Christmas Eve

So, I am not sure where to begin or how to organize my thoughts for all that I did over the past 2+ weeks in Texas. I had a great time, that is for sure. It was relaxing and fun and busy, but not too busy. I spent a ton of time with my family and got to see most of my friends at least once. So, I suppose it will be easiest for me, and you readers, if I blog the trip in pieces, starting with the big events....this post will be Christmas Eve!

My family joined together again this year to serve the community in West Dallas with Brother Bill's Helping Hand. We went out on the morning of Christmas Eve to pass out gifts to the children at their annual Christmas party. There were over 600 children who came out with their parents this year. We were in the same room as last year, which works well because Ryder & Beau are contained! We handed out gifts to all baby boys aged 0-2 who came. It was fun! My mom got pulled away to be a "Personal Shopper" as they needed more help, so she got to help 2 families make their way through the "store". Ryder and Beau were a bit of a handful this year - we may need to leave them at home next year.

My mom doing her Personal Shopping Gig

Lots of people making their way through the shop

Beau found a place to play! Ryder found a soccer ball
On the table are the bears - each baby got
1 bear, along with 4 other gifts. He is quite the kicker!Ryder hijacked Beau's bus - this is
when it began to get rowdy

At 3:00 on Christmas Eve, my mom and I met B&B at their church for a Christmas Eve service. It was a very good & powerful service. Their church has really seen some life transformations in its people. A ton of these people went up on stage with pieces of cardboard they had written on and were projected on big screens for us all to read...on one side of the cardboard read the struggles they'd each previously had and then they would flip it over and on the other side it would say the life change they had experienced as a result of investing in their relationship with Jesus. I was amazed at the humility of all the people who went before a huge room of strangers and admitted their past issues. There were broken marriages that had been repaired, alcoholics that are now sober, singles dealing with loneliness who have found completeness and love in knowing Christ, etc.... so many stories! What a way to glorify Christ and celebrate His birth that led us to the possibility of knowing Him and experiencing such life transformation.

After the service, we had some time before dinner, so my mom and I got Ryder from the nursery to take him home with us to play. He fell asleep in the car, so we decided to keep driving around and let him sleep. Where did we go?!? The Bush's new house, of course! This was my 2nd time to drive by while I was home, but the 1st time in the daylight. Their house looks very normal and not too big from the street, but apparently it goes back far because it's over 8,000 square feet. It is in a very normal neighborhood...not super ritzy. My favorite part is that the neighborhood is full of little entrepreneurs! One little boy created "Welcome" signs for people to place in their front yards and is selling them to the neighbors. Another little girl opened a lemonade stand and made over $200 on her first day from all those people driving by to check out the Pres's new house.

We thought it was funny that he
slept with his legs crossed

The President's House

These were scattered all over the neighborhood!

For dinner, we went to Melissa & Robert's house. Robert is Brian's twin brother. They have 3 kids and also Melissa's parent's and some other family members of hers were there. I think there were 20 of us for dinner. Melissa made White Bean Chili and a salad...it was really good. I took my Black Bean/Corn dip and it was almost completely gone! Melissa's mom made a yummy dessert called Sopapilla Cheesecake that is very similar to the Cream Cheese Danish my friend Danise makes for brunch! Beth made costumes for a Christmas story reinactment and all the kids and some of the men participated. It was really cute!

I helped Beth dress the kids up. Here
I am with our little sheep (Beau)

One of the Wise Men (Ryder)

Mary (Harper, R&B's cousin)

The Inn Keeper (my dad) greeting Mary

(Harper) and Joseph (Robert)

The angel (Jordan) announcing Jesus' birth

to the shepherd (Brian) with his sheep (Beau)

The twins with their youngest kids

The whole cast!

Cousins! (Beau & Harper)

It was a very fun Christmas Eve leading up to Christmas Day!

The Christmas Travel Battle

I played a game of the Christmas Travel battle this weekend. It was not fun, but at least I won! It all started on Thursday at 9pm when I got a call from American saying that my Friday night flight had been cancelled due to bad weather...NYC was expecting a blizzard, but there was no sign of it yet. It was a whirlwind of activity from there, trying to figure out how to get out of NYC as soon as possible, but still go to work for a while on Friday. I ended up taking a train trip to White Plains, NY on Friday, as it was the only airport in the area that hadn't shut-down yet. It was actually pretty easy/quick to get there, but as soon as I walked in the airport, they were announcing the cancellations of the rest of their flights. By the time I got home late that afternoon, I was soaking wet from the snow/ice pellets that were coming down outside and was completely exhausted from lugging my suitcase and other bags down streets of snow and up and down subway/train staircases, not to mention starving, since I had forgotten to eat most of the day. I had wanted to give up and just get a taxi on the way home, but finding a vacant taxi in that kind of weather is next to impossible. My right arm is still very sore today and even has bruises all over it! Some of my friends are still stuck in NYC, so I hope they make it out soon!

