Christmastime in New York City

I know, I haven't touched this blog in a year. I'm so ashamed. Here's hoping 2022 will be the Year of the Return of the Blog. I think I said that last year, but hopefully I'll mean it this time. :) 

But for now, I did want to post at least once in 2021, so I figured I would post about my trip to New York City from earlier this month. Unlike last year, I was able to take a few big trips this year.

My niece Alice and I (we are six years apart) starting planning a Christmas NYC trip in December of 2019. We originally had planned to go in December of 2020, but we all know how 2020 went. THANKFULLY we got to go about a week before things started shutting down again this month (because I would have been devastated if we had finally gotten there only to have everything get canceled on us). 

I had been to New York City twice before, in 2007 and in 2018, but had never been at Christmastime, and that was something on my bucket list. Yes, I have a long bucket list.

We landed mid-afternoon on Dec. 8 and had just enough time to check into our hotel before we headed out to meet my friend Cara for dinner. Cool story about my friend Cara- I "met" her last year when my friend Eric starting having Facebook video group calls with a few of his baseball friends. It was something to do during shutdown, and I was able to meet some amazing people. She and I realized we had so much in common and became fast friends. We were both super excited to finally meet in person. 

Me and Cara-the best of friends finally meeting in person!

We ate dinner at an amazing Sicilian restaurant called Norma (not the same as my Norma's in Dallas, but still good) and were able to get a mini tour from Cara around her part of NYC. While we were out walking, it started raining lightly. Alice and I were like giddy little kids when the rain turned to snow. It only snowed for a little bit, but we got to be in NYC in winter and it snowed. The trip was a success at that point, and we had only been there a few hours. Lol.

We were very happy we bought warm winter jackets for our trip. We definitely needed them for the majority of our trip.

Snow!

Since I had been to NYC before, I made sure Alice got to see everything she wanted to while we were there. The first stop on our first full day was the Statue of Liberty. I went in 2007 but was excited to go back. We booked tickets on the first ferry of the day. I highly recommend going early in the day- it won't be as crowded. Last time I visited the Statue of Liberty, the pedestal was closed, so I was looking forward to touring that. The crown is still closed, so that wasn't an option for us. Let me tell you-it was freezing. It was 24 degrees, the wind was blowing, and we were by the water. We decided not to complain about our 75 degree winter in Texas after that moment. 

On Liberty Island

When we got into the pedestal, there was a sign that said it was 176 steps to the top of it and we thought, "oh, that's nothing, we will take the stairs instead of the elevator." By the fourth flight of stairs, we were regretting that decision (as you will see in a photo below). Lol. But we persisted. The view from the pedestal was great, I'm glad we got to go up it. I bet the view from the crown is even better, maybe one day I get to see it. We also went to the new(ish) museum on Liberty Island, which was cool. The original torch is on display there, as well as a replica of Lady Liberty's foot (I did a comparison with my foot). I even earned my junior park ranger badge. This is a long story that started earlier this year on my baseball road trip with my friend Lisa. I'll try and recap that trip at some point so you can see how my goal to become a junior park ranger at national parks is now a thing. Lol. 

Liberty Island

We spent more time at Liberty Island than I thought we would. We had plans to meet my friend Eric for lunch, but we didn't leave Lady Liberty until almost 11, and we still had Ellis Island to visit. We told Eric lunch was going to be late. We didn't get to spend as much time as we could have at Ellis Island (honestly you could spend a whole day doing both). But it was still cool to visit again- some of it I remembered from my 2007 trip and some of the exhibits and layouts were newer and not familiar to me. And yes, I got my junior ranger badge. 

Top: My trip in 2007. Bottom: My trip this year.

It's crazy to think how many people passed through this room on their first stop in America.

Pretty sure if all the other park rangers aren't available, I'm in charge. Lol.

