Holidays in New York City

Land, Air, and See is heading to New York City for the Holidays! When I was growing up, it felt like the world ceased to rotate on Christmas. Grocery stores, gas stations, and hospitals (?) all boarded up their doors and windows at 5 p.m. on December 24th and didn't open back up until December 26th. If you celebrated Christmas, you were too busy to notice that nothing was open. If however, you did not celebrate Christmas (like yours truly), preparing for December 25th was like gearing up for an impending natural disaster. You stocked up on enough movies, board games, and food to ride out the perfect storm of joyful gift giving and merriment that was certain to bring your town to a grinding halt.

It's not really like that anymore. Even in the smallest of towns you are sure to find a greasy spoon diner, 24 hour gas station, or Chinese restaurant that keeps the torch of commerce burning on Christmas Day. But we aren't taking any chances this year. We're heading to the city that never sleeps, even on Christmas. We've been to New York plenty of times but this will be the first time we've gone on Christmas. The knee-jerk reaction to traveling on Christmas is, "Will anything be open? Will there be enough to do?" If you google "things to do In New York City on Christmas," you'll get lists like this one from LoveToEatAndTravel.com:

1. "Radio City Christmas Spectacular" - Best Holiday Show in NYC
2. "Top of the Rock" Observation Deck 70th Floor at Rockefeller Plaza
3. New York City "Holiday Lights" Tour
4. Ice-Skating at Rockefeller Center
5. Horse-Drawn Carriage ride through Central Park
6. Manhattan Island Cruise
7. New York City "Hop-On Hop-Off" Double-Decker Bus Tour
8. Empire State Building Observatory
9. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum
10. Museum of Modern Art or American Museum of Natural History

Not too shabby but not daringly original either. The web is full of similar lists. When we get back, well do a FIVES on what we think are the best things to do in New York City on the Holidays - Land, Air, and See style.