Looking Back : Christmas 2009 in the City

Community Group Christmas! My CG got together for a night of good food and celebration! Robyn made delicious BBQ chicken and we all brought a little something to go with it. I ran out of time to make anything and we didn't have any bread coming, so I picked up Popovers w/ strawberry butter from the Popover Cafe....yum! We sat around talking for hours. I love this group of girls!

This city is seriously the most festive place during the Holidays!! I love it.  All of the big business buildings decorate to some extent.  They usually bring out the same decs every year.  This year, a couple of the buildings on 6th Avenue right by the NHL building had new decorations which was fun and exciting!!

The Fox building put out these new red trees

And the building next to them had these huge, fun lights!

Mindy and I decided to spend an evening after work checking out all the Holiday lights and decorations. We started out with dinner at the Burger Joint - I haven't been there in ages and LOVE it. It is so good and a little hidden treasure. Plus, it was close to the start of the Holiday Department Store Windows. We walked by several of the Department stores to see their windows....Bergdorf's, Saks, Lord & Taylor, and finally Macy's. Bergdorf's was by far the best. Their Holiday windows are beautiful! I love how they incorporate their clothing into the displays, unlike the other stores that just have crazy displays that don't actually relate to any of the products they're selling. Also, Bergdorf's windows each had a different material they used to create a work of art - one was all green grass/plant materials, one was all glass, one was all paper, etc.... They were really amazing! We also walked up 5th Avenue and saw all the smaller stores that are decked out for the Holidays. We walked into St. Pat's and got to see their choir rehearsing and see the Nativity Scene inside. We saw the Saks light/music show and the Rock Center Tree and skating rink. We stopped along the way at Magnolia Bakery for some delicious Hot Chocolate - I'd never had theirs before and it was so good! It was a very fun night and I'm glad I had a chance to enjoy the City lights before I left town.

There was a choir practicing when we stopped

in St. Pats, so we stopped for a bit to listen

I love Nativity Scenes!  This is the one

inside St. Pats.

Rockefeller

I always love the snowflake show at Saks!

Windows at Lord & Taylor

Macy's windows were interactive.  At this one, you

got to fill out some answers to questions (Mad Libs

style).  It used your answers to create a letter to

Santa.  Here's mine!

Craftacular Fair -- I decided to go to a craft fair I'd read about and it was so great! When I got there, the line to get inside was very long - they were at capacity. It was cold and I debated leaving, but decided that if all those people were there, it must be worth it. It was really cool. I didn't buy much - one baby gift, but they had a lot of really great things I enjoyed looking at. I also got to help make my own bag using cool machines that cut fabric, iron on stickable fabric, etc.... Fun!

The bag I helped create for myself!

Holiday Markets - One of my favorite things between Thanksgiving and New Years are the holiday markets that pop up all over the city. I made it to 3 of them this year - Bryant Park (multiple times), Grand Central, and Union Square. I love to browse through these things and always find at least one Christmas gift for someone and always end up buying some sort of jewelry for myself. I got some earrings and a bracelet this year.

The Holiday Market at Union Square

Bryant Park is so festive!

Kim's candle -- One of the girls in my community group lit the Candle of Peace during Advent. Kim started going to our group just weeks before she was going in for a double mastectomy. I had met her a few times through Baylor stuff, but she was a new friend for most the other girls. It was a scary time for her and she was in need of a support group, as her parent's were in Houston and her mom was recovering from a 2nd round of breast cancer herself. The girls in my group really stepped-up to help Kim out during this time and we provided her lots of meals to make it through the weeks where she wasn't feeling well and in a lot of pain. Jen and Erin made a video about the experience that was shown at the church service and then Kim lit the candle. It was a neat experience to have together.