When I got home Friday, I decided I needed to make the most of the snow and went for a long walk in Central Park. It was just turning dark, but there were still lots of dads with their kids out sledding and making snow men. It was so fun...and beautiful!! I took some pictures, but unfortunately, left my camera in the coat I was wearing that I didn't bring to Dallas. So, I can't share those now. Luckily, my mom says I can keep her camera with me while I'm in Dallas - I hate not having one with me at all times!

Although I did not make it home on Friday as planned, I was very lucky to get on a Saturday AM flight. I went to work on Friday morning for a very short time (everyone told me to leave and get to an airport ASAP)! While I was there, I sat for a while with the NHL travel agent. She couldn't find much, but was keeping an eye out for me for any seats that might open up...otherwise it was going to be late Sunday or maybe Monday before I could get an open seat. She was able to put a seat on hold on a plane to DC and then on to Dallas from there...and then called American for me so that they could transfer my ticket for that seat. Awesome.

Saturday went fairly smooth, but the lines at Newark were out of control. Luckily, I went earlier than I normally would, expecting it to be crazy there. I was flying Continental and everyone who flys them has to get into the exact same line (you can't check yourself in if you have a bag to check, which of course everyone does at this time of year since you have a long break and Christmas presents)! This also meant that I was behind all the people who had their flights cancelled and were trying to reschedule. I finally got through that line...after removing a few things from my suitcase that was 2 pounds overweight. Then, I encountered another very long line at security. I was also selected for the special search where they have to go through EVERYthing...and I had a lot of stuff. I put my shoes back on and RAN to board the plane. I was shocked that the plane wasn't full...it seems like they'd be trying to get as many people out of the NYC airports as they could. They made an announcement that they had expected to be full, but didn't know where everyone was (uh, back in those long lines, you think??), so we were going on. The plane had to be de-iced, which took some time, so we took off late...this meant my 50 minute layover in DC was only going to be about 20 minutes. Yikes! I got off the plane in DC, figured out where I needed to be (switching from Continental to American meant different terminals) and started to RUN again! I ran into a security checkpoint and was so confused and asked if I had done something wrong...why did I have to go through security again?!?! They explained that you have to do that at that airport if you change terminlas....ugh!! I didn't have time for that! I RAN again from that security gate and on to the plane...the lady who took my boarding pass said, "Oh, good! You made it!", like she wasn't expecting me too. I was the last one on the plane! I was so ready to be home at that point!

I made it to Dallas Sat afternoon, but my suitcase did not arrive until Sunday afternoon. That was okay, 24 hours isn't too long without your things.

I haven't done too much since I arrived in Dallas. Got chick-fil-a as soon as we left the airport...I was starving again as I had only eaten an apple for breakfast and had expected to have time to grab something in the DC airport. Then, I hung out at my parent's house the rest of the day. The boys came over for me to babysit them that night - I was supposed to go to their house, but wanted to stay at my parent's in case my suitcase was delivered and my parent's had a Christmas party to attend. The boys spent the night and I slept with Ryder for the first time - hilarious. He was completely sideways at one point with his feet jabbing my tummy. Mostly, I didn't notice him though. He is talking so much more now! When they walked in, I gave him a big hug and told him I had missed him and he replied, "WHERE did you go?!?!"

Today, I had a lazy day at home. I wanted to go to church, but didn't have anything to wear! I was in my mom's PJ's and gown all day until my suitcase got here. Putting on my clothes from yesterday didn't sound appealing. It was very quiet...dad had to leave town today and mom was very sick with a stomach virus...she seems to just now be perking-up, so hopefully it was a 24-hour thing. Once my suitcase arrived, I went for a run and then went grocery shopping for all the cooking I have to do this week. That's really about it!

Oh, and I decided that crazy traveling is a great pre-Christmas feasting diet. After forgetting/not having time to eat much the past 2 days, I didn't feel like eating much today either. Awesome.

