Celebrating the Season: New York City

• Places New Yorkers know (and love) are hot chocolate at Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man (841 Broadway between 13th and 14th Streets),The Holidays @ Scandinavia House (58 Park Avenue between 37th and 38th Streets), and afternoon tea overlooking Central Park South at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel.
  

• There are a few things that you'll only find in NYC. Here are a couple memorable items...The Yorkville Nutcracker, set in 17th-century New York, at Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (Dec. 10-13) and the Olive Oil Press Show at the Jewish Children's Museum where you can make your own olive oil then light a menorah with it.

• Special Exhibits at Museums: Museum of the City of New York featuring their doll house collection and early toys, and the Morgan Library, where you can experience Victorian London and the classics of Charles Dickens.

• Music is everywhere, including Bargemusic's Christmas Eve Concert on a former coffee barge at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge (Dec. 24, Fulton Ferry Landing), National Chorale Messiah Sing-In where the audience sings along (Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, Dec. 22) and the December Concerts at the Fuentidueña Chapel at The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art's fortress at the tip-top of Manhattan. 

• The Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting is our "unofficial" kick-off to the holiday season. Once the stars have performed and the tree is lit, New York City's holiday spirit is ignited. Additionally, skating at Rockefeller Center is an annual event for many families in the city.

• Seeing the Rockettes perform at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is a New Yorker's holiday tradition.  Despite the fact that it runs in other cities, there is nothing in the world like seeing it at Radio City, followed by a short stroll to view the tree at Rockefeller Center.

• Times Square on New Year's Eve draws close to a million spectators to what feels like the "center of the universe," while millions from around the world watch them ring in the New Year on the live TV broadcasts.

• See Lincoln Center's performance of The Nutcracker. 

• On Christmas Eve, attend the Children's Mass (5:30 p.m.) or Midnight Mass (reserved ticket needed) at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

• A stroll through Little Italy's beautifully decorated streets is a must-do holiday experience. 

• Dyker Heights in Brooklyn has drawn local sightseers from all over the city for years because its residents lavishly decorate their lawns and homes unlike anything seen in Manhattan. It has become such a holiday destination that even our international visitors are flocking there.

Heather Wyatt, New Yorker and publicist           

• Rolf's, a tiny German bar/restaurant on the East Side is decorated like no other place in the city. Filled with hundreds of ornaments and lights, it's like having a drink inside of a Christmas tree.

• Pick up some of NYC's best hot chocolate at Bottega Del Vino on 59th Street then walk across the street and grab a horse and carriage ride through Central Park.

• Visit the Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On display through January 6th.

• Stroll 5th Avenue after dark and view all the beautifully decorated and lighted storefront windows. Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Avenue, Henri Bendel's....all are must-see's!

• Union Square Holiday Market takes place in the heart of Union Square through December 24th. Shop among 100 vendors selling jewelry, clothing, fun kids' items, and local homemade sweets and savories. The smells and the sounds of the holidays fill the air.

• The New York Botanical Garden annual Holiday Train show and Gingerbread Adventure. Kids and adults alike can enjoy the magnificent train display covered in lights winding through more than 140 architectural reproductions of NYC landmarks. The Gingerbread Adventure was created by some of New York's most celebrated master pastry chefs.

• 21 CLUB Christmas Caroling Lunch with the Salvation Army Band. For 70 years the famous 21 Club restaurant hosts this lunch during the month of December where a band of 10 musicians entertain the diners who sing along. The tradition was started back when one of the 21 Club owners spotted a Salvation Army band on the corner of 5th Avenue and 52nd Street. He invited them into the restaurant and offered them some soup to warm themselves up. To express their gratitude, the band members offered to play Christmas carols for the diners...and the tradition was born.

• Gingerbread House Decorating Class at The Peninsula  (Dec. 12 and 19, 2009).  Kids get to decorate their own gingerbread houses while their parents sit back and enjoy afternoon tea, champagne, and scones.
  

• Visit the holiday markets scattered around the city, including Bryant Park, Union Square, and St. Bartholomew's Church for great gifts.

• Two blocks from our 58th Street entrance is Central Park's Wollman Ice Rink, nestled in the trees in the south end of the Park while the city's skyscrapers peer just above the treetops.

• Stop in to view the holiday tree adorned with baroque ornaments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the musically themed tree at Lincoln Center.

• Take in a Broadway holiday show such as Irving Berlin's White Christmas or the New York City Ballet's  Nutcracker. 

• Take a shopping break and view the Four Seasons' 26-foot Christmas tree--the tallest in any NYC hotel--decorated with 14,000 lights and 1,500 delicate ornaments. Relax with a festive cocktail or tea in front of the fireplace in our Ty lounge, or dine at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon.