Christmastime in New York City

Oh boy, do I love surprises!  I love being the surpriser!  I love being the surprisee!  Good surprises, of course.  I had literally been counting down the days until my Christmas surprise for Luke.  We have talked and talked about visiting New York City at Christmastime someday, and back in September I started doing a little dreaming, inquiring, and planning, and soon realized I could really make it happen.  Sometime in November I told him I had a special gift planned for him and to carve out Dec. 21-24.  So he knew we were going somewhere, but that's all.  As we approached packing day I just told him to pack warm clothes and comfy shoes.  He later told me he thought it might be a little ski trip, but he never thought it could be NYC.  SCORE!!

On the morning of our departure I showed him his plane ticket, and after a moment or two of deciphering all the airport acronyms, he figured it out and got really excited.  He then walked around the house for about five minutes in a stunned daze wondering what else he might should pack, lol.  It was so cute.  I asked him on our way to the airport if he wanted to know what all we would be doing once we got there, and he said he didn't know if he could take any more information at the moment because he was still processing!!  He couldn't stop smiling!  Plus, he just wanted to take it all in as it happened.  Good decision.

So one flight and one uber later, we arrived to Brooklyn, threw our bags down where we were staying, and rode a ferry to Manhattan.  We were itching to see the Rockefeller tree and I thought it'd be fun to do that first thing.  It was amazing!  You could feel the excitement and bliss in the air as thousands were taking pictures and videos in front of the tree.

We also walked into Macy's that night just to check out the extravagant decorations, followed by a stroll down 5th avenue to see the window displays.  They were so cool!  If you love Christmas as much as Luke and I do, NYC is a heavenly place this time of year.  After walking around in awe for most of the evening, we retired to get a good night's rest.

Our friends recommended a little place in Brooklyn called Egg for breakfast, which is how we started our first full day there.  It was delicious and the coffee was supreme.

When we got back into Manhattan we did some more walking and touring.  We stopped by the Plaza Hotel just to ooh and ahh and take pictures. 

Sprinkles Cupcakes

That afternoon came the first of three shows I'd booked.  First was the Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes, a Christmas staple in the city.  And it was, indeed, spectacular!  We enjoyed every second of it.  We'd highly recommend it for kids and adults.  Someday, Allie, someday!

That evening we swung by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Unfortunately by the time we got to it, we only had about an hour before closing time (poor planning on my part), but we still enjoyed the time we had.  Would love to go back some day and see more.

Most of the time we took the subway to get around.  We enjoyed experiencing this part of the everyday NYC culture.  Sometimes the trains were bare.  Other times we were standing shoulder to shoulder with people.  Luke was awesome at figuring out which trains to take. (Thanks hubby!)  The subway musicians were actually pretty talented, and most of them played or sang Christmas music.

Then we saw The Nutcracker!  Ok, this was my birthday gift to myself, although Luke did enjoy it, too.  It was so lovely.  The live orchestras at all the shows we saw were top notch.

The next morning after breakfast we headed to Central Park to skate.  This was probably our favorite part of the trip.  Christmas music filled the air, people were so excited to be there, moms and dads were teaching their kids how to skate, and we were in a beautiful park but with sights of the city all around.

For lunch we ate at a cool place called Joe and the Juice, where they had amazing coffee shakes.  Highly recommend!

We stopped by the holiday market at Union Square where you can shop from local entrepreneurs, many of the things hand-crafted.  I loved it.  We stopped and got some hot cider from one of the booths.  Mmmmm...

Before dinner we went up in the Empire State Building.  We have each been to NYC before, but it was a long time ago for both of us and we sadly don't remember a lot of it.  This was a nice thing to do again and be reminded of the incredible views.

On our last night we saw our final show which I was most excited about, Aladdin on Broadway!  Aladdin is Luke's favorite Disney movie.  He had no idea what we were doing until we walked right up to the entrance and I said, "Surprise!"  The show was absolutely spectacular!  I'm still in a dreamy haze over it!

One of the things that made this trip possible was that some friends of ours from college who now live in Brooklyn let us stay at their lovely apartment while they were out of town for the holidays.  And I mean looovvvely.  It was a wonderful part of town with a slightly slower-paced feel than Manhattan.  Thank you so much to our friends for letting us stay and for all the guidance you gave us for our trip!

While it was a fantastic trip, we couldn't wait to get home and see our girl.  She had a great time with Grandmama while we were gone, but was happy to see us.  Love this cupcake so much!