A Maspeth living room is transformed into a Thanksgiving dining room that can seat visiting family. Tribune photo By Brian M. Rafferty

Queens Connections:
Borough Rich In Holiday Heritage

From the classic telling of Santa's cheery cheeks to the MC walking his dog in the park, Queens has always had a connection to the winter holidays. Take a gander at how some of the borough's luminaries are connected to the holidays - as well as how some regular folks just choose to celebrate the season.


Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong

The jazz legend and International Ambassador of Goodwill lived in Corona and is buried in Flushing Cemetery, where a brass trumpet sits atop his headstone.

Armstrong loved kids, and described Christmas as the "Children's Holiday."

"Christmas Through The Years" is just one of several compilations of Satchmo's Christmas music. Released in 1996, it includes the classic "Zat You Santa Claus," "Baby Its Cold Outside" and more.

For information on Satchmo's holiday recordings (both the classics and collectors items), go to amazon.com, or log on to louisarmstrong.com


Airport Christmas

For one day each year in the weeks before Christmas, LaGuardia Airport turns into a wonderland filled with Santa's reindeer, toy soldiers, elves - and the big guy himself, Santa, as past and present airport and airline employees take young patients from Schneider Children's Hospital and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System on a "Fantasy Flight" to the North Pole.

Toy soldiers present each of the children on the flight with a warm hat, to make sure they have the right equipment for the trip to the frosty tip of the world. Even Rudolph climbs on board to join the youngsters - his antlers swaying to Christmas Carols, as the pilots rev the engines for "takeoff."

Even though the flight never leaves the ground, the kids are ecstatic when the doors open, and Santa meets them at the "gate" to the North Pole - inside the airport terminal. Waiting with Santa are reindeer, clowns, musicians, carolers - and Mrs. Claus, always a favorite of kids on the Fantasy Flight. And in keeping with a true kid's fantasy, there are piles of pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, Christmas cookies and brightly decorated holiday candy.

This year's flight will be Dec. 1.


Tony Bennett

He may have left his heart in San Francisco, but he is born and bred in Astoria. For the best assortment of Holiday classics by the Queens crooner, go to amazon.com, check with collectors and sellers at local flea markets, or log on to Tony Bennett.com.

"Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album" contains such standards as "White Christmas," "Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," all done in Tony's drop-dead-smooth style. Just check out one review from amazon.com:

"Talk about smooth! Tony Bennett is the very definition of the word. Snowfall practically renders every other version of the songs included here null and void. Even 'White Christmas' sounds better in Tony's hands than it did in Bing's."


Holiday Lights

From 90th Street in Richmond Hill, to the tree-lined streets of Queens Village and Tudors in Jackson Heights, Queens is alive with thousands of sparkling lights, animated scenes and majestic live, lighted and decorated Christmas trees.

Take a ride this holiday season throughout the neighborhoods in Queens, to experience for yourself, the traditions in holiday decorating that make the borough sparkle. Want to know where the best is?

Check out Mike Giglio's place, at 100-21 90th Ave. in Richmond Hill. With more than 90,000 lights and new additions every year, he wins hands down for the single biggest house display.

Watch out Empire State Building - you've got competition.


Holiday Displays

For the past two decades, the M&S Italian Food Store on Francis Lewis Boulevard has recognized a number of holidays throughout the year by decorating their location, both inside and out, with displays that catch the attention of many who pass by.

The family business is currently in its third generation of owners with Joe Prestia in charge, acting as the displays' architect, while manager Jose Neri sets everything up and builds some of the festive artwork bought by the store's cashier, Susan Beiner.

Neri said that although the store is decorated the most for Christmas, every holiday has a theme. Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and July 4th are other occasions that M&S celebrates with fanfare.

Every year during the Christmas holiday, a huge blowup Santa Claus and reindeer mark the island on Francis Lewis Boulevard and a large-scale turkey blows steadily with the wind in front of the store around Thanksgiving.

"People really seem to like it," said Prestia. "One woman told us that when she drives by, all her kids get excited just to see the decorations."


Maspeth Music

There are plenty of ways to get your hands on some of your favorite holiday tunes. You could pick up a holiday mix at a local music store, or opt for a solo artist's rendition of timeless classics like "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "The Little Drummer Boy." There's always satellite radio where you can tune into the sleigh bell tinged hits or with a simple click of your mouse hear who will be home for Christmas on the dozens of online radio stations.

