Stores create fantastic displays as special holiday attractions

Viewing the displays is as traditional as gift-giving.
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's a holiday parade that rivals the Macy's Thanksgiving Day version or the New Year's Rose Parade: The trek made by thousands of people each day to see the fanciful windows at Manhattan's most famous stores.
For many families, both locals and visitors, viewing the special displays is as much a holiday-time tradition as gift-giving itself. The stores know this, with many embracing a new theme and more elaborate decorations each year:
ULord & amp; Taylor brings to life six fairy tales -- "The Princess and the Pea," "Rumpelstiltskin," "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Cinderella" -- with animated figures, detailed scenes and music.
When the retailer moved into its current location at 424 Fifth Ave. in 1914, it installed a unique hydraulic lift system that allows for complex work to be completed below street level and the whole window is simply raised into place.
UMacy's windows are dedicated to "Christmastime in the City," featuring famous New York scenes as an animated pop-up book. The store is located at the intersection of Broadway and 34th Street.
USaks Fifth Avenue takes a new direction with a story of universal love instead of a more traditional holiday tale.
Saks does, however, continue last year's snowflake theme, using brightly lit snowflakes in some windows at the store on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, and using snowflakes as the seasonal symbol on bags and boxes.
UTiffany & amp; Co.'s windows, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, will be wrapped in traditional tartan plaid, highlighting gems from the Schlumberger and Paloma Picasso collections in addition to Art Deco, Tiffany Legacy and Tiffany Lace pieces.
UBergdorf Goodman, diagonal from Tiffany's at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, features 35 holiday windows decorated in designer fashions, flying monkeys, gilded birds, Delft china, a zebra, an ostrich and a shop of curios. Each window is based on the musical refrain from a holiday carol or song.
For example, Venetian gold fabrics are the backdrop to "three French hens, two turtle doves" in a window with the gilded birds and a tulle net gown by Roland Nivelais.