There’s always plenty to do in NYC on holidays, including on Christmas Day.
Several museums are open with special film screenings and must-see exhibits, and it’s a great time to see the FREE holiday light shows and store window, or take in the Big Apple Circus.
And most museums will return to their normal Sunday hours on Dec. 26, the day after Christmas.
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The Jewish Museum is open, with FREE admission on Christmas Day, as it offers every Saturday. You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate beautiful paintings and sculpture or handmade artifacts from around the world.
The current main exhibit, Afterlives includes objects looted from Jewish collections during the war, including works by such renowned artists as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Gustave Courbet, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Camille Pissarro.
The exhibit also includes rarely seen archival photographs and documents that connect the objects to history. The Jewish Museum has also commissioned four contemporary artists to create new works that address the resonance of the exhibition’s themes.
Claim your timed admission tickets here.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is screening the 1983 Barbra Streisand musical Yentl, about a young woman in Eastern Europe who disguises herself as a man in order to go to school.
The film will be available to stream from Friday, December 24 through Sunday, December 26.
Yentl is based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy.”
The film will be accompanied by two exclusive talkbacks hosted by Mattie Kahn, a contributor at Glamour. In the first, Kahn will interview Neal Gabler, author of Barbra Streisand: Redefining Beauty, Femininity, and Power, about Streisand’s life and legacy.
In the second, Kahn interviews Nehemiah Persoff, the 102-year-old Hollywood legend who plays Streisand’s father in Yentl, about his long career and memories making the film.
The screenings are FREE, but MJH invites a $10 suggested donation.
Register here.
Photo: Madison Square Park Conservancy
Be a tourist.
Christmas Day is a great day for a staycation in the greatest city on the planet.
Visit one or more of these FREE holiday light shows.
Visit one or more of these FREE outdoor holiday trees
Take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, and wave at the Statue of Liberty, symbol of freedom and hope around the world, much like Christmas itself.
Madame Tussauds is open in Times Square. So is Dave & Buster’s where you can eat between arcade games.
It’s also a good day to take in the stunning views from the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, One World Observatory, the Edge at Hudson Yards, or the new SUMMIT One Vanderbilt next to Grand Central Terminal.
The Big Apple Circus is back at Lincoln Center, featuring Guinness world record-holder Nik Wallenda and his family of fearless high-wire walkers, plus an international cast of award-winning, world-class circus artists. There’s a 3pm show on Christmas Day.
What are your plans on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021?
What do you think about this? We welcome your comments.