By the time we left Ellis Island, we were STARVING and ready to meet up with Eric. We decided to meet at the dining area of Grand Central Terminal, since it was near Eric's office. It was so good to see my friend Eric again. I met up with him during my NYC trip in 2018 and also got to see him this past July when he and our friend Rob came to Texas to visit me (I'll try and recap that visit at some point). Eric only had a little bit of time to hang out that day, but he was able to give us a tour of his office lobby, which is the building used as the Daily Planet in the 1978 Superman movie. It's a good thing we knew him because a security guard was about to kick us out until Eric said he was an employee. Normally you have to be part of a tour group to be there. Eric agreed to meet up with us the next day so we could hang out longer.

We had just enough time after saying bye to Eric to take the subway back to our hotel in Chelsea, change clothes, and get over to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall was a MUST for me on this trip and I'm so glad we were able to go. We saw them on Dec. 9 and by Dec. 17, they had canceled the remaining shows of the season due to COVID outbreaks. 

The show was amazing and better than I could have imagined. Now, I wasn't that person who took photos and videos during the whole performance (like the lady on the row in front of us), but I did snap a quick photo during the curtain call, just to get a photo of the stage. Everyone working at Radio City Music Hall was so nice- from the concession workers to the ushers. It was just a wonderful experience.

Not gonna lie, I teared up when the show started. I was so happy to be there.

After leaving Radio City Music Hall, we made our way to Rockefeller Center, because seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was another MUST for me on this trip. Did I tear up again when I saw it? Maybe. You don't know my life. After we took all the photos of the tree, we walked around 5th Ave. and looked at the window displays and Christmas lights. We also made a stop at FAO Schwarz toy store. The doorman was dressed as a toy soldier and was so nice. He kept everyone waiting in line entertained (because yes, there was a line to get inside). 

Saks Fifth Avenue had a great Christmas light show on their building. I didn't take a video of it (because I always forget to take videos on my trips), but I found this video of part of it on YouTube. 

Friday morning we went ice skating at Bryant Park. We were told that ice skating there was better than Rockefeller Center because 1.) it was cheaper and 2.) it was less crowded. We didn't care where we were- we were ice skating OUTSIDE in New York City. And yes, those are matching Buc-ee's sweaters. You can take the girls out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girls. :)

Yes, that S'mores hot chocolate was amazing.

After ice skating, we met up with Eric again and walked from Bryant Park over to Central Park and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (we didn't go in though). Eric gave a great New Yorker tour of the city. I told him he should charge people (except me, of course) for these amazing tours. He also gave a great tour when I visited in 2018. 

We went by Tiffany's but didn't have breakfast. :)

After being able to spend a good part of the afternoon with Eric, we went back to our hotel to drop off some items we had bought, and then headed to Brooklyn to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and to see the Dyker Heights lights. 

We paid for a tour of the Dyker Heights lights and really enjoyed it. You could see them for free but since we were from out of town, it was nice to have a guide walk us through the neighborhood, and even give us insider information about some of the homes. There was security and NYPD around the whole neighborhood directing foot and car traffic. The tour ended with a cup of hot chocolate from John's Deli (we were told it was the best deli in the area). If you are ever in that area around Christmas, I highly recommend this tour. 

Bottom left: Our tour guide was actually a guy who portrays Santa in the area- he was super nice. Check out his Instagram page.

While on the tour, we passed by a house decorated all in green lights (to resemble The Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz). A man was at a table talking about his son Michael, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We stopped to talk to him and give a donation. He asked where we were from and when I said Dallas, he said he was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan (yes, they exist in New York!) He was so nice, we became instant friends. I highly recommend checking out their webpage or Facebook page for more information on Michael and their non-profit.

New friends!

Saturday morning we were supposed to go to the Empire State Building but it was super foggy near the top and we were told we wouldn't be able to see anything. Thankfully, they let us inside to the second floor so we could switch out our ticket for the next day. 

A foggy Empire State Building

We did stop for a quick photo op before changing out our tickets. And yes, we were all about matching outfits this trip. We used to do that as kids, so we brought it back. Lol.

