By: Kayla Singh
The doors of House of Holidays in Ozone Park, Queens – New York City’s largest Christmas store — are always wide open even on the chilliest days of November and December.
Customers enter a wonderland as soon as they take their first step inside, where, colorful lights add blinding brightness and the sounds of numerous toys drown out Christmas music that plays faintly in the background.
House of Holidays is a seasonal store that has been open for 15 years. It becomes all about Christmas right after Halloween and closes its doors after New Year’s.With 35,000 square feet of space, House of Holidays also has the largest selection of Christmas trees in New York City, according to Kristen Cornell, a sales associate. The store is so large that it can take a person at least two hours of browsing just to see everything — from collectable blown-glass pet ornaments to already decorated Christmas trees.
A visit to the House of Holidays is one of the many New York Christmas traditions that take over the city during the season. There is the Union Square Holiday Market — where vendors that sell items such as, handmade jewelry, candy apples, and vintage clothing — and the over-the-top Christmas light displays in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, eight blocks of houses, whose owners show off their most extravagant and expensive Christmas lights and displays.And don’t forget the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the window displays at the city’s big department stores.
The New York Christmas mania is so powerful that some New Yorkers, who do not even celebrate Christmas fall under its spell, and find themselves celebrating the holiday each year.
“It’s more commercial,” said Tahmina Begum, 21, Bronx, who was browsing around the Union Square Holiday Market near the jewelry vendors. The Lehman College student who lives in a Muslim household, added, “I actually spend Christmas with my friends who celebrate Christmas. I hang out with them. We do secret Santa, we exchange gifts, but the religious aspect is not what we Muslims believe in.”
Begum’s friend, Nicole Wells, 22, of the Bronx, said: “Growing up, it was something that was pretty much influenced by American society; I’m Hindu, it’s not in our custom to celebrate Christmas.” The teacher’s assistant then said her parents moved to New York City from Trinidad 24 years ago and her parents felt it was an American tradition to celebrate the holiday, since Wells was born and raised in New York City.
According to Pewforum.org, Christianity make up 59% of the religious population, while Judaism is 8%, 3% of the Islamic faith, and another 3% is Hinduism.
As Christmas approaches, New York City becomes more and more festive each day. Christmas has become a holiday that even non-Christians celebrate, which makes the holiday feel more like a universal holiday, than a religious holiday. Other holidays, such as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are somewhat forgotten that are also widely celebrated in the month of December as well.
Eden Safdie, 23, of Brooklyn, who works as a realtor, recently just moved to Manhattan and explains Christmas in New York is an overall magical experience, but said “I don’t celebrate Christmas in my household because I’m Jewish and it’s a Christian holiday.”
He also said “If Hanukkah falls on the same night, I’ll celebrate that on Christmas with my family.” Safdie complains that his commute to and from work on the No. 6 subway train is always jam-packed with Christmas shoppers with multiple huge bags and it can get annoying during rush hour.
The traditional Christian Christmas consists of going to church on Christmas Eve, going to mass to see a play of children re-enact the birth of Christ, a huge Christmas dinner, and some even bake a cake celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. Opening presents is actually the least important part of a religious Christian Christmas, since it is the most commercial, not religious part of the holiday.
PHOTOS: Inside the House of Holidays
“Christmas is the day that my entire family goes to my aunt’s or grandparent’s house for a family gathering. Not because it’s Christmas, only because we’re all off from work that day and it’s rare that we all get together,” said Mabel Wu, 25, Queens. The Queens College student spent the last two Christmases with her boyfriend in their Forest Hills, Queens apartment and does not decorate or even put a tree up for Christmas.
The commercial part of Christmas is what non-Christians look forward to celebrating because that is all what they really can do. Wu also says, “we do nothing special. we exchange gifts, invite friends over, and drink,” which seems like every non-traditional person’s ideal Christmas Day plans.
With a huge West Indian population with religious backgrounds of either Hinduism or Islam, the House of Holidays in Ozone Park seems a little out of place to have a Christmas store located. Majority of the Christmas decorations can be seen as gag gifts that all religions can enjoy. The donut ornaments look, feel, and smell like real donuts. Also, the collectable European blow-glass ornaments that are priced $39.99 for each pet can be a nice stocking stuffer for the most humorous person. The store has decorations related to pop culture, such as “Doctor Who” to “The Walking Dead” and cartoon figures, such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse.