Trouble

The rest of our holiday activities were great. More eating out, FAO Swartz, Gilmore Girls, sleeping in. This holiday marked the first Tom and I both didn't have to work, and it was glorious. We finished out the break with a little New Year's party, good friends and food a plenty. None of us made it till midnight, me included, but when the party includes a bunch of kids and babies, the night tends to end on the early side, gotta love New York for its slim pickings of babysitters.

One of the highlights of the day/night was the marathon baking I got myself into. I really have a hard time limiting myself to one or two things, especially if I am hosting something, I can thank my mom for that. I think I baked for at least 7-8 hours, without sitting down in between. Mint brownies, german chocolate brownies, nutty-chocolate bars, marshmallow coconut bars, and Tom's contribution, peanut butter rice krispie treats. I think at least a solid week of running is due for the, I ate so many I lost count, brownies I consumed in one night. Luckily the new year is here, I froze and very tightly saran wrapped the leftovers, and weight watchers is just around the corner, begging for my attendance.

The other note worthy highlight of the night was Luke mistaking the bottle of green food coloring for one of his green sippy cups. Forget the fact it was an 8th of the size, it didn't stop him. He slurped up that food dye until the bottle ran dry. The green took days to wash, but if you look close enough at our hands, green remnants are still lingering in our cuticles and nail beds.

Day 8

This was actually our second attempt at the Bronx Zoo in a week. The first time, after driving all the way up there, & getting lost, we decided that the rain might make it less than enjoyable. So we went at it a week later with the Riches. Our initial plan was to go see the train show at the Bronx Botanic Gardens, but that was sold out, so we went straight to the zoo.

I don't want to go as far as saying it was disappointing, but most of the animals were "not available", and the admission price was a bit steep for a "holiday light" spectacular. The lights at temple square are much more impressive and FREE at that. But we had a good time despite a few falls from the kids and yes another broken camera, number three for this year.

A big step for Luke, he made it around and around the carousel without screaming.

The "holiday light show" really only consisted only of animal shapes wrapped in lights. Some of them were pretty great though.

Day 7

Let me warn you know, I am not going up to 12 days. We are worn out and just want to relax a bit before Tom heads back to work. But I do have a few more days to blog about, I am just slow in posting them.

We couldn't let New York pass us by without going to see the Rockettte's at Radio City. This was actually my second time, Tom's first, and we thought we were pushing it with Luke (he's not even two). The show is really quite spectacular, even for us in our 30's, and for babies too.

I love Radio City Music Hall. This is the third show I have seen here, and I am always in awe of the beauty and grandness of the hall and foyer. Although Luke won't remember being here, I am so happy he got to see a show before we left.

The Rockette's are quite amazing. The precision and gracefulness of every dancer was so captivating. I couldn't help but wish I was one of them. Not only because I would trade my body for one of their's any day, but the energy and excitement they must feel during each performance would be so exhilarating. I quickly let that dream die, but my sister Whitney would fit right in.

Luke's favorite were the dancing bears and dolls.

This year's show was the 75th anniversary. Three quarters of the way through the show they played a documentary on the history of the Rockette's. It was interesting, and a bit emotional, for me. Another big part of the show highlighted how wonderful Christmas is in New York. As if the crying in the documentary wasn't enough, I couldn't contain myself as the Rockette's danced through scenes of New York. I am really going to miss this place.

The show ended with a beautiful nativity scene. I can't help but feel so sad lately how Christ seems to be taken out of Christmas especially here in New York. It was almost refreshing to feel the spirit somewhere different than church. It was the perfect ending, and Luke really loved the camels.

Day 6

I really should appreciate that Luke doesn't wake us up at the crack of dawn to open his Christmas presents. But instead I found myself waking up, and going back to sleep, reminiscent of my childhood, just hoping Luke would  wake up a bit earlier than usual. He didn't, so I just lied awake in bed until his little head popped up from his crib.

He was as excited as I could have hoped. It didn't take much encouragement for him to begin playing with his unwrapped toy piano and scooter. We really could have just stopped there. But we couldn't help ourselves this year. He went crazy, opening all of the gifts. Each one getting at least 10 minutes of play time with.

Tom and I didn't exchange gifts this year so we only had a few gifts from family members to open, all of which were lovely. Thank you everyone!! We both agreed that instead of buying gifts for each other, we would spend the money on doing fun New York things. We have certainly spent more than our fair share so far,  but it has been worth it, and I think more memorable than any Christmas so far.

I spent the rest of the morning baking and baking for our traditional Christmas brunch. I always get carried away, but I so love Christmas brunchy food, so yummy. And Christmas day wouldn't be complete without the Riches. We try to spend at least 75% of the day together, and usually do a pretty good job. Christmas won't be the same without them. Katie made a yummy egg dish and a cranberry coffee cake. I contributed a pumpkin cream cheese roll, a peppermint sweet roll, German pancakes, egg and ham muffin quiches, and eggnog bread.

I would have taken more pictures but I left that up to Katie and her brand new drool worthy camera. She will have to post pictures of the event when she writes her Christmas retrospective, can't wait Katie! We ate and ate, and even finished off the day with Brooklyn churned peppermint ice cream.

Christmas always comes and goes so fast. This year we are trying to spread it out a bit, and I definitely recommend it. So since we are still celebrating, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

I leave you with video footage of Luke on his new scooter. He is good, a natural really. He will be riding a two wheeler no doubt before he turns three.

Day 5

Ahh, Christmas Eve. One of my favorite days of the year. I love that it is different from Christmas, more calm, more spiritual, & more celebratory of Christ. We did have our share of fun, but I love ending the night with caroling and this year, the nativity story put on by the kids.

We started the day with our Christmas Eve tradition, brunch at Norma's.  We try to eat here for as many holidays as we can, but we never miss a Christmas Eve. Justin, my brother, was in town this year for Christmas so he joined us. The wait was a bit long, but the long halls of the Parker Meridian hotel, where Norma's resides in, helped Luke release energy before he was strapped into his high chair.

Justin ordered an egg and ham quesadilla, Tom ordered a chicken and onion omelet, and I ordered Banana Pancakes with a macadamian nut topping and butter. I had to take pictures of everything, again. In my defense though, this is probably the last time we will eat here.

After we got home, I rushed to the grocery store to get the fixings for our Christmas Eve dinner at the Palmer's. How I regretted waiting until the last minute to buy everything. The store's were packed and out of all the essentials, like Peppermint Ice Cream for example. After finishing the butternut squash soup, in record time, we cruised over ready to celebrate with Riches, Jeppesen's, and the Palmer's.

The evening was great. Low key, yummy food, and white elephant gifts. But the best part of the night was the reenactment of the nativity scene, the singing, and dancing (kids).