Well, hello and welcome to a new holiday special episode of The City Journal podcast.

My name is Rafat Mangual.

I am your host.

So happy to be joined by my wonderful colleagues.

We got Daniel D. Martino, Josh Appel. Welcome to the show, gentlemen. Oh, ho, ho. I like the hat. I like the hat, man. It is Christmas in New York. I love, I love this season. It is my favorite time of the year. Christmas is my favorite holiday. And New York, I think, does it better than any other city in the world. Anybody care to disagree? No, I think it's special. I'm very happy to be living here around Christmas time, especially, actually. What's your favorite thing about Christmas in New York? I mean, it's just that when you're a kid, you watch so many movies that are about Christmas in New York City. That I think that that's what makes it special then when you live in it.

Right.

And I think we should lose sight of that, you know, you get used to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like go to the Rockefeller Center. That's beautiful. The Central Park. See the snow. We're getting a very cold Christmas this year. We get snow this weekend. Yeah. So, yeah, that's why I think it's special.

I love it.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the windows.

Yeah, that's it.

So I used it's special.

I love it.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the windows. Yeah, that's it. So I used to growing up, my mother would always take us to the Macy's windows. And it's just the best. And then, you know, my sisters would always, for the Gen Ziers out there, take us to juicy couture to get the charm bracelets. It's always a good time.

But yeah,

the Central Park,

Rockefeller Center is,

it's just iconic,

especially when there's snow. It's the best. MSG also. The Saks 5th000 windows. The Saks windows, they do it right. Although it's gotten so crowded now. You can't even really enjoy it unless you're like going off hours because it's like the sidewalk is packed and you got NYPD directing traffic out there. But you mentioned Macy's. I don't know if you guys heard, but actually there was a Christmas shopper tourist, I think from California,

who got stabbed in the 34th Street, Harold Square, Macy's yesterday by a homeless woman in the

bathroom. I mean, imagine you're checking things off your list. You go to hit the head and some nut job jumps out and sticks a knife in you several times. Well, there you go. Policy issues affect Christmas too. That's right. That's right. I'm sure she's going to end up on Santa's not. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, I want to talk a little bit about just holiday traditions. I mean, you know, one of the the gift I'm giving to myself this week for Christmas is that we're not going to talk too much about policy. Oh, really? So I think we're going to take a little break from that. That's a gift for you for yourself. You know, it's all I think about, right? It's like every once in a while you need a mental break from all of that stuff. So I wanted to chat with you guys about just what your traditions are. I mean, for my part, you know, I grew up in New York. So Christmas in New York, again, very iconic. I've gotten a chance to kind of see all of the things. But the one thing that was out of reach for a long time for me was the Christmas spectacular at Radio City, the Rockettes. And that was something. I would always see the advertisements. I would see the commercials for it as a kid. And we didn't have a lot of money. It wasn't until, I think it was like 11 years old when we went for the first time. And it was, I mean, you know, at that point, I'm not even, you know, I'm beyond believing in San. I was like 11, no. Okay. So I'm beyond believing in San and all that stuff. And we'll talk about that too. You know, but it was like, it was, it was incredible. And, you know, my family and I, we went a few times. And it was one of those things where it was like an experience where I said, I'm doing this for my family no matter what. Like when I grow up, the Christmas spectacular will be a thing. And when my wife and I met our first Christmas and every Christmas since, we have gone to the Christmas spectacular. And now we take our and it is amazing every year. So it's always her birthday. I've actually never been to one. Oh my God. There's these like cool dance numbers and these little skits and, you know, they bring the animals out. And I mean, it's, it's fun. Do it like every day several times? Yeah, yeah. There's multiple shows a day. Every day the Rockettes come out and, you know, dance and do the iconic like kick. And it's amazing. And it's my favorite thing. I look forward to it every year and just watching, you know, the kids' faces light up when Santa comes out. And, you know, the elves do their little dance. It's, it's just, it's awesome.

So you say it's mostly like families with kids because there's like a Santa thing.

Yeah, it's families with kids. Also a lot of dates. Okay. You know, so especially the later shows, you get a lot of couples. And that was like, you know, that was a thing for us. So my wife and I, before we had kids, we would always go out to a nice dinner and then go see the late show and then, you know, go home.

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