I recently took my son out for a day in New York City.  Being only a few miles away, we go into the city often, but there is something special about the holiday season in the city.

I wanted to bring my son to see all the “traditional” holiday sights in the city- Macy’s window displays, the tree in Rockefeller center, ice skating in Central Park, and of course the highlight of the day would be F.A.O Schwarz, toy store extraordinaire.

He was small last time he saw the Macy’s windows, so he had a great time endlessly walking from one to the next and delighted to see what was inside each one.  We also went upstairs to “Santaland”, where he not only visited, but also looked at the “extra” window display from “Miracle on 34th Street” the classic holiday movie.  We had just watched it the night before, so he really enjoyed it and loved telling me which part came from where in the movie, and telling me about the scenes.  (Since of course, I didn’t watch it with him or anything like that.)

He loved seeing all the lights, displays, and of course the giant tree that NYC has to show off during this festive season.  He has not been to FAO during Christmas time ever, so this was a surprise for him and he was thrilled.  The store was bustling, quite crowded, and full of shoppers and tourists alike.  As a six year old, being in the most famous toy store in the world at Christmastime was almost too much to bear, and he bounced around from one area of the superstore to the next before deciding he wanted to go to the new Build a Bear Workshop now in the store.
[Read more…]