Christmas trees for the troops

Fresh-cut Christmas trees and thousands of holiday letters, decorations and gifts on trucks motorcaded to Kennedy Airport and were then hand-packed onto a plane headed to the Middle East. Operation Holiday Cheer is now in its 15th year. With the help of DHL, Dees' Nursery has donated and sent more than 10,000 trees and trimmings to U.S. servicemen and women stationed throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

Inflating the parade balloons

Thousands came out in the chilly weather to watch the inflation of the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Christmas suit craze

Players for the Boston Bruins to the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins are unapologetically wearing Christmas-themed suits splashed with holiday cheer.

Christmas at Rolf's

From the moment you walk through the door of Rolf's, you know this is no ordinary restaurant. There's lots of looking up and pretty quickly, the cameras come out. It is spectacular. It has more than 5,000 ornaments and 150,000 lights.

Tips for holiday tipping

It's a hot topic every holiday season: who should you tip and how much should you give? Thomas Farley, an etiquette expert known as Mister Manners, says the best rule of thumb is to start with the people you're accustomed to tipping during the year. That includes service professionals like your hair colorist, hair stylist, massage therapist, and even your acupuncturist.

Celebrating Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights. Different from Christmas, the date changes each year. But what doesn't is the number of nights.

Lord and Taylor holiday windows

The holiday windows at Lord and Taylor are a tradition that date back to 1937. Unlike other retailers, Lord and Taylor considers the windows a gift to the city so commercial products are never included in the animated displays. This year, the theme is "The best and the brightest."

Hot holiday toy: Fingerling

Every holiday gift-giving season toy stores stuff shopping bags full of familiar-looking containers of Legos, Nerf guns, Play-Doh, Barbies, and Hot Wheels. But every year one must-have new-coming one-season-wonder joins those staples. This year the honor seems to be going to Fingerlings.

School calendar omits holiday names

In what seems like an effort to be politically correct, the Levittown School District on Long Island has offended some of its community members. The controversy sparked over this year's school calendar. The hard copies were mailed to parents this week. On holidays – including Thanksgiving and Columbus Day -- the square simply reads "No school."