I took a 40-block stroll the other night through my beloved city of New York. I was on a mission to take photos of the famous Christmas displays, lights and decorations that flood the streets and store windows during this time of year. I started on 20th Street and walked uptown mainly along Fifth Avenue. The streets were filled with tourists and locals out and about enjoying the holiday cheer. Here’s a small taste of what I saw.

Let's start with one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie. I love everything about this store all year round! I love the way the store is decorated, the window displays, clothes and their fabulous home decor items and furniture. The holiday theme for their windows is baking. The top window is decorated with rolling pins and the bottom picture shows a town filled with ginger bread houses.

Below you see the beautiful display decorated with measuring cups and spoons, whisks and baking trays for every holiday treat imaginable. I love the candy canes and peppermint filled flowers.

Here is Saks Fifth Avenue with lights on the building that lit up to holiday music being played for all to see and hear as we walked by.

The window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue had two different themes. Along one side of the building the theme was Winter Palace. It's obvious from the photos below that the Saks mannequins are quite dramatic and love to hang out on and under furniture.

On the other side of the building the mannequins prefer hanging out on clouds and traveling the world.

This one enjoys the company of her decorated geese as she takes them for a stroll through the wintery woods.

The photos below feature the dazzling jewel tone window displays at Bergdorf Goodman.

Lord and Taylor didn't let the scaffolding in front of their building deter them from decorating for the holidays. This department store decided to wrap it all up with garland and lights. It made for a beautiful walkway.

The department store Barneys decided to use real ice sculptures in their window displays. On the left are snow crystals and on the right is old St. Nick hanging out in the refrigerated area so he doesn't melt away before Christmas day.

The lights and decorations weren't only in department store windows. It was along the streets and buildings as well. Below we see one of the famous lions in front of The New York Public Library looking festive with his Christmas wreath, along with brightly decorated tree lined streets and hanging candy canes.

Would it be a 2015 Christmas without someone taking a selfie? This Bloomingdales window shows a penguin and a snowman doing just that. The display is interactive with two cameras on either side of the window which can take pictures of you admiring the scene if you push the botton. The TV screens on the walls of the display shows a continuous loop of photos people took of themselves in front of the window. It is a great way for the viewer to become part of the display. Great idea Bloomingdales!

The famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

I figure I'll end my Christmas In The City tour with a photo of St. Patrick's Cathedral. I didn't have a chance to go inside to see if there was a nativity scene but there was none outside. In fact along my entire tour I saw lots of bright lights and beautiful decorations along with carefully planned department store windows, but nothing that showed the true meaning of Christmas or why we celebrate it in the first place.

I'm going to end this blog post with a special nativity scene of my own. It's special because I bought it in Bethlehem in 2012 on my trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. During that trip I visited Bethlehem and knew that this nativity scene would be the perfect souvenir to bring back home with me. The star turns as it plays the song Silent Night.

This will be my final blog for 2015. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I'll see you in 2016 with some room make overs you'll have to see to believe. Until then... PEACE!