Christmas Spectacular

We woke up to everything dusted with SNOW!

It took the Christmas nostalgia up 100 notches!

Word on the street was that it had not snowed that early in years.

We must have brought good luck with us!

It made our walk to Central Park feel like a literal winter wonderland!

 

Gotta love the street vendors!

Central Park with slick, icy grounds is not for the faint of heart!

People were slipping and falling left and right!

Pretty sure a guy fell and broke his wrist right in front of us.

We persevered, with caution, to see how far we could go without

crashing and burning!

The scene in Home Alone 2 where Kevin slips and hits his head

trying to escape from the robbers isn't far off!

It truly is a beautiful park!

I can only imagine what it is like when it is green and lush!

The Plaza Hotel in the background.

This is funny.

Casey legit thought I was a homeless person in front of him from my 

ripped pants, HA!

He's not wrong, I guess they do like pretty tattered  back there.

So much for a fashion statement!

It was cute watching kids sled down mini hills.

A famous fountain that I can't remember the name of.

Power walkers.

Kristen and I were half frozen, trailing behind them!

Our reward for braving the cold, 

waiting in another ridiculous line for over hyped/trending

on instagram hot chocolate!

We heard more than a few times husbands saying to their wives,

"Are you happy now? You got your picture with the hot chocolate, lets go!"

The things we do... I love it so much!!

They are popular for their toasted marshmallow cup rims.

We were watching them make them.

It's not rocket science, but its crazy how things blow up 

and go viral!! They are making a killing off of

nothing fancy. It's all in marketing. 

We walked around the upper East Side.

You don't see mail delivery like this anymore!

Some of the subway performances you get.

All this guy did was have these motorized dancing cats moving to music while he played

his Saxophone. 

Not going to lie, it was pretty entertaining!
 

We had a couple of hours until our next stop, so we split up for a bit.

They went shopping, while I wanted to check out the inside of

St. Patricks cathedral. 

Low and behold, a special Christmas mass was just about

to start!!

I LOVE going to different church services.

I find them so interesting!

I think Casey for once would rather have gone shopping!

But we found ourselves a pew and got comfy!

Time for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall!!!
A New York Christmas time MUST!!

It truly was spectacular!

However, half way through I hit a wall and wanted to lean over and

take a quick snooze.

All of our going and going caught up to me, plus it was dark.

I guess they all felt the same way, ha!

No pictures were allowed, but I had to TRY to sneak a couple.

These ladies are so talented, and I envy their flexibility!

We caught our second wind from our power naps and

felt the rush with the crowds!

So much energy in this city!

Of course, per tradition, we ended the night with food.

Lots of yummy food!

 

Happy Snowflakes in New York

The days started tanking as far as the weather.
It was an overcast, drizzly morning.

And the temps dropped each day as well.

That didn't stop us from seeing Miss Lady Liberty!

Boy was I ever grateful for my last minute purchase

of a jacket that basically looks like I'm wearing a

sleeping bag.

The real reason I got it was because the inside had a battery operated

HEATED linning!!

I literally would have froze to death without it.

The skyline is pretty spectacular. 

We decided to warm up by waiting in line to eat at the famous Katz's deli!

Where it started to pour rain!

Luckily the line was along some stores, so Kristen and I shopped

while the men held down the fort waiting our turn.

When there is a ridiculous line and a front door bouncer, you know

it is going to be good!

The process was very old school.

You were given a ticket once you got inside.

Apparently if you "snuck" in and didn't have a ticket to show

once leaving, you had to pay an automatic $50!! 

The guys waited in another long line for sandwiches, while

we got bagels, latkes and cheesecake!

The meat on these sandwiches were a mile high!

Corned beef is not my favorite, but man was it good here!

Pastrami and the rueben were also delicious!

Katz's was in SOHO, so it was fun wandering around this part

of town for a little bit.

And you better believe we wandered straight over to Levain for our

favorite cookies!

Loved their window decor!

We hit the Bryant Park Christmas markets.

New York this time of year truly is magical!!

Casey doesn't look too enthused, but he really was enjoying the shopping!

He even suggested getting these cute string lights for the girls bedroom.

Our favorite part was trying all of the different hot chocolates!

The winner hands down was, No Chewing Allowed!

So thick and creamy, the name suits it well!

We had to buy some to take home. 

So dreamy.

Ice skating rinks everywhere.

Made it back to Times Square where it 

officially started to SNOW!!!

We could hardly believe it!
Our excitement was next level.

And lets be real, snow is way better than wet, yucky rain.

Picking a play on Broadway was probably the hardest decision 

we had to make for this trip!
SO many to choose from!

To be up front, I am not a Broadway person.

Kristen LOVES Broadway shows!

I don't know what it is, but I do not go out of my way to fit a

play in on the weekends.

If I happen to go, I appreciate it, but do not get fixated on them beforehand 

or afterwards. 

I didn't want to do a repeat of something they have already seen.

I think Jesse and Kristen have seen Hamilton upwards close to 8 times!!

They really wanted us to see what is was all about, so that is how we decided!

We knew not one song.

They had to give us the cliff notes throughout the whole play.

It indeed was an excellent play!

They had very talented performers!

We enjoyed it.

But we both could not tell you details of

the story line the next day if our life depended on it, lol!

However, we were happy and grateful for the experience!

And can say we got to see Hamilton in New York!!

*3+

Nothing like a taco run at 10pm!

And apparently THIS IS THE PLACE for the best tacos!

Santas everywhere!

So cool to see the new year numbers that will go up under the ball

for New Years Eve!