Company Party

So, I forgot to mention in my last post that we had the NHL Holiday party on Friday. It was not as extravagant as years past (thanks, recession), but it was still a nice break during our week. The party was held in the office from 2-4. They decorated nicely and had catered appetizers and desserts brought in. We all debated that morning on if we should eat lunch or not – no one knew what to expect. We decided not to eat lunch and were starving by the time we got up to the party. The food was being brought out slowly on trays carried around by the wait-staff. If you weren’t standing right by the doorway they came out of, you were out of luck! We were all fighting for little bites of food! It was funny, but we were seriously starving! There was alcohol and by the time I had finished my 2nd holiday-themed martini, I had only eaten two tiny bites of food. I asked my co-workers if they thought the NHL was trying to get us wasted! Finally, we had enough food come by that we felt satisfied. The commissioner gave a nice speech and addressed concerns in light of the current economy and extensive layoffs across NYC companies, especially layoffs within the other sports leagues. We should be safe at the NHL for now. I would much rather have had our simpler party in the office than have someone be laid-off. The highlight of the party was when I ran into Chie Chie, the events person who I worked for at the All-Star week last year. We were asked about a month ago if we would like to go in January and I had said yes, for sure! Since then, we never heard anything. Our staff had started asking me what was up and I just told them that it seemed like probably none of us were going. But, Chie Chie whispered to me at the party that I am in! I am soooo excited and thankful!! Getting to work at the All-Star week is one of the things that helps me to like this job so much. I still haven’t gotten official word from the person staffing people from my department, but I’m sure Chie Chie knows what’s up. I cannot wait to work at this event and attend all the fun parties and I can’t wait to explore Montreal!!!

Giants, Germans, Gatherings

Two Thursdays ago, I met Christina and Rosella for dinner at Rolf’s, a German restaurant in Gramercy. Our driving force was not so much the food as the Christmas decorations. These people go all out. It was insane! Every inch was covered (and I mean COVERED) in greenery, lights, ornaments, etc…. It actually looked pretty. I loved it! Food was not so great and expensive, but I guess they can get away with that with their Christmas decs – it was packed! These pictures do not do it justice!

Two Saturdays ago, I went to two Christmas parties. The first was a small gathering of girls & a jewelry show at my friend, Ashley’s. The jewelry was being sold by another girl and was from a company that’s kind of run like Mary Kay or something. I did not like the jewelry, which makes it kind of awkward when you want to leave without buying anything! I hate stuff like that! It was fun to hang out with these girls for a while though. My friend, Lucy, went with me and we grabbed dinner in Korea-town since it’s right by Ashley’s. I had Bibimbob for the first time – yum! After Ashley’s, Lucy and I headed up to my apartment to get a little more dressed up to go to a cocktail party she had been invited to. It was in my neighborhood at a cute apartment and there were a ton of people there. I didn’t know anyone else there, but it was a fun and interesting crowd!

Two Sundays ago, I went to a Giant’s game with Christina. I was able to get tickets through work – still had to pay for them, but we must have some sort of deal with the NFL because they were very awesome seats for much cheaper than you could normally get them for. We were on the 40-yard-line and way down close to the field behind the Giants bench. It was so much fun! It was cold that day – we even saw snow flurries – but, I had on many layers, so I was pretty warm!

Christina & I Eli Manning, warming up!!

Had to pull out the bonnet for the 2nd Half! Some seats emptied

out as well, so we moved on down to the 1st row - awesome!

This past Tuesday night, I had a cookie exchange with my Community Group. It was so much fun! I made my sugar cookies – I debated making something I hadn’t already taken to group another time, but I knew they love my cookies and I wanted to make Christmas ones! I did stars, snowflakes, and Christmas trees. They turned out cute...and tasted better! I think I may make more this week for my co-workers. One of the girls made drinks instead of cookies – Poinsetta’s – and they were absolutely delicious!! I have had these before, but her recipe was a little different and soooo good!

Wednesday night was book club. We've all been so busy that only Rosella had finished the book. So, we opted to wait and discuss our current book in January to give the rest of us time to finish. We went to dinner anyway and had a blast! We went to Otto, one of Mario Battali's restaurants that I've been to before. It is great Italian tapas and pizzas. Such a fun place to share yummy food and wine.

