Christmas Hoop-la in New York City

Hello!  

Happy Sunday!  

I wanted to share some photos with you all of my recent trip with friends to New York City that I took a few weeks ago.   Growing up, my twin sister and I were best friends with another set of twins.

These are the same friends that came over to help us build our igloo. :) 

Our tiny little town actually had a 3 room schoolhouse where we spent Kindergarten through 2nd grade, with each other, all in the same class, so naturally we were all very close.

I loved little that school-so cozy!  :)

Currently one twin lives here in our hometown (in Upstate NY) and the other twin lives in Oregon. The Oregon twin came home for a few weeks this year for Christmas and I was really excited as I hadn't seen her since Little Button was a newborn (2 yrs ago.)   She came up with this brilliant idea to embark on a fun day trip down to NYC to take in all of the Christmas hoop-la and get tickets to see the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular."  We had gone together a few times when we were in Girl Scouts and have such great memories of Christmastime in NYC. 

NYC is about a 2.5 hr drive for us, so it's pretty reasonable to think that I would get down there more often, but in reality, it has been a handful of  years since my last visit.  It's a bit intimidating for me to picture bringing my two little ones with me and every time hubby and I think we are going to spend an overnight away (which I can count the number on one hand since the girls were born...awful, I know!) we end up going somewhere in the Adirondacks, like Lake Placid, instead :).

I love this city.
I mean LOVE it.
I dream about it.
Really.
I have reoccurring dreams of myself walking through the streets, taking in the sites...it always looks a little more ethereal in my dreams, but I am always aware that it is NYC when I'm dreaming :)

The energy that I feel when I first see the skyline always takes my breath away. It could be due to the fact that I grew up in the country, in a very rural area, so the idea of a huge city is very "magical" to me, but it's always the same.
My eyes are so wide open, my camera is snapping away, almost as if on it's own, and I just can't get enough :)

Oregon twin :)

After grabbing a quick breakfast-y bite to eat at a cute little spot near the bus station, we headed over to check out the luscious Christmas Markets in Columbia Circle. 

There was booth after booth of colorful displays of fantastic little treasures and trinkets. 

I would've bought half of this tray of rings if I could have! 

This was my favorite little booth.  I have always had a very strong love for nesting dolls...I can remember being fascinated by them even at quite a young age.  Something about taking them out and finding how many are in there (and the teeny tiny baby one) always makes me smile.  I walked out of the booth empty handed....and then 5 minutes later I went back and got one of the medium-sized ones as my souvenir from the Christmas markets.  :)

Oregon twin getting schmoozed by the handsome sea salt scrub guy :)  

After the Christmas Markets, we found ourselves headed up the west side towards Central Park.  The sunlight was so GORGEOUS as it filtered down through the trees, lighting up the many walking paths.

It was a pretty mild day at about 40 degrees (F) and the sun was bright and warm.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day long.  PERFECTION.
Well, the only thing that actually WOULD'VE been better is if it was snowing!

This bridge always reminds me of the scene with the homeless lady and the pidgeons in "Home Alone 2"  :)

Several horse drawn carriages went by as we were taking in the sites and sometimes, when I'm standing in the middle of the park, I forget that I am smack-dab in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the US.

At this particular moment, no cars could really be heard...but the "clip-clop" of horseshoes on pavement almost made me feel like I am in another time.
I love it.  Sometimes I worry about the horses, though, but it really does make for a pretty picture.

By now, I was completely relaxed.  I remember saying to my friends how wonderful it was to be off from work (it was Monday 12/15 when we went) and to be spending time with them in this calm and easy way.  I love my family to pieces, but I think sometimes, when you have small children, it can be easy to forget your "single self" or the person you were back when life was less stressful, you didn't have as many responsibilities and you really only had to worry about yourself.
It was absolute bliss, I must say!

At this point, we decided to start walking back over to Radio City Musical Hall as the show would be starting soon.

Lots of tourists.  

Some gorgeous window displays. 

I really love, love, love seeing all of the Christmas decorations up and sparkling everywhere.

Those were some fancy drinks to our right ;) 

Santa! 

Those Rockettes are something else. I felt like my legs hurt just watching them...what a workout! 

One of my favorite set changes :) 

And MY FAVORITE scene at the end.  

Just beautiful! Those camels.....

There's the big girl. 

Now it was time for dinner.  We were starving by now from all of that walking!  I think besides breakfast, the only other thing I had eaten all day were some roasted nuts that I got in Central Park. For shame! ;)

Pig N' Whistle is where we stopped to have a dinner and drinks.  It wasn't crowded, lol. 

Then, my favorite...NYC at night! 

Streets were still a'buzzing. 

Now over to see the big tree.  You know the one.  

Originally we had planned on going ice-skating at Rockefeller Center after dinner, but the line was really long.  Despite that, something magical happened..  I didn't get a photo of it, but there was a guy who skated out onto the empty ice and proposed to his girlfriend.  She said yes, naturally.
Sigh...

How romantic! xo

Seriously sweet horse.  I guess you'd have to be with millions of people wanting to pet you each night.  So sweet, though.  At one point he (she?) nuzzled me right in the belly...so sweet :)

Love is on. 

It was almost time to head back over to the bus station, so one last stop in Times Square (didn't get the greatest pics, unfortunately) and then some ice cream!

After our sweet treats we walked back over to catch our bus home.  There were only about 7 people on the whole bus.

Priceless.

This trip was so much fun for me.  It was great to spend a day with these lovely ladies and to feel the pulsating energy of all of the beautiful and unique people that make up the streets of New York City.
Someday, I don't know when, I don't know how (insert Ariel's voice) I will have my cozy, quaint little apartment on the East (or West-not picky, lol) side of Manhattan where I can come as often as I like to enjoy this lovely city.  ;)

Until then, I'll just have to take a bus or train like everyone else and enjoy the day strolling about. Happy Sunday and hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend.

Thanks for visiting the blog :)