The Art of the Christmas Window

Eaton's Christmas window, 1964.

My mother fondly recalls Christmastime in Toronto, venturing with her sister after school from her home in Swansea to meet my grandmother at the enormous Yonge and Queen Eaton's flagship store. There they would shop for new dresses, perhaps add some toys to their Christmas lists, and end the evening with dinner at the rooftop Georgian Room. The most magical experience of all, however, was outside, found in the store's elaborate, painstakingly

 constructed Christmas windows.

Valiant effort, Holt's.

Eaton's no longer exists, and neither does its greatest rival, Simpson's ("Eaton's always had the better windows", my mother maintains), and the department store is no longer the civic or even national institution it once was. Some great stores do still survive, however, and the tradition of the Christmas window prevails- albeit, perhaps without that same "magic" of years past. 

Harry, you can do better...

The Bay...AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Essentially- the modern Christmas window sucks. Have you been 'round Yonge and Queen lately? The Bay's windows look like Circa- the club. They're frightening. The best windows this city can claim are those of Holt Renfrew. And Harry Rosen's? Don't even get me started...

Thanks, Obama.