New York City Christmas / Holiday Season

As you'd expect, New York City knows how to celebrate the holiday season. Below find many highlights for visiting families, and some of them are free or nearly so.

Holiday Shows and Performances
Every Holiday Season, wonderful productions entertain families in New York City.

The Nutcracker: New York City Ballet presents their acclaimed production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes is a tradition and a dazzling spectacle.

Wintuk is a show especially for the Holiday Season, by the phenomenally creative Cirque du Soleil.

More New York City Christmas Shows and Events: About.com's Guide for New York Travel lists top holiday shows, and also Best Broadway Shows for Families that are fun at any time of year.

Gocitykids.com covers hundreds of events going on for families in New York City, including many minor -- but still fun-- performances.

Ice-Skating
Rockefeller Center is certainly the most famous place to lace your skates in New York City, but families have other choices too -- ice skating in Central Park, and more.

Central Park- Free Holiday Programs
Every visitor to New York City should see Central Park, with its amazing 843 acres in the middle of Manhattan's prime real estate. Several visitor centers in the Park, including Belvedere Castle, offer free Holiday Season events: winter star-gazing, making a Menorah for Hanukkah, meeting jolly old St. Nicholas, Christmas crafts, Festival of Lights with storytelling, Kwanzaa crafts... and that's not all. See Winter Holiday Programs in Central Park.

Holiday Windows
New York City is the top town for Holiday Windows, with wonderful displays at its famous department stores. At Macy's, for instance, "Miracle on 34th Street" Windows are an annual tradition. Take a walking tour of the best windows displays. Good family fun, and the price (free) is right.

Christmas Trees
The giant Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center> is right near the famous ice-skating rink, and also near Top of the Rock, which is a great sightseeing attraction to visit with kids.

See more Christmas Tree Lights all over the city (-double-check for dates, though.)

Kwanzaa
This African-American celebration of culture and family takes place starting December 26th; New York City has several public events.

Miscellaneous Fun!

New York Botanical Garden - Holiday Train Show: Inside the conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, model trains choo-choo past miniature replicas of New York City landmarks, made using leaves, twigs, bark and other natural materials; see some cool pix from a fan. Holiday train show runs from late November to early January. The Botanical Garden has puppet theater and Gingerbread Adventures too.*

Bronx Zoo: Wild Winterland: on multiple days in December and early January; activities include horse-drawn wagon rides, ice-carving demos, presents to the animals, live music and dance, make-your-own s'mores.

Holiday Lights Tour: a sightseeing bus tour, offered by Gray Line, which has many other sightseeing tours as well including double-decker "hop on, hop off" tours.

--check prices for New York City hotels, at About.com's affiliate, Kayak.com

* Always check web sites for updates.