Christmas time in the city

If you like being crammed against other people, there is no better place to be for the holidays than New York City. And apparently thousands of people do enjoy just that as there are more tourists than ever this year. I too wanted to partake in the holiday spirit of the city (well the free part anyway--not the paying $25 to ice skate or $75 to see the Rockettes do high kicks), so on Saturday I went to 5th Avenue to see the window displays and the tree at Rockefeller Center. More importantly I wanted to walk down to Bryant Park to get some delicious hot chocolate. These are the dreams that a secular Christmas is made of!

Of course, due to the aforementioned crowding, this journey of approximately 15 blocks took close to an hour of fighting tooth and nail with people people with Midwestern accents who use their strollers like tanks to push through the crowds. That said, there were lights and Christmas cheer and a nice December briskness in the air, so I didn't mind the crowds (and minded them even less once I had my $5 drinking chocolate). My boyfriend got a few shots on his iphone (somewhat reminiscent of the same outing we did this time last year), so I'll post them that you might enjoy the experience as well, although enviably more crowd-free.

The Bergdorf holiday windows are always a sight to see. They have sort of the reverse advertising affect on me because seeing how much money clearly goes into making the window displays just reenforces my realization that I should never actually enter the store as I clearly won't be able to afford anything. Then again, maybe this is exactly the kind of advertising they do intend as it keeps the hoi polloi like me out. At any rate, while looking at one of the windows I heard one tourist remark on how they were pretty but "not very Christmasy." If a life-sized polar bear in a chef's hat covered in silverly tasseling isn't Christmasy, than I really don't know what holiday I've been celebrating every December for the last 20 odd years.

This enormous Norway spruce is the tree lit in front of Rockefeller Center each year. As you can see there are hundreds of people crammed into the plaza to see the tree and the ice skating rink at its base. Some friends apparently went to see the tree last week when it was 30 degrees and pouring rain and said there was not soul there except for some poor security guard. I think it would be a really neat sight to see, but as I recall I spent most of that miserable night tucked happily indoors, so perhaps I'm not tough enough to endure the elements and beat the crowds.

This isn't from my 5th Avenue jaunt (I realized there weren't as many pictures as I thought), but from my friend's annual cookie making party (well annual in that she did it last year too). Those who saw my Halloween post might recognize the cookie in the center. I didn't make the beauty, but I admire the artistry nonetheless.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday spirit wherever you are. Or, if you're not into that, I hope you are enjoying the fact that Monday is nearly over.