Here’s just a few of the many reasons I love NYC at Christmas time.

1. Christmas decorations everywhere you go.  Just look up!

2. You don’t need to be in Manhattan to see amazing lights.  In fact, certain Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods top Manhattan in this category.  My favorite holiday hood – Dyker Heights in Brooklyn – hosts amazing/ridiculous/huge light displays sure to make anyone feel like a giddy little kid on Christmas morning.

3. NYC has the best window displays in the country.  And at Christmas, Fifth Avenue’s shopping district makes me lose my mind with all the inspirational amazingness in each window.  This year, the windows at Bergdorf Goodman are especially awesome.

4. You don’t need to go to Rockefeller Center to find yourself a huge tree.  There are big and beautiful trees everywhere – and they often go unnoticed, just like this beauty in the middle of a residential complex in Manhattan.

5. But if you do decide to go to Rockefeller Center, that ain’t bad either.  It’s the quintessential New York at Christmastime vibe and can be very enjoyable a bit later in the evening once the majority of tourists have already visited.

6. While you can easily find your tree on the side of a busy NYC street, which leads to one of those “I’m sooo New York” feelings, you can also be in the middle of a forest in less than 30 minutes time to cut your own!  It’s a quick drive to many very green and very massive Christmas tree farms.  This year we headed to New Jersey for the adventure and stumbled upon the cute town of Chatham where we discovered Dixiedale farm – a great family run tree farm that had complimentary snacks and cider and was also dog-friendly!