Many of Manhattan's most prominent holiday displays are created in a 65,000-square-foot warehouse in the Bronx.

There are the falling toy soldiers and the 72-foot-tall Christmas tree atop the marquee of Radio City Music Hall. There's the cluster of giant Christmas bulbs in Rockefeller Center. And there are the 20-foot snowflakes on the facade of Saks Fifth Avenue, which will light up to "Carol of the Bells" with the unveiling of store's window displays tomorrow night.

They're a world away from the industrial strip that houses American Christmas Inc., whose sprawling brick building is painted red and green. Inside the workshop, lights twinkle on garlands, ladders tower over giant wreaths and an occasional menorah, and signs bear the company's slogan: "We make the magic."

Workers have been toiling since February to design and assemble installations for the interiors and exteriors of stores, hotels and office buildings in New York and beyond.

"It's Christmas all year around here," said CEO Fred Schwam, an Armonk resident who grew up in Nanuet.

His father, Marvin Schwam, started the company in 1968. When he sold it in 1988, Fred Schwam took over its Christmas division, reorganized it and founded the current company.

"In the early years of the business, it was really a one-man company. I was the salesman; I was the bookkeeper; I was the decorator," he said. "Now, that we've grown and been able to expand, our success is really dependent on the quality of the people I'm surrounding myself with."

He has 40 full-time employees and 55 seasonal workers. Last week, a group of women fluffed out the branches of lifelike Christmas trees and wreaths. Jacqueline Garcia, a Bronx resident who has worked there since 2001, placed oversized ornaments on the branches, balancing them in perfect symmetry.

"I love decorating," she said.

The creations travel to locations throughout the country: ritzy venues like the Saks stores in Boston, Chicago and New Orleans and the Four Seasons Hotel and Lord & Taylor in New York City - and to more modest locales.

"We have clients who spend as little as $1,000, and we have clients who will spend as much as $1 million," Schwam said.

In some instances, his company decorates national retail chains such as Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. His staff designs the decorations, has them manufactured in China, creates easy-to-assemble installations, and mails them to the stores to be installed by workers on site.

This year, his company also started making decorations for the Frontgate catalog of luxury home furnishings and decor.

Though some clients tell his staff exactly what they want, most trust them to come up with an original plan.

"We don't go into a space with a pre-conceived notion of what we want; we let the space dictate the design and the colors," he said.

Schwam works with his design and production teams to realize the ideas. Izabella Gola of Brooklyn, a production manager who is a sculptor and painter on the side, acts as a liaison between the departments. Lance Caffrey of Ossining, the chief production officer, monitors the workshop to makes sure things are done on time, on budget and according to specs.

Caffrey, who was previously a company manager for the American Ballet Theater, has worked there for six years.

"I thought I would hate Christmas after the first year," he said. "It turns out, when you spend an entire year focusing and getting ready for this holiday, it becomes really exciting when it comes. ... The reward for all your planning and all of the work is all these beautiful decorations."

As much as the staff enjoys the spirit of the season, one thing was conspicuously absent from the workshop: Christmas music.

"Our staff is very proud and passionate about what they do," Schwam explained, "but I think if I played Christmas music, I might be pushing my luck."