A Very New York Christmas [Hardcover]

Michael Storrings (Author), Cynthia Nixon (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2008

The experience of New York City at Christmas time has enthralled residents and visitors alike since Clement C. Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas in his house in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in 1823, inspiring tributes to the city in words and images. In A Very New York Christmas, Michael Storrings captures the magical landscape and excitement of the holiday season in dozens of watercolors, which since 2003 have been turned into bestselling Christmas ornaments. Sold in major retail venues across the country, his limited edition ornaments have a worldwide fan base and sell out performances in such stores as Saks, Bloomingdale's, and Bergdorf Goodman. This year a special ornament will be produced to coordinate with the book.  

Portraying both famous traditions like Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Angel Tree to less well-known ones like the Christmas lights in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights, the Boys Choir of Harlem, and the Holiday Train show at The New York Botanical Garden, A Very New York Christmas crisscrosses Manhattan and the four outer boroughs to bring us a Christmas for all New Yorkers--whether residents or just fans. 

Including a delightful foreword from Cynthia Nixon (Miranda from Sex and the City) this jewel-like book combines festive quotations from literature and popular culture with Storrings’s charming watercolors of forty cherished New York holiday scenes making this a perfect gift and yuletide keepsake.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Nobody celebrates Christmas like New Yorkers. And no town gets dressed up like New York at Christmastime. It's a feast for the eyes. It's happiness and good cheer on every corner and Michael Storrings has captured it all for you in this book---A Very New York Christmas." ---Regis Philbin

"This remarkable book gives visitors and residents alike the chance to take home with them the many wonders of the holiday season in New York. From the tree at Rockefeller Center to the illuminated animals at the Bronx Zoo---Michael Storrings shows us New York City at it's glittering best." ---The Honorable David N. Dinkins (Mayor of New York, 1990--1993)

 

"A Very New York Christmas is the perfect holiday gift." ---Roger and Sally Horchow, authors of The Art of Friendship.

About the Author

MICHAEL STORRINGS is an award-winning designer, illustrator, and art director working in New York City. For the past three years, Michael has been designing city-themed Christmas tree ornaments in collaboration with Landmark Creations, a California-based manufacturer and distributor. He is currently the executive art director at St. Martin's Press. To view moer of Michael's work, visit him at www.storrings.com.

 

CYNTHIA NIXON, a native New Yorker, is a Tony- and Emmy-award-winning actress who is best known for her portrayal of lawyer Miranda Hobbes in the blockbuster HBO comedy Sex and the City and Sex and the City: The Movie. Ms. Nixon and her partner and their two children live in New York and are frequent holiday season visitors to many of the sites depicted in A Very New York Christmas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312377053
• ISBN-13: 978-0312377052
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This magic kingdom consists of five boroughs, November 25, 2008

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Very New York Christmas (Hardcover)

Here is an ideal holiday gift for anyone who has ever visited the New York City area during the holiday season because it will evoke so many fond memories. For others who plan to visit the area for the first time as well as for residents who are eager to explore new sources of magic and delight, this book offers dozens of suggestions of where to go, what to see and do, etc. in the five boroughs...especially Manhattan (e.g. Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, the Wollman Rink in Central Park, and Washington Square Park) but also the Bronx (e.g. the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo), Brooklyn (e.g. Grand Army Plaza and Dyker Heights), Queens (e.g. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park), and Staten Island (e.g. Historic Richmond Town). Michael Storrings provides a brief but eloquent Preface to his series of exquisite watercolor drawings, including those that are devoted to 39 different special treats that extend from the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade that employees of R.H. Macy & Company started in 1924 and concludes with a tradition that has continued since 1907 as each New Year is welcomed in Times Square.

Relevant historical information supplements must of the illustrations, followed by brief personal comments about the seasonal events and locations. Here are a few representative examples:

"New York City, where I live, is impressive at any time, but as Christmas approaches it's overwhelming. Store windows blaze with lights and color, furs and jewels. Golden angels, forty feet tall, hover over Fifth Avenue. Wealth, power, opulence...nothing in the world can match this fabulous display." (Norman Vincent Peale, "A Gift from the Heart," 1968)

"The Christmas trees are almost all sold

And the ones that are left go cheap.

The children almost all over town

Have almost gone to sleep."

(Langston Hughes, Christmas Eve: Nearing Midnight in New York," 1965)

"The magi, as you know, were wise men - wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication." (O. Henry, "The Gift of the Magi," 1906)

"When the ball dropped on New Year's Eve, I have to tell you - I was elated and enormously pleased at the tremendous progress that the city has made, and at the fact that New York was the center of everything when the world welcomed the new millennium." (Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in his "State of the City" address, 2000)

This little book comes as close as any book possibly could to suggesting what a magic kingdom New York becomes each holiday season.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great gift for anyone, October 24, 2008

By 

Laura Braggins (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Very New York Christmas (Hardcover)

I was totally surprised at all the detail in the illustrations in this book. This is remarkable art work that should be shared with anyone. I have never been to New York City at Christmas time, but I will definitely want to go and see it now after seeing it through the eyes of Michael. The details are in everything in this book from the illustrations to the history. A wonderful gift for yourself or anyone. Kudos to Michael on creating a chance for anyone around the world to "visit NYC" anytime!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winter Wonderland, November 17, 2008

By 

M. Swann "Campsie Fells" (Sierra Nevada, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Very New York Christmas (Hardcover)

This is quite simply the most charming Christmas book ever written about New York. "A Very New York Christmas" is the perfect holiday gift for New Yorkers and those who love New York. Each page reveals a vignette of people and places that reflect the vibrant and colorful neighborhoods of the world's greatest city.