What's your building doing for the holidays?

Any similar stories out there to what the Times writes about? What are your buildings doing this year? -------------------------------------------- Small revolutions have been mounted when an apartment building’s lobby has gone without a Christmas tree and a menorah during the holiday season, or when a renegade Christmas tree has suddenly appeared in a building that has never had one. In a city... [more]

Any similar stories out there to what the Times writes about? What are your buildings doing this year? -------------------------------------------- Small revolutions have been mounted when an apartment building’s lobby has gone without a Christmas tree and a menorah during the holiday season, or when a renegade Christmas tree has suddenly appeared in a building that has never had one. In a city where people live in small spaces and close quarters, many see the lobby as an extension of home, and consequently can be very particular about how it is decorated. And being New Yorkers, they aren’t bashful about making their feelings known. Gideon Stein, the board president at the Ariel West, a condo on the Upper West Side, said he oversaw “a very heated debate” over holiday decorations two years ago. The building was new and had a tree and a menorah, but few were entirely satisfied. The discussion revolved around religious equality. Some people didn’t want a Christmas tree, others then said there shouldn’t be a menorah, and to be fully inclusive, there was talk of Kwanzaa, even though no one in the building seemed to celebrate it. “It started off religious and quickly became an issue about what was tasteful,” Mr. Stein said. “That’s when I learned to never again open anything up for debate with 65 other people, because it very quickly gets out of hand.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/realestate/12cov.html [less]