Meier & Frank / Macy's / Christmas Decorations by glabah
Meier & Frank was one of Portland's first dry goods and general stores, having been founded in 1857. In 2006, the name Meier & Frank, after a series of takeovers and consolidations of brand names, was eliminated from the Pacific Northwest. Federated Department Stores now operates most former Meier & Frank stores as Macy's stores.Every year, until 2005, there were large scale Christmas decorations placed in the display windows of Meier & Franks's flagship store in downtown Portland. During some years, these would tell a story of some sort, or have a theme. Many of them were animated - even in the years before animated Christmas decorations were common. Considerable time and energy would usually go into creating these decorations.
The 2004 decorations featured "The 12 Days of Christmas" and the "10 Lords a Leaping" were animated penguins dancing in one of the windows. The Partridge in a Pear Tree pictured here was a somewhat less interesting, but still unique, display. The "Turtle Doves" were shown to be turtles with wings.
This is written in November of 2007, and while some of the Meier & Frank traditions continue at the store under the Macy's name, we have yet to see how long this continues under the new name.
