After a fabulous holiday party that my dear friend Edith threw at her Architectural Digest-worthy home in Banker’s Hill, the bi-coastal socialite that I am packed two traveling bags (one empty for my shopping), Jet Blued up, up and away and red-eyed back home to New York City. Thank god the transit strike was over; otherwise my Jimmy Choos would not last an hour.

New York is a beautiful city to visit any time of the year, but the holidays are magical. The entire city is lit up gloriously with millions of twinkling lights, from the hotels to the townhouses to the leaf-bare trees. One of the most magical sights has to be the Tavern on the Green in Central Park, a glass-domed restaurant with multicolored chandeliers inside and every branch of every tree surrounding it covered in lights. It’s beautiful inside and out. Another spectacular display is the New York Stock Exchange building, with its giant American flag in lights covering the building’s entire façade.

Fifth Avenue near the Rockefeller Center can turn even Scrooge into a joyful being. Here, millions of people from all over the world come to celebrate the best of the holidays, the centerpiece being the gigantic holiday tree in front of the ice-skating rink. This year, the Top of the Rock observation deck was open to the public. The windows of Saks Fifth Avenue always draw the crowds for its animated traditional holiday display. Giant snowflakes adorned the entire façade of the building this year, and they lit up at regular intervals in synch with music in a fantastic light show. The three-story-tall snowflake that hangs at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, a feat in itself, got a makeover this year, with more light and reflecting crystals. But, hands down, the most fabulous window display in all of New York City (since Barneys New York closed) has got to be the windows of Bergdorf Goodman. Talk about locking up a deranged drag queen – with high style and a warped imagination – with a glue gun. This in itself is worth the trip!

Shopping is always a big deal for me, but I avoid the department stores like the plague – all except Henri Bendel, a real New York original. I also enjoy the scavenger hunt at Century 21, the store not the real estate company. You may have seen the store in a recent episode of “Queer Eye,” and both Carson and Thom love the fashion and home accessories. Here you’ll find designer brands like Dolce, Gaultier and Prada at a fraction of the original price. Or I might trek up to the outlet mall in upstate New York (anything above the George Washington Bridge is upstate to me) for Armani, Burberry and Escada. I skipped the knock-offs in Chinatown and splurged on the real deal. Mostly I go to obscure little shops all over town to find treasures and bargains. This time I lucked out and bought two gowns at a shop called Natalie’s at Nassau Street in lower Manhattan. As a holiday treat, you can even travel all around the city for half price on buses and subways.

New York is also the entertainment capital of the world. Big-budget movies still have their old-fashioned premieres at the Ziegfeld Theater. One such movie I went to was Memoirs of a Geisha, which I loved. There was such hoopla about the fact that the star playing the geisha is not Japanese, or that real geishas don’t show the backs of their necks. This is a movie, people! Kinda reminded me of Yul Brynner, who was not Thai (The King and I), or of Lea Salonga, who is not Vietnamese (Miss Saigon). They also keep stressing the fact that geishas are not prostitutes, but “artistes” that provide companionship, and yet they show the “mama san” offering her cherry to the highest bidder. Oh, I get it, just like the “escorts” who charge for their time in the classifieds section. Now don’t get all up in arms, I’m just being facetious. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and even went to pick up copies of the book at Strands for the flight back. Strands is also a New York institution, where you can find out-of-print books and reviewer copies at great prices.

But New York is also known for its art movie houses, where you can catch little indie films that make the festival circuits but don’t end up in your cineplexes. One such movie is Transamerica, although this may get extra play because it stars Felicity Huffman as Bree (ironically Marsha Cross’ name in “Desperate Housewives”), a male-to-female transsexual who discovers she has a teenage son. This is a poignant movie worth renting if it doesn’t make it to San Diego. My only lament is why they always have to make trans people look so mannish all the time. But that is a small detail compared to watching Bree pee with a penis. Yes, I said penis. Another small movie worth looking out for is Breakfast on Pluto, which stars Cillian Murphy. Both Cillian and Felicity were nominated for Golden Globes for the gender-bending roles, as is Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. High praises for the Golden Globes.

Broadway scored one of its biggest box office years in 2005, and half-price tickets are hard to come by during the holidays, so I caught a few off-Broadway shows instead. It’s amazing to see new small theater spaces opening up all over the city, offering small productions a chance to be seen – spaces like 59E59 (50 East 59th Street), Second Stage Theatre and the Dodger Stages (a former multi-screen movie house). Although I do miss the old dingy spaces like Bowery Lane, Minetta Lane and, my all-time favorite, Charles Ludlum’s Ridiculous Theatre Company. One such play was The Little Dog Laugh, written by Douglas Carter Beane, who also wrote As Bees in Honey Drown. I met Douglas when he and the production crew came to my coronation in New York. They followed me all night, and later cast me in To Wong Foo, my Hollywood debut. Little Dog is about a closeted gay Hollywood heartthrob, his pushy lesbian agent, his “rentboy” friend and the hustler’s girlfriend. The play is witty, cleverly staged and full of irresistible one-liners. The ensemble was perfectly cast, especially Johnny Galecki as the rentboy. You may remember seeing him in The Opposite of Sex and Vanilla Sky, or as Becky’s boyfriend in TV’s “Roseanne.” This young kid (now 29) we grew up with on TV is now fully grown. No, he’s huge! I saw it with my own delicate eyes; when he stripped down on stage I almost went into cardiac arrest. I swear that’s why a few of the older matinee women left the theater. I also saw Christine Jorgensen Reveals. Miss Jorgensen was the celebrated American GI from the Bronx who underwent sex re-assignment in Denmark in 1952. Christine (nee George) is often credited as a pioneer in gender identity awareness, and forced the world to reconsider the boundaries of genderhood. The play is a recreation of her only recorded interview, and stars Bradford Louryk, who lip-synced the entire performance.

New York is famous for the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square. The entire area begins shutting down at about 3:30 p.m., and it’s an amazing feat by the city. No detail is too small to ensure the safety of the millions of revelers that night: There are surveillance cameras and police helicopters, no booze or backpacks are allowed, street manhole covers and postal boxes are sealed, newspaper dispensers in the area are removed, and there are multiple layers of barricades and an intricate traffic flow system. One enterprising business, Roxy Deli, even has runners delivering food to you so you don’t lose your spot. But going to the hundreds of port-o-sans scattered about is another story.

Here is some trivia about the famous ball: It weighs 1,070 lbs. and has 700 lights, 504 Waterford crystals and 90 rotating mirrors that are six feet in diameter. The first ball drop was in 1904, and the current one falls 77 feet in 60 seconds.

Happy New Year! As you read this I will just have landed back in San Diego. By the way, I will be celebrating my two years of hosting the It’s Raining Men wet underwear contest at Bacchus house on Thursday, Jan. 19; and All Worlds Video and Raging Stallion star Parker Williams (last seen in My Boyfriend the Stripper) will be my guest on Jan. 26. I hope you didn’t miss me too much!