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).

Day 4

Even with our own and others skepticism, we braved the crowds this year and went to see the windows at Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue. Tom has never actually seen the windows, and there is something very magical, if you can ignore the people, about being in and around the biggest department stores in New York.

We decided to head to Macy's first. After much deliberation, we drove in. Sometimes I just don't feel up for the subway. We pulled into a parking garage and quickly decided that $33 was just too much to pay, so we found an even better spot right behind Macy's. In the city, almost all meters have been turned into Muni Meters. The idea of these seems so much easier, you swipe your card, tell it how long you will be there, it prints out a ticket, and done, you put it in your window and take off. This is only a great idea though if the machine can read your card. Unfortunately all 3 machines on the block couldn't, or wouldn't. We were in luck though, a nice man yelled out to Tom from across the street and said we only needed to pay Mon-Friday, and since it was Saturday, FREE! We were in luck. So glad we didn't pay that $33.

The Macy's windows were great. Luke loved them, and we were impressed too. I was really happy we decided to do it.

After Macy's we jumped on the Subway and headed uptown to Rockefeller Center and Saks. We wouldn't have been able to see the tree if we didn't take the concourse under the center and a side door that led us right in front of the tree (they were only letting people in the center from fifth avenue, which was impossible). The tree was big and pretty and the line to ice skate, which we debated on doing, wrapped around the rink and down half the block. Even though the crowd was insane, the energy was great.

We attempted to cross the street to see the windows. I was holding Luke and Tom had the stroller, as we approached the corner I suddenly was sandwiched in a giant crowd. Tom was no where in sight so I backed out of the crowd and just waited, waited to find him. After 10 minutes I assumed he made it to the other side so I worked the crowd and made it over there. He wasn't anywhere to be seen so I put Luke on my shoulders and just waited for him. 45 minutes later I assumed he must have been waiting for me. At that point people weren't allowed to cross the street so I explained my situation to the officer and was escorted across, back to Rockefeller. The situation would have been easily solved if both of us had our cell phones and we had a family emergency plan of action but we didn't have either. Tom finally called me on a pay phone and ironically we were standing only 10 feet away from each other but with the crowds we didn't see each other until he was right in front of me.

At that point, we were done. No more windows. We went into Dean and Deluca to recoup and eat some soup. It felt so nice to be together again. Hearing Luke call out "Daddy" over and over was heartbreaking.

We took the train back to Macy's to drive home, and wouldn't you know it, our car was gone. Our car was stolen a year ago so with our luck we were sure it was stolen, with some of Luke's Christmas presents inside. Best case scenario it was towed and we would have to pay a small fortune to get it out. We called the tow company, and they had no record of the car. She suggested we call back in a couple of hours so we sadly took the train home to wait. We found an old traffic ticket with our license plate number so we called again and they still didn't have any record of our car. Merry Christmas. I luckily found something else with a different license plate number on it so I called and they did have our car. So Tom went back into the city at 11pm to get our car. If we had only payed the $33 for the garage. Nothing is ever easy here.

Ending on a positive note, although Tom didn't see the Saks windows, he caught these lights on the building from across the street.

Day 3

This one was just for us. Something that rarely if ever happens. Katie was kind enough to watch Luke for the entire day so we could go to hear the New York Philharmonic play the Messiah and go to dinner.

For starters, it was so fun to dress up for something besides church. Although I did wear the same dress I wore  last Sunday, but it felt different, more exciting. Lincoln Center as always was beautiful. I feel ashamed in admitting this, but it was my first concert. I couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement as I passed the beautiful lit tree and imagined how beautiful the symphony would sound.

It was beautiful. The Messiah holds such a special place in my heart and
memory. As I listened, my mind wandered through all of my
memories of playing it at Ricks College. I wanted so badly to be up
there playing and accompanying my favorites, "Comfort Ye" and "He was
despised". They sounded amazing.  But nothing compared to the spirit that was
felt when the congregation stood for the "Hallelujiah Chorus". My emotions took over, as they do every time I hear and sing it.

I wish I could say the same things for Tom's experience. For the first half, he slept. And for the second, he plugged his nose. When you choose to attend the matinee performance, with it usually comes an audience of senior citizens and an overwhelming smell of bengay. I was able to get used to it, Tom couldn't.

After the concert we treated ourselves to Gramercy Tavern. Tom has had this restaurant on the top of his must eats list while we are in New York but we have never been able to justify spending the money. Not that we really could last night, but we just couldn't not do it. The portions were small, the taste was perfect, and the service was impeccable. I even got to wear a complimentary shawl when I mentioned I was chilly.

I had to take pictures of the food, just to help remind me the entire experience.

And this is Tom yelling at me to stop taking the pictures. We really need to get out more often.