The department stores have decorated their windows with holiday cheer, a tradtion that has been going on since the 1860's (Macy's first was in 1862)! Here's what you'll see this year:

• Lord & Taylor has designed holiday themed windows inspired by vintage postcards. Photos here.

• Macy's has created an interactive window with lots of multimedia features including music, video and animatronic parts!

• Tiffany's windows feature a romantic scene of wintry woods (of course, they want to inspire you to buy some jewelry for that someone special).

• Bloomingdale's is including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and holiday traditions from around the world in their windows.

• Saks Fifth Avenue's windows read like a children's story, with five ice crystals in search of a snowflake...which ends up being on the outside of the store.

If you want to be a tourist for a few hours, you can check out this guide for all the details on what windows to hit up. We suggest heading over to Barneys for the Happy Warhol-idays window display (pictured), which The New Yorker just wrote about. You can then go inside and procure a hooded sweatshirt with a banana print for $176.

Photo via gmmotorcyclist's Flickr