Yesterday was another mild day in New York; non-overcoat weather.

About noon I went over to Nina Griscom’s shop on Lexington and 70th to see Kirat Young who is doing a jewelry trunk show there for the next three days. Ms. Griscom was nowhere to be seen. JH came uptown with the Digital to take some pictures of Ms Young’s designs.

T’is the season. Doesn’t quite feel like it, weather-wise, but the holidays are upon us. The seasonal cocktail receptions and dinner party invitations are in the mail. It’s the time of the year for the debutante balls. I ran in to Jeanne Lawrence the night before last at Swifty’s. She’s in town this time of year because her daughter made her debut at the Junior League at the Waldorf last week.

An exhibition of jewelry by Michelle Farmer.

Now the charity galas begin to wind down to a halt and the stores open their doors at night, pop the corks and pour the champagne. New Yorkers are now so used to socializing in rooms full of display cases that it isn’t much different from a cocktail at some club or someone’s house. Maybe it’s even better because it’s bigger, there’s a wider cross-section, more people you might have never seen before (always interesting), often lots of champagne, heaps of hors d’oeuvres, and then of course there’s also the merch to admire if the conversation hits a lull.

Last night I went up to a cocktail/exhibition of jewelry by Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia (you’ve definitely seen him on these – and many other social – pages) and Michelle Farmer at the salon of the Block-Guest Group – Block being John Block, former vice-chair of Sotheby’s and his business partner Alexander Guest. Mr. Guest's mother was that famous blonde who was a precious gem in and of herself, CZ. Block and Guest deal in major estate jewelry as well as important stones. Mr. Block showed me a green square cut diamond set in a ring. Very rare, the green diamond sells for $800,000 a carat. They recently sold one over 2 carats. Aside from their business charter, they also occasionally hold receptions for friends who are designers such as the aforementioned.

After leaving the cocktail reception, for Prince Dimitri and Michelle Farmer, I was back on the avenue and couldn’t resist a shot of the façade of Saks Fifth Avenue with its snowflakes blinking across the front of the store.

Saks in all its holiday glory

This past Monday night was the unveiling of the “Snowflake Spectacular” there, in the presence of Marlo Thomas, representing St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital which benefited from the evening, and Valentino, the international couturier. Ms. Thomas, as a matter of fact, was wearing a red wool coat designed by None Other, Mr. V. Two of the windows of the store are also featuring paper snowflakes made by patients at St. Jude.

Then everyone was treated to a presentation of “The Land of Snow” from The Nutcracker, featuring dancers from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. Afterwards Valentino hosted a dinner at La Grenouille for friends and admirers including: Helen Schifter, Gigi Mortimer, Alexandra Kotur, Graziano de Boni, Phil Donahue, Ellen Niven, Cornelia Guest, Olivia Chantecaille, Susan Fales-Hill, Judy Peabody, Giancarlo Giammetti, and Maxim Belotserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko.

Meanwhile, the avenue at 8:30 pm last night was almost jammed with window shoppers, lot of them families. Many look like out-of-towners to this eye. I am reminded of my own experiences as a kid and a very young man coming to the City at this time of year and how transporting it was, how magical and yet embracing the imagination with its magic. That was in the air last night on Fifth Avenue.

Walking up the avenue I got a shot of the lighted trees on the upper terraces of the Trump Tower at 56th Street and Fifth. I love those trees growing out of the glass and steel House of Trump. Then of course there is the golden entrance to its lobby which is one of the tourists’ favorite shots on the avenue. They all want a picture of The Donald’s building. And they love nothing more than that rare moment when they even get to see him emerging from his aerie. I’ve seen crowds (all holding digitals out before themselves) congregate across the avenue just waiting for a glimpse of Mr. Dude. Who would have thought that a New York real estate kid turned mogul would morph into a world famous TV star and draw bigger crowds than half the stars in Hollywood? Donald maybe because he’s a natural-born showman; he had a taste for it. As did his first wife, Ivana.