It’s not simply movie magic – winter in New York City offers magical experiences

Living on the West Coast, one might be tempted to think the magic of a New York City holiday season is a Hollywood invention rather than something that actually happens between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

From yuletide joy, Dickensian retellings or a department store Santa turning out to be the real deal, much of the Big Apple’s popular yuletide imagery does stem from movies.

Yet anyone who’s ever lived in New York or visited during the holidays knows the city really does change into something special when snowflakes start to fall.

Author Kate Jacobs writes about this festive transformation in her Noel novel “Knit the Season:” “The way that tough New Yorkers – on the street, in elevators, in subways – were suddenly willing to risk a smile. To make a connection with a stranger. To finally see one another after strenuously avoiding eye contact all year.”

You don’t have to be a tiny tot to have your eyes all aglow while visiting the Big Apple over the holidays. There’s something for just about everyone.

In The Beginning There Is . . .

Thanksgiving. And the legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the traditional kickoff to the Big Apple holiday season since 1924. Insider tip: Watch volunteers inflate the giant balloons on Wednesday afternoon and evening in the streets around the American Museum of Natural History.

Many of New York’s holiday attractions are already in full swing by then. Like the Radio City Rockettes and their famous Christmas show. The flamboyant holiday window displays at Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. And a troupe of 90 dancers prancing across the stage to Tschaikovsky’s epic score during a performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.

Another long-time tradition is the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a 100-foot-tall spruce behemoth that towers above the equally iconic ice-skating Rink at Rockefeller Center. With its official lighting ceremony scheduled for December 4, the tree offers a series of eye-popping numbers – it’s illuminated by 50,000 LED bulbs while the colossal star on top weighs 900 pounds! And while you’re there, don’t forget to stroll through the elegantly decked out Channel Gardens between the rink and Saks Fifth Avenue.

You can also practice your camel spins and double axels at the Wollman Rink in Central Park, which even offers a skate sharpening service for those with dull blades. The rink is also hosting the special one-day event Chanukah On Ice on December 12, with live music, kosher foods and a hand-carved ice menorah.

It Takes a Village

Even in a city with more than eight million residents and more than 6,000 high-rise buildings, it’s still possible to find a wintery village, especially during the holiday season.

Located behind the New York Public Library, the Winter Village at Bryant Park features a European-style, open-air holiday market with dozens of art, craft and gift shops in glassenclosed kiosks. Tucked inside warm, translucent geodesic domes, the park’s temporary Curling Café offers food, drinks and an actual curling lane.

You can find other traditional holiday markets in Union Square, Columbus Circle and Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station, while a new market takes over the futuristic Oculus Hall at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

The entire eighth floor of Macy’s on Herald Square transforms into Santaland Village with its enchanted forest, model trains, toy workshop, rainbow bridge and a slew of diverse Santa portrayers.

Since the 1940s, the residents of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn have created the city’s most extravagant neighborhood Christmas displays. Hundreds of homes deck the halls with thousands of lights and life-sized Nativity scenes, Nutcracker guards, snowmen and other figures. Visitors can join a walking tour of the neighborhood or a bus tour from Midtown Manhattan.

In Spanish Harlem, and directly after the New Year (Jan. 3), El Museo del Barrio organizes a Three King’s Day Parade with decorated floats, giant puppets, camels and donkeys, music and Nativity re-enactors. The parade celebrates the Epiphany, when the Magi presented gold, frankincense and myrrh to Baby Jesus.

Or you can venture beyond the Big Apple to charming Catskills towns like Kingston with its Polar Express Train Ride inspired by the beloved movie or Goshen with its Holiday Bricktacular show at Legoland New York Resort.

What Else is Under the Tree This Year?

Starting on December 26, Kwanzaa is celebrated with numerous happenings around the city, including African drumming and other performances at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan, a mirthful Kwanzaa Crawl that includes more than 30 Black-owned bars and restaurants in Brooklyn and Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem.

‘Tis also the season to take selfies in front of the giant red ornaments that decorate the Avenue of the Americas Fountain and the giant candy canes on Sixth Avenue opposite Radio City Music Hall.

Hudson Yards celebrates the season with two million white lights, more than 700 Christmas trees and a colorful illuminated hot-air balloon in the Great Room. One hundred floors above street level, the city’s highest ice-skating rink takes over the Edge, the highest outdoor viewing platform on this side of the planet.

Ride the No. 7 subway train from Manhattan to Flushing Meadows in Queens for the Amaze Lite Festival, which transforms Citi Field from a New York Mets baseball diamond into a wonderland of holiday lights, music and interactive family activities.

If you don’t count homers, Yankee Stadium doesn’t boast its own light-up. But the Bronx fills that void with the incredible Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. This miniature extravaganza features 24 model trains and trolleys trundling past more than 200 pint-sized versions of Big Apple landmarks outdoors on the Conservatory Lawn and indoors in the Haupt Conservatory.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit a zoo after dark, Holiday Lights at the Bronx Zoo is your chance. More than 100 brightly lit lantern animals decorate the grounds while performers in fantastical animal costumes move through the crowd. There’s also a chance to make s’mores or ride a toy train.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden turns night into day during Lightscape, which guides visitors along a magical after-dark trail flanked by light, color and sound installations created by artists who specialize in working with light. The highlight is a soaring Winter Cathedral bathed in thousands of white lights. In addition to regular evening hours, Lightscape also features special adults-only and sensory-friendly early entries, the latter tailored to ensure that anyone of any ability can enjoy the beauty and fun of the display.

-Joe Yogerst

To view or share this content online, use this QR code.