Christmas 2010 is history, but the holidays roar on. And so does this season’s round of holiday drinks

The Bah humbug.

served at hotels around town. While complex signature drinks are more plentiful at New York hotels than ever – Red Pepper Daisy, anyone? — holiday libations are surprisingly rare.

Last season, the Algonquin concocted six special holiday drinks, including a killer eggnog. But when we stopped by to sample this season’s offerings, alas, there were none.

We were also intrigued when we heard of Hilton’s Twelve Days of Christmas cocktails (Two Turtle Doves — Baileys, rum and espresso – sounded particularly promising). Too bad they’re only available at Hilton hotels in Great Britain. (more…)

Deck the halls with boughs of holly . . . . at the Pierre Hotel. (more…)

Gingerbread hotel.

Okay, we’ve probably gone a bit overboard with holiday hoopla this month. (We’ll get serious come the new year.) But how do you pass up a gingerbread house that’s a grand-scale replica of the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel and stands ten feet tall?

Not easily if you’re in the hotel lobby. This gingerbread house is a tower, so tall it stands up to the hotel’s not-so-petite Christmas tree.

It also smells divine as you might expect from a confection concocted from 48 lbs. of sugar, 48 lbs. of margarine, 17 quarts of milk, 180 lbs. of flour and 3 1/2 lbs. of spices. (more…)

The Barclay's evergreen tree.

Yes, the boughs of the holiday tree at the Intercontinental New York Barclay Hotel are undeniably green. But so, it turns out, are the little white lights.

Last week the 84-year-old neo-Federal-style hotel shrugged off the residue of its Roaring 20s technology and became one of New York’s first hotels to use wind energy for 100 percent of its electricity. Wind energy is beloved by environmentalists because it’s super clean, powered by generators that produce zero emissions. (more…)

The tree at Rockefeller Center isn’t the only tree in town that rocks this month.  Here’s a look at some of our favorite holiday trees at Midtown hotels.

The Four Seasons.

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King King in Gingerbread

Ever wondered how King Kong perched on top of the Empire State Building might look rendered in gingerbread?

Can’t say we ever did, either. But King Kong is just one of seven movies interpreted in grand-scale gingerbread in the second annual holiday gingerbread exhibition at Le Parker Meridien hotel.  And the result – an Art Deco gingerbread skyscraper with a frosted ape balanced atop a fondant finial – is scrumptious.

For this year’s contest, teams from local bakeries, sweets trucks and restaurants fashioned gingerbread creations celebrating movies made in New York.  The goods (or perhaps we should say goodies) are on view through January 9, and they’re yummy. West Side Story is depicted by the Treats Truck in gingerbread tenements, “Sharks” and “Jets” scrawled in icing on the walls. (more…)