each year we seem to travel to less window displays, and each year there seems to be less department stores with window displays. This year we only went to Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylors, and Macy's -- the ones that typically are our favorites, and most in the area of where we are going. Bloomingdale's we usually deem too far to hike to.

HERE is a link to doing a walking tour of all six sets of windows. It is a two mile loop.

After the obligatory picture in front of The Tree, we walked around the block to Saks Fifth Avenue (no way were we walking through Rockefeller Center if we could avoid it).

Saks themed their windows in honor of the 80th anniversary of Snow White.

We had dinner at The Counter -- a restaurant we frequent when we go into NYC because we are creatures of habit, and because we all always leave full and happy.

Continued our stroll to Lord & Taylors. Typically the windows at L&T are my favorites because they are so classic. This year I was not as enamored by them. They were images from inside a snow globe, I think. Don liked the unicycle barely visible in the second window we saw (we went backwards, which may not have helped with the story telling aspect of it). It is in the center of the image that is mostly in red.

I really like the touch of the taxis carrying Christmas trees.

Finally we went to Macy's. In recent years their windows have been too high tech for me, but they seem to have toned that down this year so you could enjoy it without the bonus electronics.

Made me think of the start of our day when we rode the subway.

A little marketing plug in front of a department store, go figure.

As they say in Santaland, Merry Christmas.

NYC Subway Holiday Train

After a false start, the stars were in alignment for us on Sunday. A couple of years ago I heard New York City's MTA pulls out vintage subway cars on Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is usually a busy time of year, but seeing a gap in our calendar this year, and temperatures in the 50s, I filled it with a day trip to New York City.

For those of you not in NYC, subway tickets currently cost $2.75 a ride. A ride is as long as you stay underground, so for us we could ride the train from 10 AM until 5 PM if we wanted for the same $2.75 each. We rode for about two hours, that was long enough.

HERE is a nice post with great pictures taken Thanksgiving Weekend.

The basics are the past few years the holiday train has run from 10 AM to 5 PM on the Sundays during Christmastime. They run between 2nd Avenue and 96th Street. Here is where it gets tricky -- it starts on the F line on 2nd Street, and ends up on the Q line at 9th Street. It is not a regular subway line, instead it is on the S line. When it reaches 2nd Avenue, riders can stay on the train or mingle on the platform. At the other end (96th Street) riders must disembark and wait. In each direction the ride is about 35 minutes long, meaning there is an additional 25 minutes of hanging out time at the ends.

The train leaves the 2nd Avenue station at 10 AM, 12 noon, 2 PM, and 4 PM. 

The train leaves the 96th Street station at 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, and 5 PM.

What did we do? We waited at the 42nd Street (Bryant Park) station for the F train. The information on the MTA website talks about trains going Uptown and Downtown. The station talks about trains going North and South. Really? We waited on the wrong side of the platform, and in this case you had to go up a flight of stairs and back down again in order to catch the train in the opposite direction. Don saw it out of the corner of his eye and we raced breathlessly to the correct side.

We caught the train at 12:15 PM. It was on its second round trip for the day. The train was festively comfortably filled. We had space to walk between the different cars (though perhaps not the best idea since in those days the space between cars was was mighty exposed).

A number of people dressed in period attire, ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s. Enough dressed up that Ashley declared she wants to do this again next year, but next time we should dress up, too. some of the costumes were amazing. I thought of Brianna and friends who cosplay Disney, and Stacy and friends who cosplay 1940s. The event looked even more fun with a costume.

Views of the cars:

We also enjoyed looking at the old ads and signs.

Filtered cigarettes are better for your health!

Miss Subway? How long did that contest last?

Not even sure what Lipton is trying to say with this ad.

The man on the right is tired.
He takes a potion and not only is he now alert, he has a goatee and mustache.
Ashley is wary of this product.

Only a nickle to send a letter overseas? Sign me up!

Ashley was a bit apprehensive to ride something this old. I said I would agree with her if we were flying in an airplane that old (though I would still do it given the opportunity at an affordable price), but here the worst problem we would face is getting stuck on ground level. Then I saw this man, and his co-workers having to manually open and close doors. Hmm... maybe she does have a valid concern after all.

A little maintenance work while we wait.

In addition to those working, and those in period attire, there were plenty of people taking pictures (with much fancier equipment than mine) for the media, or (like us) for themselves. 

On two of the eight cars were musicians. Their cars were understandably even more crowded.

The return trip (leaving at 1 PM) was much more crowded than our original ride. On the first part of our trip we could sit and walk between cars. After 1 we could only change cars by exchanging cars at a station. Normally not something I would advise, but this train was moving pretty slowly, and it took a lot of effort to close the doors. We had plenty of time to jump between cars this way.

While hanging out at the 2nd Avenue station we met photographer David C Falco. He was dressed in period attire and taking pictures of people using a 1930s/1940s style camera fitted with a Polaroid camera. I saw his picture on the internet and heard from a friend of a friend that he is a nice guy. When he said he takes Polaroid souvenirs for $20 I decided it would be a fun memento. 

A parting shot. There were 8 cars. Two classics from the 30s and 40s, and one from the 1970s.

I see this turning into a family tradition. From here we walked around NYC, saw The Tree, visited Santaland at Macy's, saw the windows, and enjoyed Christmastime in the City before the City became too crowded. All in all a good day.

