Cities

Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Monday, December 27, 2010

A White Christmas in the North!

We spent our Christmas mostly in Boston, but then headed back early to New York...two quintessential northern cities, both very metropolitan, lots of culture, great restaurants AND also both very cold and snowy this year!

We had a GREAT Christmas in Boston! My brother Andy and his wonderful wife Shannon hosted our family and it was filled with lots of love, great food & wine, presents, and family fun! They have been renovating an old house in Wellesley outside of Boston for over two years and this is the first time they hosted a large group of people...they pulled it off! They put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into their renovations and we were all so comfortable hanging out in their large living room on their new furniture snuggling with Caroline and spending time together.

I must say that kids make Christmas so much fun!! Caroline is such a fun addition to the family and her gifts are just so cute :) With adults, there's only so many packs of socks that are fun to open (haha!) I got some real quality time with her... playing and making her laugh, trying to stop her crying, feeding, changing, and snuggling :) She was a very good baby all weekend and slept during dinners and church and let everyone hold her! Nick and I took charge of her changing one time and I'm pretty sure it was hilarious to watch us try to hold down her kicking legs to get her diaper on and then get confused with snapping up her pajamas (and nick's an engineer!) Now I miss her chubby little cheeks!!

We left Boston earlier than expected on Sunday in anticipation for "THE BIG APPLE BLIZZARD"! As we drove through Connecticut the conditions worsened and we pulled onto our street just in time. In the next hour we watched the blizzard go into full force and bury our car, the street and the rest of the city. We are now SNOWBOUND. I actually did the typical snow-prep and made a quick run to grocery store for the essentials and I'm glad I did!

NYC does actually deal well with snow...people shovel, the city plows...no.big.deal. Not this time! Mostly because of the combination of the speed that 20+ inches fell, the holiday weekend, and the winds. Painful, whipping, chilling winds. The wind has pushed some snow drifts up to 5 feet! Nobody is driving and we walked down the middle of our street and let cole run around free! He loves the snow...the deeper the better until his paws get too cold, haha. We have enjoyed walking around in it and playing with Cole...it only got to be a pain in the ass when it took us 2 hours to dig out our car.

love from the city!

I made her smile!


playing with Uncle Nick!


sleeping Caroline in her Christmas dress with her Uncle & Aunt


cole pawing through his christmas toys


our street & car pre-blizzard


out in the blizzard


dogs running free in the streets! cole and his friend, whizzle.



playing in the snow


streets are quiet in the city


our buried car in the background.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmastime in the City

New York City is definitely one of the most festive cities during Christmastime. People from all over the world come here to experience the holiday spirit and of course to SHOP! shop shop shop till they drop. I ran into a woman at Gap who flies over here every Christmas to do her holiday shopping...wow!

The one thing I'll say about the most festive city is that stores, restaurants and bars weren't into full drive until Dec. 1....and I appreciate that! It could really be overkill if the city was decked out before Thanksgiving. Once December hit, it was great to see all the decorations...bars really decorate too...lights and window displays...lots of buzz around the Rockefeller Christmas tree...love it!

Shopping during this time of year is another story. Honestly Nick and I did 90% of our shopping online and THANK GOD we did...we did a little last minute running around for some gifts in the city this week and it was INSANITY. Shopping in NY takes serious strategy...mapping out your subway route...navigating the crowds...carrying your bags all the way home, so be sure not to buy more than you can carry! The crowds were out of control this week....Macy's made me want to move to middle of nowhere.

Last weekend we had some of our good friends in town visiting and had a blast...took them out in the city and did some festive things like ice skating, seeing the tree, etc. We went ice skating at Bryant Park and it was awesome!! A pretty big rink and the surroundings were gorgeous - Empire State building, a lit Christmas tree and the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. I also can't forget to mention that we went to the local Eagles bar to watch the Eagles CRUSH the Giants. It was packed and the crowd was awesome - sooo hyped up and going crazy in the second half. We had so. much. fun.

Christmastime in Greenwich Village


getting ready to hit the ice!


Bryant Park ice skating rink!


Skaters with Empire State Building in the background


Nick, Greg, Jenn & Pete in front of Macys!


Rockefeller Center during Christmas


us and the tree :)


close up of the tree!



Our little apartment Christmas tree!


Our mantle


Our stockings!


Mantle closeup


little more apartment decor


local bar decorated


Our favorite cafe across the street....love this place more than I should.