When we think of Christmas trees in NYC, the tree at 50 Rock is usually top of mind, but there are wonderful trees all around the city and two of our favorites are inside museums.  And one of the best train displays anywhere is inside Grand Central. And head to Lincoln Center on Nov. 30 and celebrate Winters Eve.

Nov. 23-Jan. 10. The Origami Holiday Tree

If you’ve never made a visit during the holidays to the American Museum of Natural History then you’ve been missing out on one of the best holiday traditions in NYC – the Origami Holiday Tree.  The tree is decorated every year with over 800 hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists.

This year’s theme is Mighty and Microscopic Life including models from some of the museums exhibitions including microbes featured in The Secret World Inside You, the tenacious tardigrades of Life at the Limits: Stories of Amazing Species, and the Museum’s newest icon, the Titanosaur, which will be unveiled January 2016.

Nov, 24-Jan. 6. Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche

Head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a Christmas Tree favorite of New Yorkers and visitors, the twenty-foot blue spruce featuring eighteenth-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs hovering among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base. The installation is set in front of the eighteenth-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, with Christmas music in the background and daily lighting ceremonies.

Purchase advance tickets to avoid waiting in admission lines. Exhibitions are free with Museum admission.

Nov. 14- Feb. 21. Grand Central Holiday Train Show

Presented annually by the New York Transit Museum, this popular model railroad exhibition features Metro-North, New York Central, and subway trains departing from a miniature Grand Central Terminal on a 34’-long, two-level setup.  Lionel trains including several vintage trains from the museum’s collection, travel through NYC, the countryside and up to the North Pole.  Kids and grownup kids love it!  Get more details.

Nov. 30.  Winter Starts at Lincoln Center. 

Head to the Sixteenth Annual Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square – New York’s largest holiday festival! Join legendary artists, up-and-coming musicians, dancers, street performers and more as we welcome the holiday season and light up the Upper West Side with an evening of music, food, dancing and fun for everyone. It’s a festive filled even along the streets around Lincoln Center.  Get more details.