Growing up near Philadelphia I moved with my family to Florida in 1970.  I really missed the change of seasons, the beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees in the fall, and the silence of the first snowfall in winter.  This is how Thanksgiving and Christmas were heralded in for me as a child.  When my daughter was around ten I was able to bring her to the northeast to experience a bit of my childhood memories of Christmas.  We came to New York in time to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade standing right there with crowds of people as the floats and giant balloons went by.  It was about forty degrees but my daughter will tell you to this day it was below freezing, having lived all her life in Florida.  We walked around New York City, going in and out of store after store, strolling by Rockefeller Center and watching the ice skaters and marveling at the giant Christmas tree.  We took a carriage ride through Central Park bundled up in a blanket.  We finished our trip by attending the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes, which ends with a true life nativity scene assembling onstage.  Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men and baby Jesus in the manger surrounded by live donkeys, sheep and camels.  It was beautiful, exciting, and amazing and a truly lovely memory I share with my daughter of one special Christmas.