"Reading Lolita in Tehran"

My book club recently read the book "Reading Lolita in Tehran." It is a heavier book than we normally read, which also made it one I think about more that usual.

A thought on page 336 resonates enough with me I wanted to share it here so I can find it later.

Later I showed the pictures we'd taken in those last few weeks to my magician. You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and in this place, because you'll never be this way again.

This simple paragraph brought me back to my trip to Belgium this year. For a couple of days I was able to become the person I was in 1987. I felt 18. I felt unconditional love. I felt the joy of having no responsibilities. I felt able to live in the moment.

I thought about other transitions. Going away to college. Living in Paris. Getting married. Moving into this house. Becoming a mother. Leaving my job. Going to graduate school. And countless smaller decisions that make me who I am.

Each change brought a fork -- taking the path I took meant not taking the other path. When I read a book or see a movie that explores both paths, I am fascinated by the story line. There is a book in me where I explore both roads -- the one taken, and the one I could have taken. I suppose this is why Azar Nafisi's quote resonates with me. I miss who I was at different stages in my life because I know I'll never be that person again.

Santaland at Macy's

It seemed the stars aligned themselves on Sunday for us. We started the day riding the NYC Subway's Holiday Train, walked up to Rockefeller Center and saw The Tree without too many crowds, saw the window displays at Saks, Lord & Taylors, and Macy's without many people, and went up to the 8th floor of Macy's in time for our reservation with Santa.

Reservation with Santa? Yes, this year visitors are required to book a 30 minute time slot with the man in the red suit. Reservations can only be made up to five days in advance. Weekend slots fill up quickly. When I logged in at 9:30 AM five days in advance, the only options were 5:30 PM and later. When I looked the night before at 11 PM, reservations had not opened yet. It felt a bit cut throat to see Santa. 

The whole time we were there we were feeling we were cheating on Santa 

to see Santa

There is enough Santa love to go around. Not to spoil the magic too much, but we know the Santas during the 11 months of the year, too. It was our first time seeing the bottom Santa in red. The timing worked so we could do it. Must say it is fun to be greeted by Santa saying "I was wondering if I would see you today" and asking Ashley if she wanted "more art supplies" for Christmas. Made us realize we were in the right place.

The new system makes the line much shorter. From what I heard from his elves, the line used to stretch throughout the whole 8th floor, lasting 3-4 hours. Our line was only about 30 minutes with the reservation. I felt bad for the elves at the front of the line having to turn people away because they showed up at the wrong time, or did not have a reservation. The elves said they heavily advertised the new system on local radio and television studios, but I have a feeling at least a few of the guests did not live in the NYC Metropolitan Area. Just a hunch.

The line had giant TVs to entertain us, because we couldn't possibly wait on a quick moving line without entertainment. Much of the line was in what I would consider the behind the scenes area.

Santaland seemed smaller than I remembered. I think we were only in the queue with the giant train set and animatronics about five to ten of the thirty minute wait.

It was a pain-free experience -- as long as you make your reservation in advance. If not, be prepared for tears.

As a bonus, you can still ride their original escalators, which tied in nicely with the start of our day riding equally as old subway cars.

No More Newsletter

2010 was the last year we published a newsletter. It was also the launch of this family blog. Coincidence, I think not.

I've enjoyed the freedom of blogging throughout the year vs. a once a year newsletter. Perhaps I spend more time blogging rather than creating the newsletter (though that is debatable), but I like the freedom of not worrying about making it fit or what makes the newsletter. Space was extremely limited. We kept it to both sides of an 8.5x11 in piece of paper. We kept the wording tight. Over the years our friend Debbi and my sister, Rebecca, have proofread the newsletter. No one does that now that I can change things at will in this electronic format.

As friends stress about sending out Christmas cards I can say I do not miss putting out our family newsletter. On the past few years we have taken to creating a mini newsletter, listing highlights from the year and pointing people to the blog for the details and pictures. 

I still receive comments from people about how much they miss our old newsletter, but rather than feel guilt about not writing one I remember these same people do not send out their own family newsletters or find other ways to reach out to us throughout the year. Some are Luddites, but you do not need to use a computer in order to reach out to friends and family. So stop trying to guilt me into bringing back something that took many hours to create, and caused much work with trying to wordsmith it and decide what makes the cut and what doesn't. 

I remember a year that was particularly busy (before we had Ashley and really knew what busy is) when a trip to Europe nearly did not make the cut. We agonized over what made the final version, and more importantly who made the final version. People seemed excited that they made the Pillsbury Press. An event that was not major to us (say sharing a simple meal together) months later might elicit an off-hand comment that they thought they would make the newsletter. Those December events tended to be forgotten because we would write the newsletter in October and November (yes, over two months) to get in the mail by December 1 so we could forget about it for another year. By the following newsletter December seemed too long ago to make the cut. There were two situations where we talked about future events -- a party and an engagement. The day of the party I was sicker than I have ever been -- no chance of standing nor did anyone want those germs. The engagement was broken. When I was pregnant with Ashley, we worded the announcement in code "Bread is not the only thing baking in our house," or words to that extent because we did not want the curse to happen again.

I do enjoy hearing about your news. I love receiving Christmas cards. I enjoy visiting in person and on-line. Whatever way works best for you, please continue to stay in touch. No newsletter required.