Susan Kirby

Hillary, the Christmas Tree

This year's Christmas tree in the hovel was named Hillary, because the tree was cut down but still stood, beautiful, majestic. She received a number of new ornaments, and your Chronicler put together a video to celebrate this great breath of life in a dismal season.

Part 7 of the Christmas in New York 2016 series on YouTube features Hillary, the Hovel Tree. I include it here, and in the Gallery page on this site.

Below are some of the photos from the Chronicler's Hovel. You can see the editorial assistant brought home with Hillary from the 79th Street and Broadway tree stand, then Hillary in various stages of dress — her true self, then adding colored lights, white lights, ornaments, bead garlands, and tinsel. I've also include photos of new ornaments, as well as older ones. Your Chronicler believes in wretched excess when it comes to sparkles and ornaments. Finally, you see the new house shoes Santa brought your Chronicler. She also got a new shower curtain, because your Chronicler believes in warmth and cleanliness!

Christmas in New York 2016

The videos for this year's Christmas in New York series can all be seen on Christmas in New York 2016! Here are the seven videos in the series:

Part 1: The Cloisters
Part 2: The Tree at Rockefeller Center
Part 3: The Holiday Train Show
Part 4: Holiday Joys in Central Park
Part 5: The Holiday Windows
Part 6: City Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style
Part 7: Hillary, the Hovel Tree

To whet your appetite, I have included Hillary, the Hovel Tree above, and the Holiday Joys in Central Park entry here.

Here are some of my favorite images from Part 1: The Cloisters. You can see the decorations over the arches made of locally sourced ivy, apples, pinecones and other plant life. I love the magi figures, as well as the naked Baby Jesus sculpture. I tried to tell the Christmas story through the Cloisters art, and added the stag stained glass, because it reminded me of Rudolph!

The Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden is absolutely enchanting. I spent two hours there, took an hour of video, and edited it down substantially for Part 3. The buildings and monuments are all made of plant material, including bark, leaves, nuts, and acorn caps. Here are some of my favorite images.

One of New York's greatest jewels, my daily stop to see Woody, chase hawks and feed my birdie friends, was my inspiration for Part 4, Holiday Joys in Central Park. The first photo below is Tavern on the Green, then you see Woody a view of New York skyline from inside the park, and one of the cardinals I have put throughout the video. The video is dedicated to Laurie, an incredible woman whose love of the cardinals and devotion to feeding them have no equal.

This is a second photo from Part 2, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Then some more photos of The Tree!

Part 5 has the holiday windows, which were quite interesting this year. The first two here are from the Barney's windows, followed by Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman, a Fifth Avenue store (no sign telling the name), and Anthropologie.

These photos are from Part 6: City Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style, which includes the street decorations, the New York Public Library, Bryant, Washington Square and Tompkins Square Parks, as well as South Street Seaport, City Hall and the Financial District, the Bloomberg Tower tree and the Sixth Avenue corporate decorations. The first photo here is Patience at the New York Public Library; the second are the stars in the Time Warner Center atrium. Next are puppets from the Lincoln Center tree lighting ceremony, the Wall Street tree, the South Street Seaport tree, a detail from the Bryant Park tree, two from the Tompkins Square Park video, then views of the Empire State Building from Washington Square Park, two views from Madison Square Park, and the view from Macy's (included in the Windows video, but best shown here). There are two photos from the Bloomberg Tower tree, then a shot of the Times Square ornament igloo.