Instead of just piling up the dead Christmas tree bodies on the street like so many Romanovs, area artist MIchael Neff has gathered up some of the fallen evergreen soldiers and honored them with a fitting tribute: hanging from the underside of the BQE in Williamsburg. The ingenious installation can be found where Metropolitan Avenue crosses North 6th Street. This is conveniently located not far from Union Pool, making jumping and tackling floating Christmas trees the perfectly ironic end to any evening. Here's video of the trees in action: more ›

It may be too late to keep that sweet sweet mulch for yourself, but you can still drop your tree off to be recycled for MulchFest. If we had to guess which neighborhoods would enthusiastically participate, Park Slope would be at the top of the list. But Gothamist operative Kristina Monllos snapped photos of multiple trees sitting untied on top of cars, and one cyclist dragging the carcass of their evergreen down the street. "Maybe Park Slope families have no idea how to properly clean up after Christmas?" Monllos writes. And is that any way to treat a $200 fraser fir? more ›

The city went back to work yesterday, but it's technically still Christmas (through January 5th!), and our post-holiday season stupor is not going anywhere—it's never a good sign when you find yourself thinking, 'if only we could turn back time to two weeks ago, when it was blissful and holiday music was in the air and it was 50 degrees outside.' But while work on the flux capacitor is still ongoing, a little bit of Elf goes a long way for us. The area man in the video below made this homage to Will Ferrell's effortlessly sweet NYC Christmas movie, Elf: "Decided it would be a great idea to dress up like Buddy Elf and wander around NYC. It was a great idea." Watch it below, watch the montage from the original film below that, and ask yourself what Buddy would say next time you're outside and realize you can't feel your face. more ›

"I was shopping. The baby was asleep. That’s my baby," a 25-year-old Staten Island mother reportedly told police who arrested her on Christmas Eve after she allegedly left her 15-month-old child alone in a Volvo at the Hylan Shopping Plaza. Pimyuk and her child's 27-year-old father, Orest Babchuk, were arrested and now face charges of child endangerment. more ›

For the past couple of weeks, a rumor has swirled among the Occupy Wall Street scene that Brookfield Properties, the company that controls Zuccotti Park, would close the park for three months for "renovations." The rumor most recently popped up on the Twitter feed of Jeff Smith, a member of the Occupy Wall Street media team. "Zuccotti Park's closing in January for 3 months for 'renovations.' Today feels like #OWS' swan song to the park we called Liberty Square," Smith posted on Christmas Day, followed by: "I heard from someone in OWS legal that Brookfield filed the paperwork as back-up plan to evict. Talked to security guards too." more ›

Consumers like gift cards because they make the joys of obligatory generosity easier and thus more joyous. A recent survey noted that 80% of shoppers said they were going to purchase a gift card this holiday season, for an estimated total of $27.8 billion. Companies like them too, because companies like free money. According to the Wall Street Journal, from 2005 to the present, $41 billion worth of money on gift cards has been lost or will never be redeemed. This doesn't include any of the $800 billion cost of Iraq War that President Bush attempted to pay for with old gift cards to Applebee's. more ›

While most Americans spent last night enjoying classic holiday movies like Die Hard, Occupy Wall Street was observing Christmas Eve—and the eve of the 100th day of protests—with a candlelight protest outside the New York Stock Exchange. And as you can see in this great photo by Ryan Devereaux, the candles were specially handcrafted to convey demonstrators' dissatisfaction with the financial system. Feel the burn, banksters! more ›

A series of explosions in Nigeria, many at churches holding Christmas services, have killed at least 25 people. The explosion in Madalla, 25 miles from the capital of Abuja, is where the fatalities are being reported. The NY Times reports, "A radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility." more ›

Ready for another story about people doing good around the holidays? Last night a Department of Sanitation worker doing shopping at the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus heard a woman screaming as she was being mugged. He was unable to catch up with the crooks, but he was able to pull out his pocket knife and stab it into the crook's car tire, allowing cops to quickly catch him and his accomplice. more ›

There are nice people out there! Earlier this week construction manager Chris Csoka got himself a $60 ticket while he was dropping off a truckload of baby supplies to an unemployed man—despite being told by a traffic agent that it was okay for him to unload in a no parking zone on Staten Island. But after hearing about the ticket an unidentified NYPD detective has stepped up to pay it for him. It may not feel like Christmas outside, but the spirit at least is there! more ›

