“Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

Something spectacular happens in New York City’s department store windows at the end of the year. For decades the city’s major department stores have lured spectators and shoppers with their decorated windows. From mid-November to the start of the New Year, department stores and specialty shops treat locals and visitors to a show. The windows become a feast for the eyes and ears, offering glittering images of winter wonderlands and nostalgic feelings of the season. For the 2018 season Walk About New York brings you highlights from four well-known stores.

Our first set of windows are those of Bergdorf Goodman, the luxury department store facing Central Park. This year’s theme is everything sweet and yummy: cakes, pies, candy and cookies. The title is “Bergdorf Goodies.” These are our favorites!

“Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.”
—Edna Ferber (1885–1968)

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” —Charles Dickens (1812–1870)

“Christmas is joy, religious joy, an inner joy of light and peace.” —Pope Francis (1936–present)

“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000)

The next group of photos are the windows at Bloomingdales. The Upper East Side department store took inspiration from the recently-released animated motion picture, The Grinch.

“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.”
—Alexander Smith (1830–1867, Scottish poet)

“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)

“At Christmas, I am always struck by how the spirit of togetherness lies also at the heart of the Christmas story. A young mother and a dutiful father with their baby were joined by poor shepherds and visitors from afar. They came with their gifts to worship the Christ child.”
Queen Elizabeth II (1926–present)

We next take a look a few of Macy’s Broadway windows. They tell the story of Sunny, the Snow Pal; she helps save Christmas when she repairs Santa’s sleigh, which has broken down in outer space.

“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.” —Shirley Temple (1928–2014)

“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.”
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

“There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.”
—Erma Bombeck (1927–1996)

Our last three photos were snapped at Tiffany & Co. The luxury jeweler went high-tech for its 2018 windows.

“T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
—Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863)

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”
― Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)

Look back at the windows from some of these same department stores in other articles we have published.
NYC’s Christmas Windows, 2017
NYC’s Christmas Windows, 2016
NYC’s Christmas Windows, 2015

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ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT, EXCEPT CREDITED QUOTES, © THE AUTHOR 2018