After the change of plans that morning, we were able to meet up with my friend John for a few hours. Yes, I have several friends who live in NYC and can't miss an opportunity to see them. He gave us a tour of his office (he creates costumes for musicals and plays), which was super cool. I don't want to post photos of those costumes without permission, but here is a photo of me and John. We've been friends for 25 years. :)

We decided to take in another show on our last night in town. We looked at getting tickets to a Broadway show, but decided we wanted to stick with a Christmas show, so we got tickets to 'Twas the Night Before...by Cirque du Soleil at Madison Square Garden. If you have never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, I highly recommend it. They were great! It was my first time to see one of their shows and I really enjoyed it. I found this on YouTube if you want to see clips from the show.

Sunday was our last day in town. Our flight didn't leave until 5pm and we used every bit of time we had before heading to the airport.

The last "MUST" thing that was on my NYC Christmas Bucket List was to get a photo with the Macy's Santa Claus. Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 version) is one of my favorite Christmas movies so of course, that is what inspired this. 

You had to book a reservation online (no more than 5 days in advance) to get a photo with Santa. They don't even allow walkups to see him. We tried so many times to get a reservation, but there kept not being times available. I got a tip that they released time new slots at 5:30am EST every morning. The Monday night before our trip, Alice (who is an overnight ER nurse) logged on at 4:30am CST and was able to get us a reservation for that Sunday morning. Weehoo! 

Santaland was great-we got there five minutes before our reservation time and were allowed to walk right in. You went through a maze of decorations and photo op spots. Once again, everyone was super nice. And yes, we dressed alike once again. When we finally got to the room with Santa (fun fact: there were multiple rooms with a Santa so they could see more people) he was so friendly and asked us what we wanted for Christmas. I said I wanted the Texas Rangers to win the World Series and he chuckled (umph). We all had to wear our masks, but it was okay- we got our Santa photo. We were probably giddier than we should have been about it.

After our photos with Santa, we went down the street for our tour of the Empire State Building. It was a BEAUTIFUL day- I'm so glad we were able to reschedule our visit. We only went to the 86th floor and not the very top (102nd floor) but it was still a great view. I had never been before in my other two visits to NYC, so I'm glad we went.

Me: Don't be dramatic.
Also me: 

Our hotel was about a 12 minute walk from the Empire State Building. We were able to get a tour, visit the gift shop, and get back to our hotel by 2pm. A car service was picking us up at 2:25 to take us to the airport, so that gave us 25 minutes to spare. 

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn New York/Manhattan-Chelsea and it was a lovely stay. Everyone was super friendly and they provided free coffee and hot tea all day. People complained online about the rooms being small, but honestly, the only time we were at the hotel was to sleep, so it didn't matter. And it didn't seem super small to me. It was clean and we had no issues while we were there. It was a close walk to so much that we wanted to see, and we were one block from a subway station when we needed to take that. 

View from our room on the 19th floor

So that's a recap of my NYC Christmas trip. I'll try and recap my other 2021 trip by Saturday. If not, maybe next year. As always, thanks for reading!

XOXO!

A Very Rachel Christmas

As promised, a recap of my Christmas adventures. I didn't take as many photos as I usually do- only a small portion of my family was actually present on Christmas Day, although I got to see other family members at my nephew's wedding last weekend (you can see photos I posted yesterday here.) Yes, everyone in the wedding photos is related to me (whether they want to admit it or not). :)

This Christmas I made a lot of my gifts. I can't post photos of all of them because some of my friends haven't received their gifts yet but I can post photos of two of the gifts I made for my mom. 

I took an old bowling pin and made this snowman for her.

A lot of people have asked how I ended up with a bowling pin. Well, it was actually a gift from the White Elephant gift exchange at my Sunday School Christmas party a few weeks ago. When I saw it, I figured I could make some kind of craft from it, so I took it.

