Santaland at Macy’s Herald Square, NYC

NYCity Mama hates shopping.  She knows.  It’s weird.  But she doesn’t have the patience for the trying on of the clothes, the looking through racks and racks for the perfect outfit.  Usually, she has the perfect outfit already in her head, and rarely do she ever find it in stores, and if she does, it rarely ever fits as she envisioned.  The experience of going to department stores, is only made more annoying for her now that she has kids tagging along. When the need to shop comes up, and it does about every 6 months, she can’t wait to get it over with.  There is however, one time of the year when this disdain for the shopping experience fades.  And that is during Christmas.  The excitement of seeing the window displays, and shopping for gifts, as well as taking her children to see all the lights and decorations becomes something she can’t contain, or stop talking about.  

And thus, with the expectation of all good things in mind, she wrapped her boys up in the endless layers of Winter clothes and hit the streets, ignoring the wind and rain that greeted them outside.  And that is because, every year, from Nov. 24 to Dec. 24, department store giant Macy’s at Herald Square welcomes Santa Claus, and a few of his elves onto their eighth floor Winter Wonderland.

Despite the gloomy whether, this was the perfect time to go, as 34th St., known for good shopping and busy commuter intersections (the PATH and LIRR terminals are nearby), was not as congested as it is during the evening and weekend hours.  They easily navigated through the subway, and in and out of the readily available subway elevators (she find them to be not as gross as one may imagine them to be, but wonders if maybe her standards are lower after having so many kids), and headed straight for their first real glimpse of the jolly ol’ fellow. She was in heaven. Everything was going perfectly: no tantrums on the subway, no desire to run away from her while on the crowded platforms, and no demands to sit on the floor of the train or elevator at any point. The boys didn’t even seem to mind the rain.

So,they arrived at Macy’s doors happy and smiling.  Now, it is important to note that if you have a double stroller, you will have a very difficult time, not only fitting through their single opening doors, but also on their always crowded elevators.  Since Mama’s 3 year old is no longer in a stroller, and she only needs a single stroller, it has only recently been a possibility for her to visit the store without additional manpower.

Entering Macy’s during the Holidays is always such a cheerful experience.  The bustling of shoppers, the overwhelming amount of good sales, and the happy and helpful salespeople just make you want to spend money!  Fortunately, she stayed focused and headed straight for the elevators.

Ah, the elevators.  The long row of elevators, with each one always fully packed.  Mama’s 3 year old started getting impatient with the wait and couldn’t understand why they couldn’t  just push themselves onto one once the doors opened.  When they finally got in, he plopped himself down on the floor, causing people to trip over him, and his brother’s stroller, as they exited onto their floor.  NYCity Mama could sense the annoyance in the claustrophobic space, with some people huffing and other’s rolling their eyes, all the while her 3 year old sat there, ignoring the angry “get up!” she kept lashing under her breath and refusing to do so even as people were forced to step over him to get in or out.  ”Please don’t make me realize this was a mistake!”, she thought to herself, as the sweat begun to run down her face and neck.

Finally! Eighth floor.  The longest elevator ride EVER.  Not even 15 minutes there, and she was already hot, embarrassed, and annoyed.

Needless to say, the sight of only a few scattered people on line was welcoming. They were immediately greeted by one of Santa’s elves and directed onto a path that lead them to a singing tree, dancing teddy bears, skiing penguins and small lit villages with little trains choo-chooing through tunnels and cliffs and stations.  All along there were other elves ushering the crowds through…maybe a little bit too much ushering, actually.  It occurred to Mama that Santa forgot to tell his elves that children aren’t always prone to following the flow of lines or run on schedules, especially when surrounded with all the things set up for them to see.  It was difficult for her to stop and take a photo without being prompted to “keep moving” along, or without being told that they “could buy a DVD that walks you through the displays” later on.  Mama doubted her kids would’ve cared much for the DVD version of  Santaland.  At one point, the line did come to a complete halt, which made her wonder why there was a rush to get them all there.  Then her 3 year old demanded to keep moving, tugging on the coat of the woman in front of him telling her, “Excuse me.  Please move!”  ”Excuse me.  Go! Go!”

Next we reached a section where the path divided, she was mistakenly guided to the right, which turns out is where they can get a glimpse of Santa through a small window and before having to exit.  Once she realized this was a mistake she turned to head back from where she came from, at which point one of Santa’s elves told her she couldn’t go back, that if she wanted to see Santa, she had to go to the back of the line.

Mama stood looking at this elf as if the elf had just lost her freaking mind and she isn’t sure if it was from all the time spent in the North Pole, if maybe the sudden surge of oxygen to the brain was making this elf loopy, but whatever it was that had this elf convinced that she would actually get back at the end of the line with her two toddlers, especially after having made it this far without any major meltdowns, was something that she knew she needed to rectify right away.  Otherwise she knew it could get to the point where the one throwing the tantrum was her.  Thankfully, she was able to “convince” the elf to let them back to Santa, without any major harm done to her or any other elves in the process. 

Once they finally arrived to see Santa, her 3 year old inhaled deeply, and Mama doesn’t actually quite remember him exhaling.  He sat on Santa’s lap, but was speechless.  He spoke very softly, and allowed for a photograph by the elves, but looked as if he was in shock the entire time.  Her 2 year old would only sit next to Santa if Mama held him, so she did, with her hair somewhat disheveled, drops of sweat on her forehead, but completely happy that no one was crying or running away.  They posed for the photo before they exchanged Merry Christmases and left.  It was all very  clean and quick.  The elves were kind enough to hold her stroller and all their jackets, and they got pins with Santa’s face on them.

They had to wait on line for our proofs, but this one moved quickly.  Mama purchased a package of four 5×7 with cards and envelopes for $27.99.  Expensive, she thought, but since she didn’t have an option of taking her own photo, she knew she needed to make sure she had a memory of the priceless expressions on her boys faces and of all the packages, this one seemed like the best deal. 

Afterwards, they stopped at the Au Bon Pain right across from Santaland and talked about the experience over Christmas tree cookies and milk before they headed back out into the rain, a little tired, but full of excitement and sweet treats. 

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Tags: Au Bon Pain, Macys, Santaland, toys
Posted in Adventures, Cool Finds | 3 Comments »