Friday night, Mindy and I grabbed dinner at Eatery and then went to see Boeing-Boeing on Broadway. I have been wanting to see this because I've heard good things and it has a fun cast. The actresses include Christine Baranski (most recently in Mamma Mia the movie, among other movies. also highlighted in a previous "Name that Actress" blog.), Paige Davis (Trading Spaces), Rebecca Gayhart (Ugly Betty, etc... And also in a "Name that Actress" blog....now I know why she was walking her dog so close to B'way late one night), and Missi Pyle (Charlie & the Choc. Factory and TONS of funny films). Greg Germann (Ally McBeal) was also in the play. Boeing-Boeing is leaving B'way in a few weeks (as are many shows...thank you recession), so time was running out to see it! I got cheap $20 seats in the cute side-boxes...which means we had a partial view, but we could see most of the action and you feel so close to the actors from there. It was fun! But, I was a little disappointed in the play. It was kind of obnoxious, over-the-top type humor that I don't think is so funny. The premise was cute, though.

Saturday morning was a Christmas tea/Brunch at Danise's. There was a good group of ladies from church there and Danise had an awesome spread for us and even sent us home with more goodies! It was a fun morning.

The rest of my weekend was spent shopping...I've hit up 2 of the Holiday Markets, which are possibly my very favorite thing in NYC at Christmas. I went to my two favorites...the ones Bryant Park and Grand Central Station. So fun and a great place to find unique gifts (and get a few things for myself). I also hit a good sale at Lord & Taylor and went on a wild-goose chase for Super-Hero gear for the boys.

Sunday was double-church day. I taught SS in the morning...only had one little girl, Sydney, in my class this week. I contemplated joining the older class that had 4 today, but Sydney said she likes to be the only one! So, we hung out together for a while and once we had completed our lesson and projects the older girls came over to our room to play. Sydney is a performer, if ever I've seen one. She sings, dances and acts...often little musical numbers she has made up herself! It is hilarious. She actually has a really great voice for a 2nd grader - I really think she could be famous some day! She can even do awesome gymnastics and has never taken a class. Late Sunday afternoon, I went to a joint service with our church and the church that lets us use their building for our evening service. This was a candle-light Christmas service that was totally run by the other church (but there were NO candles...what??). It was very, very different from my church's services and, honestly, I wanted to poke my eyes out! It was very slow, quiet, and monotonous...and lasted almost 2 hours! I found myself missing JR's preaching - I will have to go online to listen to the sermon he gave this morning while I was teaching Syd.

This week does not hold any major plans and should be much slower. There are some Christmas-y things I'd still like to see in NYC before I head to Texas, but I also feel like I've been run ragged and need to slow down and spend time remembering what this Season is all about. I want to experience the real JOY we're meant to experience in remembering Christ's birth and I think just spending more time with Him is the best way to get there. I hope to listen to the 2 Advent sermons I've missed at church and I want to read a Christmas book my old pastor in Dallas wrote that I read a few years ago and really enjoyed. Hopefully, I can do those things before Dec. 25th as part of preparing myself to appropriately celebrate on that day!

Julie & Amber in NYC

Amber & Julie did all kinds of things in NYC last week. I worked and could only hang out with them in the evenings. Monday night, we tried an Italian restaurant in my neighborhood that I had heard was good, Nonna. It was really good and it was ½ priced bottled wine night, so we shared a bottle of rose! I will definitely go back there.

Tuesday we met up for dinner in Hell’s Kitchen. We went to Lime Jungle…it’s supposed to be a fresh, natural Mexican restaurant, but nothing seemed so fresh this time! We tasted several things that seemed like they had come out of a can. It was disappointing....but Julie's salad did look good & fresh. I think I got salad last time, so maybe that's the way to go at Lime Jungle. Afterwards, we had tickets to Shrek, the new B’way musical. When we got to the theatre, we found out it had been canceled for that night! Ugh! Kind of annoying because we could have made other plans! We were able to exchange our tickets for the following night. We tried to go see a movie, but the times didn’t work out, so we did a little shopping instead and then headed home. Wednesday we met up for Thai food before going to see Shrek (for real this time). Shrek ended up being a really cute show. Not my favorite, but definitely not my least favorite either. I was a rebel and got snap-happy during the 2nd Act and took some illegal photos!

While we were at Shrek, the lighting of the Rock Center tree was going on. So, afterwards, we went with every other person getting out of a Broadway show to see the lights. It was crowded, but nothing too crazy. The big changes this year are all the gold flags flying around Rock Center and the new Swarovski star atop the tree. We had fun snapping pictures before heading home for the night. There are a few more Christmas-y things I’d like to do before I head to Texas on the 19th. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to get done, though. This city is the best at Christmas!

