One of the things we decided to do when we took The Shortlings to New York was see some of the typical New York City Christmas sights and famous shop windows we've always heard so much about. 

I'm about to lay down some advice for you folks considering a trip to New York during December.  That stuff is okay if you like that kind of thing (crowds are not my bag, but the rest of the crew wanted to see Times Square and the iconic Christmas stuff and I figure everyone should get that chance), and I had a much better time skating at Rockefeller Center than I expected, though I'm pretty sure The KoH, The Caterpillar and The Dormouse did not - but each for different reasons. But if that's the only reason you're making a trip to New York, you might... will... probably be disappointed.  

Macy's had a cute series of windows that told the Yes, Virginia story, and that was fun to see, but hard for the kids because there were so many people.  My favorite windows were at Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales.  I'm just not sure it was worth the entire trip up and certainly not worth braving the throngs of tourists crowding each street corner and trying to push me and my family into the road every time we had to stop and wait for a crossing signal.  Ultimately, we only saw a portion of the windows because, as it turns out, Lexington and 5th on a Saturday in December is really not the place to make kids do a lot of walking if you don't enjoy copious amounts of whining.  They were mostly unimpressed.

So we did the Rockefeller Center tree, the 5th Avenue shops, Radio City Music Hall, carriage ride in Central Park, danced with every Salvation Army bell ringer we passed... and now I can say we've done it and don't need to again.   Next time, we go in January, when it's empty and I get you all to myself, New York.