A New York City Christmas Guide

The Gardens at St. Luke in the Fields Church in winter have always felt Christmas-y to me in a Djuna Barnes sort of way. With its spindly cherry trees, frostbitten ivy-covered walls, and rose garden marked by the charred ruins of the former parish hall, it exudes the aura of a place often visited by spirits, though none of them unfriendly.

St. Luke in the Fields Church, built in 1821, holds a key place in local history. In the 1980s, it was one of the only churches in New York willing to perform Christian funerals for those who died of AIDS, which devastated the Village.

The gardens are privately owned but open to the public. In the summer, their abundance of berries and flowers draws a dizzying array of birds, moths, and butterflies; by Christmastime, their stark beauty is far quieter but still slices through the holiday din in the streets outside.

Jeté into a Wonderland with a History as Fantastical as Its Fiction
The Nutcracker, New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
Midtown
20 Lincoln Center Plaza