Chilly in Philly!

I had one last morning with mom last Friday before we both headed out of NYC. We went down to explore the newly re-opened and renovated Plaza Hotel. I have never been in the Plaza and was excited to see it! It is pretty impressive, but they also weren’t completely done with the renovations and they seemed very disorganized. We wanted to go to the hotel gift shop and had a really hard time getting a direct answer as to where it was! We finally found it and I really wanted one of their Christmas ornaments….if only they didn’t cost a couple hundred dollars!

Windows at The Plaza

I loved this description of Central Park that was

in The Plaza. I couldn't find the end of it!

After The Plaza, we walked over to Sarabeth’s for lunch. We split a tomato soup that was amazing! I found the knock-off recipe on the internet and I think we’re going to make it for Christmas Eve.

Friday afternoon, Mom left for home and I hopped on a bus to Philly. I was annoyed because for some reason, I wasn’t on the normal bus, but a substitute bus that didn’t have WiFi. I had done NO planning for the Philly trip and had hoped to do all that on the bus, but without WiFi, I was out of luck. We were going to have to wing it. It actually turned out fine. I met Amber and Julie once I got there – they had arrived from Dallas shortly before me. I didn’t like Philly as much as I did the first time I went. We never really made it to the nicer neighborhoods I liked and were around the more touristy areas that tend to be near the sketchy areas of Philly. We had fun, though. Here’s what we did:

-Friday night we ate in Chinatown at a recommended restaurant. It was good, but it was no comparison to Joe’s Shanghai in NYC’s Chinatown. After dinner, we strolled for a while, taking in all the cool buildings in downtown Philly.

City Hall

Julie & I

-We ate breakfast both mornings at the Reading Terminal. I love this place!! It has all kinds of vendors – mostly food, but some other things, too. Saturday, our breakfast destination was to get Amish blueberry pancakes. They were SO amazing the last time I was in Philly – I had never seen such big blueberries before. They were still great this time, but the blueberries were more normal size – probably because they're not in season. Sunday morning, we tried out a crepe place that was pretty good.

-For part of Saturday, we split up. They went and did some of the historic things I had done before. I headed to the University of Pennsylvania, so that I could check another Ivy League school of my list. Penn is America’s first University and 4th institute of Higher Education. It was a very pretty campus with some very old, beautiful buildings. However, they’ve also added some more recent buildings that don’t really go with the older buildings, so that was sad. Overall, though, it is still a pretty place – just not as cool as Yale!

-When we reunited on Saturday, we caught a bus to head to an old cemetery the girls had read about. It was a really pretty place, but not quite as cool as the huge one Julie and I went to in Brooklyn a couple of years ago.

-After the cemetery, we were ready for dinner and headed to South Street for cheesestakes. If you remember from my last trip up, I wasn’t super impressed and thought Texadelphia was doing a better job! This time, I decided to be adventurous and eat my cheesestake the way the locals eat them. Instead of Provolone, I got the Cheese-Wiz! I know, it sounds disgusting, but we were in line for a very long time paying attention to what everyone in front of us was ordering – the majority went with the Wiz. It was absolutely delicious! I wouldn’t order it any other way if I ever go back. (But, I still love Texadelphia more!)

We saw some crazy glass art on South Street

Notice the huge can of Cheese-Wiz!

-We explored their outdoor Christmas Market at City Hall, but it was not that great and nothing like the ones in NYC!

-Sunday was cold and rainy and put a bit of a damper on our day. After breakfast, we stopped by Macy’s to see their Holiday light show. The enormous organ that is in Macy’s was played at the end of the light show – it’s pretty amazing!

-Our main destination on Sunday was Eastern State Penitentiary. It is an old prison that is now basically ruins. It was a really cool place to explore and take pictures! It is very interesting, with self-guided audio tours. We were freezing and getting wet, but it was worth it!

This was Al Capone's cell. His was on what
they called 5th Avenue...the row of cells that were nicer.

We boarded the bus to NYC Sunday at 6:30. I was very nervous because when I booked the tickets, I hadn’t thought about the fact that it would be Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was worried traffic would be awful and getting through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan would be worse. The three of us took bets on when we would arrive home and the bus driver heard us, so he got in on it as well. Julie was most optimistic and won! So, we all felt like winners because we were only 45 minutes late.