It's the most wonderful time of the year... when we get to see animals opening up colorful Christmas presents at the city's zoo. Last year we saw a polar bear in Central Park open up a gift box containing fishsicles and fruit (what, no bloodsicle?), and this year the Wildlife Conservation Society offers up the below videos. They show Prospect Park's dwarf mongooses unwrapping gifts of mealworm treats, and bears in the Queens Zoo digging into their specially wrapped peanut butter! more ›

On the eve of the second anniversary of the Christmas Day underwear bomber, a man who helped stop the would-be bomber before he could blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit is suing for $10 million. Theophilus Maranga, a Dutchess County resident, has filed the lawsuit against thwarted terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Delta Air Lines, and Air France-KLM. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court yesterday, Maranga says he “risked his life” by jumping on Umar Faroul Abdulmutallab after the Nigerian student lit his shorts on fire. more ›

Christmas is this weekend (oh, you haven't heard?), and for many, that means traveling out of town to visit family. But for those who don't celebrate the holiday or aren't going anywhere, this weekend is full of entertainment options. So instead of ordering Chinese takeout and sitting at home in your sweatpants, take advantage of some of these Christmas Eve and Day offerings. Happy Festivus! more ›

On Sunday, the Sabolenko family returned to their Long Island home to find their kitchen flooded, and all their Christmas gifts stolen. The water damage and the missing TVs, X-Box, and computers totaled $5,000. "It's just wanting to do damage," Detective Brian McMenemy tells Newsday. "Some people aren't feeling the Christmas spirit." To put it mildly! But Seaford resident John Theissen, of John Theissen's Children's Foundation, couldn't let the injustice stand, and gave the kids gifts and a check for $5,000. "This shouldn't happen," he said. "This is something I had to do." more ›

Friday is Festivus (Observed), so stop crying and fight your father. Though laymen associate this alt-Christmas holiday with Seinfeld, the tradition, as zany as it sounds, is actually based in reality. Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe, who later published a book called The Real Festivus, says the holiday was created by his father, who celebrated it "whenever the hell [he] felt like it, September to May." As you can see, it's funny cuz it's true: more ›

Are you gearing up to get out of town this holiday weekend? Better hit the road now if you want to get there in time, according to a new traffic report from the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management. more ›

Because no one is content with just leaving people the hell alone to celebrate what they believe in, police in Yonkers are investigating the vandalization of eight different nativity scenes. "It's not about the statute, it's about what it means for you. It hurts," Victoria Beldran told CBS. Beldran's nativity scene was damaged over the weekend, and vandals appear to have hit six homes and two churches. "We believe an attack on one religion is an attack on all and it violates our basic freedoms," Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett said. more ›

Members of Occupy Faith, "a small group of Christians, brought together by our time living at Occupy Wall Street," is asking Brookfield Properties to allow then to host a 24-hour prayer vigil in Zuccotti Park on Christmas Eve. With the assistance of the NYCLU, the group has drafted a letter to city [pdf] officials and Bookfield, detailing the ceremony that will begin "with a midnight service on Christmas Eve and culminate with a closing ceremony at midnight on Christmas Day." Additionally, the vigil calls for Occupy Faith to "bring into the park food for meals as well as bread and sacramental wine for communion," as well as the requisite instruments. more ›

Grinchy fraudsters are wiping out holiday gift cards before the intended recipients can even get to the mall and go wild buying beer pong supplies at Spencer Gifts. In one of his Sunday Special press conferences, Senator Schumer surfaced at Greeley Square and West 33rd Street to warn shoppers about about the devious scam. more ›

There's been a bit of an uproar among commuters who use the Staten Island Ferry, which has been stripped of the holiday decorations that formerly livened up the terminals in Manhattan and Staten Island. The DOT has taken away the "holiday" tree and the big electric Hanukkah menorahs, which Rabbi Moshe Katzman has provided every year for decades. DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow issued a statement explaining the new policy, suggesting that the change is mainly about "keeping the passenger terminal clear" to "allow staff and crew to focus on their primary mission: Getting the system’s 65,000 daily commuters where they need to go safely and on schedule." But could there possibly be more than a desire for "clear" terminals at work here? more ›