This is what I started with- as you can tell it was cracked from the beginning, even paint wouldn't cover it (but that's okay)

I used about 3 coats of white spray paint, letting each coat dry before I applied the next one. I sprayed outside on my balcony- I used the lid of a box to keep the spray paint from going everywhere

I used hot glue for the buttons

I used a black permanent marker for the eyes and mouth and orange paint for the nose (technically it was red and yellow paint mixed together because I didn't have any orange paint). I had an old pair of toe socks with a hole in one of the soles. I had planned to turn them into rags, but I realized they worked perfectly for the hat and scarf, so I used them for that instead. I used some twine to make the hat stick out some

She loved it! She put it with her other snowmen decorations.

I also made her this display for all the birthdays in our immediate family (that's 43 people, in case you were wondering). :) I used a photo frame from Michael's that already had the wire and clothespins. I just printed out the months and names and used stock paper and stickers for the rest of it.

I went home last Wednesday and got there just in time to go see It's A Wonderful Life in the movie theater with my sister (see post from yesterday). I spent last Thursday with my folks watching Hallmark Christmas movies with my mom (while my dad made snarky comments, lol). Usually I help my folks decorate their tree when I'm home at Thanksgiving, but since it fell early this year, they hadn't bought a tree yet. My mother complained there weren't enough lights. I think their tree was beautiful.

My great-nephew C cut down this tree for his GiGi and Pawpaw

The angel ornament on their tree. :)

This little tree has ornaments from the high schools and colleges that my folks children and grandchildren have attended. 

We had to drive to Houston for my nephew's wedding that Friday afternoon (we had to be at the rehearsal that evening) and that's where we were until Christmas Eve morning. We got up early so I could drive them to the town where they live so my dad could preach his Christmas Eve sermon. That evening we went to a party hosted by my nephew-in-law's grandfather, Mr. Koppa. This dear man has invited my folks and I into his home the last seven years on Christmas Eve to join their annual family party. He has welcomed us as adopted extended family. Each year after we eat, Mr. Koppa always reads "The Night Before Christmas" to the little kids (it used to be his grandchildren he read to, now it's his great-grandchildren he's reading to.) Then the kids can open one present from "the reindeer". Since there were children of people I don't know in the photos I took, I can't post a cute group shot I got of Mr. Koppa reading to the kids (I don't want to use their photo without permission). But I can post photos of the people I know and have permission to use. :)

My niece Alice and her son C 

My friend Nick (his grandfather is Mr. Koppa). I hadn't seen him in a while- we had to catch up on the books we've been reading!

Mr. Koppa, he's so sweet. Love him!

My niece's other son E

I didn't get a chance to buy my dad a fruitcake this year, but I did bring him an apple pie from Norma's Cafe (he loves their pie). I noticed he didn't tell anyone else it he had it, I think he wanted it all for himself. :)

Christmas morning it was just me and my folks at their house (meaning we didn't have to get up super early with little kids). My folks gave me a nice new One Year Bible and journal. Over the last 29 years, they have given me a new One Year Bible at Christmas- I love it. It's the gift that keeps giving, I'll never outgrow it and it will never go out of style. 

Late Christmas morning my brother Steve arrived at my folks with his youngest J (he has two grown children and another little one- who wasn't feeling well so he stayed home with my sister-in-law). At Thanksgiving this nephew refused to take a photo with me, but he agreed to on Christmas Day (it was a Christmas miracle). :)

My folks and I are very festive

After eating Christmas fajitas at my sister's house (she lives next door to my folks), we watched A Christmas Carol (the George C. Scott version) and that evening we sang Christmas carols around my sister's piano. 

My brother-in-law cooking the fajitas. 

C wasn't feeling well Christmas night, so he snuggled up next to me while we were singing Christmas carols

Like I said a few weeks ago, I won an Instax Mini camera at my company Christmas party earlier this month, so I took some photos with that. My little great-nephews had never seen one before. They were amazed watching the film develop right before their eyes. I told them when I was little, we used to have a camera like that one (they only know digital photos and camera phone photos). I let my mom keep the actual photos (since she claims we never send her any photos), but I did snap pictures of them first. :)

It was a wonderful Christmas- quiet, but memorable. I hope no matter what you celebrated, you had a wonderful day as well! In case I don't get my 2017 recap post up tomorrow, I want to wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year! Much love!

XOXO!