But the best way to listen to holiday tunes is to get out of the house and walk through the "Winter Wonderland" known as Maspeth, as they line the streets with twinkling lights and pump the tunes for the Maspeth Holiday Lighting Program. After a nice walk on a crisp day in Maspeth it's certain you will "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."


Mistletoe's Butler

Ellis Parker Butler was standing under the mistletoe and smiled, but no answering smile replied, for her haughty glance bid him plainly.

Butler, working from his home in Flushing, captured the love in the hearts and yearning in the lips of Christmas time lovers with his poem, "The Ballade Of The Mistletoe Bough." Butler was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, by every measure and by many times-the most published author of the pulp fiction era, as his work appeared alongside that of his contemporaries, including Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

But in his poem he didn't get that which he prized; instead, a look from her coldly scornful eyes.

"But look at those lips! Do they hint a smile?"

Ah, the hope of the holidays.


Very Special Christmas

What would later spawn a slew of follow-ups, the first "A Very Special Christmas" CD was released in 1990 to raise money for the Special Olympics. Though the premiere edition had rockers like U2, The Pretenders, Bon Jovi and more, there was one Addidas-wearing trio from Queens who stole the show.

Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" was the only original song on the list, and to this day it is a favorite on radio stations throughout the holiday season.

Christmas In Hollis

By Run-DMC

It was December 24th on Hollis Ave after dark
When I see a man chilling with his dog in the park
I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear
Looked at his dog, oh my God, an illin' reindeer
But then I was illin' because the man had a beard
And a bag full of goodies, 12 o'clock had neared
So I turned my head a second and the man had gone
But he must have dropped his wallet smack down on the lawn
I picket the wallet up then I took a pause
Took out the license and it cold said "Santa Claus"
A million dollars in it, cold hundreds of G's
Enough to buy a boat and matching car with ease
But I'd never steal from Santa, cause that ain't right
So I was going home to mail it back to him that night
But when I got home I bugged, cause under the tree
Was a letter from Santa and the dough's for me
It's Christmas time in Hollis, Queens
Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens
Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese
And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees
Decorate the house with lights at night
Snow's on the ground, snow white so bright
In the fireplace is the yule log
Beneath the mistletoe as we drink egg nog
The rhymes that you hear are the rhymes of Darryl's
But each and every year we bust Christmas carols
Rhymes so loud and proud you hear it
It's Christmas time and we got the spirit
Jack Frost chillin, the orchids out
And that's what Christmas is all about
The time is now, the place is here
And the whole wide world is filled with cheer
My name's D.M.C. with the mic in my hand
And I'm chilling and coolin' just like a snowman
So open your eyes, lend us an ear
We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


Visit From St. Nick

Clement Moore is said to have written his famous poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas," which is also known by its first line, on a sleigh ride from his homestead in Elmhurst to Greenwich Village, where he was headed to buy his family's Christmas turkey in 1822.

Moore said the famous poem was written as a Christmas gift for his children. He originally wrote it anonymously and it might have been left in obscurity if a Moore relative had not sent the poem to a newspaper upstate. The paper published the poem with no name but when it became a perennial favorite, Moore finally admitted authorship.

Moore's homestead can still be visited in Elmhurst at the Clement Moore Homestead Park at 45th Avenue and Broadway

A Visit From St. Nicholas

By Clement C. Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"


"White Christmas"

By Irving Berlin

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

Born in Russia in 1888, Irving Berlin (Israel Baline), arrived in the United States in 1893 and received his first music lesson from his father, a Jewish Cantor.

Berlin, who lived in Queens, performed on New York City streets until he penned his first songs during World War II.

Irving Berlin wrote the score for the movie, "Holiday Inn" in 1942, where Bing Crosby first introduced the holiday classic, "White Christmas."


Wintry Weather

When shoveling the driveway is done and the streets are plowed, it is time to throw on a heavy overcoat and enjoy winter. Build a snowman in Flushing Meadows, have a snowball fight at Kissena Park, make snow angels in the schoolyard and sled down hills at Forest Park.

There is something magical about wintertime that other such seasons are hard pressed to follow up with. Sweaters, hot chocolate, a burning fireplace - staying inside could be just as fun as braving the winter chill. But outside the streets of Queens are a little less crowded, the roads are a little less congested and the smells of the flavors of the borough seem to waft through the air with much more appeal. Who can resist the smell of a plate of Tandoori chicken on a cold winter's night?