Downtown Albany unwrapped its first Christmas present for shoppers Thursday evening as retailers got an early start to the holiday season.

Hedie Manske, manager of Frogs & Pollywogs, was one of those getting into the holiday spirit. Hers was one of 43 downtown windows adorned throughout the day with Christmas wrapping paper.

At 5 p.m. windows were unwrapped, revealing each store's Christmas decorations. Manske started preparing her display early in the day. Her unwrapping showed off a wintry theme of snowflakes, trees and toys. She said the display is starting out sparse, with a toy added daily until Christmas.

The window unwrapping began a three-day downtown open house that will run through Saturday and feature shopping, refreshments and holiday music until 8 p.m. each night.

Shoppers may vote for their favorite window display through Thanksgiving. The winning window will be revealed at the downtown tree lighting ceremony Dec. 5.