Holiday Guide: Arts Picks

Comments (0) By Alexis Soloski Wednesday, Nov 23 2011

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Holiday Guide 2011
Arts: Season Picks
Books: Readings to Feed Your Wintertime Fears
Dining: Heat-Seeking Victuals
Music: Yo La Tengo Celebrates 10 Years of Hanukkah Miracles
Tech: Today's Hot Gadgets Will Be Tomorrow's Landfill

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Come winter, a lot of animals like to hibernate. But the ones at the Bronx Zoo apparently like to party. From December 26 to 31, you can rejoice alongside them. Activities include horse-drawn carriage rides, ice-carving contests, and an ice play area, which includes a throne shaped like a polar bear, a marine-themed slide, walkways, caves, and a maze. Best of all, you can watch as the animals open their presents in a series of "holiday-themed animal-enrichment activities." Meanwhile, the Central Park Zoo celebrates Winterfest weekends in December, which involve holiday lighting, special performances, and stocking stuffers for the polar bears and penguins, including "fish-sicles" and fruits. k bronxzoo.com, centralparkzoo.com

Trains in the Bronx aren't typically a cause for jubilation. (Although a clean car and an absence of route malfunction is certainly a delight.) But there's joy in the borough during the Holiday Train Showat the New York Botanical Garden. Inside a conservatory, model trains race past intricate replicas of New York City landmarks created from garden materials. This year, the garden allows admittance to artist studios to show how nuts, bark, and branches create the miniature Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee Stadium. Associated events include a film festival, a classical music concert, a Little Engine That Could puppet show, cocktail nights, and a life-size gingerbread playhouse with cookies and frosting to nibble afterward. k nybg.org