Hospitality_Recreation

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Erik Hall of Rochester, N.Y., looks up at the elaborate holiday displays during a tour in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Each holiday season, tour operator Tony Muia takes tourists from around the world on his "Christmas Lights & Cannoli Tour" visiting the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge, where locals take pride in over-the-top holiday light displays. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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A giant Santa Claus stands amid other Christmas decorations outside a home in Brookyn, where neighbors dress up their yards and home exteriors in grand style. (Associated Press)

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Tourists snap photos as they make their way past holiday displays in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge, where locals take pride in over-the-top displays. (Associated Press)

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Spectators view an elaborately decorated home for the holidays in Brooklyn. The locals in the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge take pride in over-the-top displays. (Associated Press)

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Extra credit goes to the cook who takes the time to make a creamy mustard sauce to serve with herb-roasted Cornish game hens for the holiday. Evaporated skim milk can be used in the sauce as a low-fat alternative. (Associated Press)

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The “Tree of Hope” in Union Beach, N.J., has become a rallying point amid the devastation of Superstorm Sandy. After it was fished from the gutter and set up in a field, it was filled with ornaments and lights from the grieving community. (Associated Press)

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Syrian children who fled their homes gather around a vehicle to get pillows and blankets distributed at a camp for displaced Syrians, in the village of Atmeh, Syria, on Dec. 10, 2012. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (Associated Press)

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Abdullah Ahmed, 10, who suffered burns in a Syrian government airstrike and fled his home with his family, stands outside their tent at a camp for displaced Syrians in the village of Atmeh, Syria, on Dec. 11, 2012. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (Associated Press)

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Syrian children whose families fled their homes stand Dec. 11, 2012, at a camp for displaced Syrians, in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (Associated Press)

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A Syrian woman who fled her home cries Dec. 10, 2012, while asking for a pillow and a blanket at a distribution at a camp for displaced Syrians, in the village of Atmeh, Syria. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter: the ground under white tents is soaked in mud, rain water seeps into thin mattresses and volunteer doctors routinely run out of medicine for coughing, runny-nosed children. (Associated Press)

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Syrians who fled their homes struggle to get pillows and blankets distributed at a camp for displaced Syrians, in the village of Atmeh, Syria, on Dec. 10, 2012. This tent camp sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians uprooted by the country's brutal civil war has lost the race against winter. (Associated Press)