Shoppers jostle for space, carrying glossy packages. The Salvation Army Santas ring their bells. Sometimes it even snows. If you're an Australian and your idea of a Christmas tree is the scraggly bit chopped off the top of a pine, the array of different foliage available in New York is utterly tantalising, although it doesn't come cheaply. And then there are the decorations - it's unacceptable to bung on a bit of tinsel and hope for the best.
People spend weeks planning their tree-trimming and then they throw a party for it.
New York is astoundingly prosperous now, and that has meant the stores are more crowded than ever before. Given this is the year that people are discovering shopping on the Internet in a big way, the mind boggles at the thought of how much spending is actually going on. You might think all this prosperity adds up to a jolly Christmas to be had by all. But the spirit of Charles Dickens's Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well in New York this season and working at City Hall. Few people would be surprised if Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past this year.