“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” la la la la la la laaaaaa! OK so let me get this out of the way right now. I am not going to get into the debate about whether one should say “Merry Christmas” or opt for “Happy Holidays” to avoid insulting or leaving out other cultures. I celebrate Christmas, as does all of my family so I say that. At the end of the day I mean no slight to my friends of other faiths and will gladly raise a glass of whatever is available for their own celebrations.

Celebrating Christmas brings me to the rationale behind this blog posting.  Since I did a Halloween themed post and scared up a lot of spooky images over there I decided to try my hand at one of the other most decorated holidays that I knew of.  So without any further adieu please enjoy the bevy of photos that I will hope bring a little more of the holiday season in you.  I’ll start with the Wall Street “Holiday Tree”.  They call it that to be fair to everyone obviously.  Can’t have people picketing the Stock Exchange now can we.

This beautiful tree stands just off the corner of Wall Street and right in the middle of Broad Street in front of the NYSE (that’s the New York Stock Exchange for those out of NYC readers who might not know).  They do this every year it seems and there is generally a big lighting presentation and some performances.  One year they had members of Stryper, Twisted Sister and Collective Soul performing.  I attended that as press for PiercingMetal.com and will link to it at the close of this essay.

The New York Stock Exchange all decked in red.  Lights and not wrapping paper.

Here is the wreath at the entrance to the Exchange.  There was a time when you could walk right in there and then show ID but now you cannot get near the door without a proof you need to be there.

Shooting stars.  Not very holiday themed, but still nice….

Now it was time to wander around my neighborhood of Bay Ridge Brooklyn.  I figured the best place to start was at home right?  Here is a happy little snowman welcoming the season in with style.

Down around the Colonial Road area I snapped a few shots of the houses that had a nice display.  I was not taking copious notes since it was cold and the weather merited the use of gloves more than secretarial blogger functions.

I really loved the use of blue in this next shot.  While its not the most “Christmasy” it sure does have a Winter feel and vibe to it.

Sometimes simple and minimal works out as we see with this house.

Then again as we sometimes find in Rock and Roll, bigger is better.  I snapped a few of this next house as I was testing how such things come out from various angles.  Enjoy.

You just have to love the candy cane fence here.  I had a sudden craving for mint now….

Here is a really lovely Nativity scene made up of wire figures and cleverly placed lights.  Ahhh technology.

My apologies for the slightly fuzzy image below.  I was shooting through a couple of panes of glass and didn’t have the environment on my side.  However when I observed this in an office building lobby I just had to share it with you.

This giant inflatable Santa was an imposing holiday sight.  Yet still one worth snaring.

A brightly lit up snowman is always nice to see on a cold winter night…

I will assume that the Minnie and Mickey Mouse that we see below were part of the “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” theme of decor.

Hey look its Frosty The Snowman 🙂

More festivity….

Now it was time to head into the city and wander around the Rockefeller Center area.  It was still daylight, but I had wanted to see what kind of sights I could capture.  One building had these giant tree lights set up in the front of their offices.

And another angle for good measure.  I made a mental note to come back when those lights would be on so please hang in there with us.

You’ve seen this every year if you are a NYC resident or one of the interested tourists that make a trek to these parts.  Its the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.  Of course when seen during the day it is not as magical and just BIG.

Here’s the tree from a slightly different angle to allow some of the ice-skating rink to be captured and the statue of Prometheus.

A closer view of Prometheus…

Along the sides of the Rockefeller Center plaza there were several giant marching musicians.  They reminded me of the whole “March Of The Wooden Soldiers” stuff.  We snapped shots of the Trumpeter, Drummer and Flautist.

A little further down Sixth Avenue we saw some gigantic Christmas ornaments stacked up high.

The MTA has nothing on this awesome toy train….

Here’s Radio City Music Hall, the home of the world famous Rockettes and the annual Christmas Show.

The Nutcracker stands watch on the Avenue of the Americas….

and as you can see he is not only in this assigned detail…..

So I promised to return to the avenue when it was darker to see how some of the displays looked at night.  Here we go.

And let me not neglect those wooden soldier types we displayed a little earlier as well.  So much more lively and filled with the holiday spirit when under the shining lights don’t you agree?

Here is the piece de resistance of course the magnificent Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

It’s really an awesome visual isn’t it?  Now right across from this was a lovely display of angels.

Obviously there was more than the one.

Now I headed back towards Brooklyn to see some of the holiday highlights in the Dyker Heights region.  That is not too far from my PiercingMetal Command HQ and one that is known for its often outrageous displays.

Quite a few cool decorations to power up….

Imagine needing to change a bulb in this display?  Yikes.  Nice though right?

A little more of a regular Nativity scene.

This was one big snowman.

Even the Muppets get in on the Christmas fun…..

And here is the Grinch.  He looks busy stealing Christmas.

A Gypsy Princess Dances The Night Away

Three Nutcrackers Stand Guard

This next house has a MASSIVE display and they even appeared to have Santa there for the kids.

We couldn’t get a shot of him as he was behind the curtain way down there.

This house does things big as the Giant Santa comes to life.  He was Mighty Joe Young sized though which is a bit much.

At least he can scare away any unwanted solicitors…..

These next groups of images showcase a house who had the whole “A Christmas Carol” tale by Charles Dickens presented for the people to enjoy. It’s one of my favorite stories, so please indulge in these few pics. The first up is obviously the wicked Ebenezer Scrooge.

Some holiday singers…..

The Cratchetts

Scrooge is shown the error of his ways by one of the three visiting ghosts…

In the end we see how it all works out.  This was a wonderful display and one that definitely took some thinking to do properly

Now a celebration in Neon

Santa waiting on his next visitor…

I’ve kept it simple and to the point at the writing command headquarters and this year I put up my Grandmother’s ceramic tree and surrounded it by some other loose ornaments from my other Grandmother.  This way they stay in my heart even stronger than ever during this very family focused time.

That brings me to the end of this little photographic adventure so let’s leave off with another shot of that amazing Rockefeller Center Tree.

Oops.  Wrong one.  Here we go.

I mentioned covering a holiday event for the NYSE back at the beginning of this post and since I had such a blast I wanted you to check it out. Just click the link to see it on the Official PiercingMetal blog: http://piercingmetal.com/wordpress/?p=2481

So with all of these images now enjoyed let me close out with a very warm…………

May you and your loved ones have a very awesome Holiday Season.  Be good to each other.