The perfect holiday-spirit-inducing stroll (avoid Weekends in order to be able to call this a stroll) starts on Fifth Avenue in Mid-town Manhattan. Elizabeth and I (latte` in hand) scoped the windows of Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, and Barneys, and ended with a gingerbread cupcake from Alice's Tea Cup. All the photos above are from the Bergdorf windows, whose splendor trumps all others. See the making of them here.
The beautiful Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, making it one of the oldest suspension bridges in the USA. The perfect time to walk across from Manhattan is at dusk...by the time you make it across to Brooklyn you have a most perfect view of the lit city. 
One of my favorite buildings in NYC is the Hotel Chelsea. I've never actually stayed here, but I love taking the elevator all the way up to the tenth floor and then slowly meandering down the hallways and stairways for art and history. Many creative people still live here, but among the many famous people who have lived and stayed here are Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, William S. Burroughs, Allan Ginsburg, and Jasper Johns. Some consider it the "birth place of creative modern art and home of bad behavior." 
