NEW YORK CITY WITH THE FAMILY
CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK
Are we the only ones obsessed with the movie Elf? If so, I find that hard to believe and would argue everyone else is just missing out on the best movie ever made. Anyway, this year, we decided to live out our Elf-inspired dreams in New York City. Instead of big gifts this Christmas, we chose to give each other an unforgettable experience. We planned all the places we wanted to see, things we wanted to do, and especially what we wanted to eat.
First, we'll make snow angels for a two hours
Ok, so the city wasn’t covered in snow when we arrived. We were really hoping for streets covered in the fluffy white stuff and it was certainly cold enough! BUT, our travel miracle waited until we were at the top of the Empire State Building. While we had planned our trip in order to watch the sunset, a storm was coming in so fast that we didn’t have much time to see the rosy afternoon glow before the clouds covered the skyline. We had paid for the premium tickets to go up to the new(er) 360 viewing deck, nonrefundable, but when we got as far as King Kong, we realized the storm was quickly blocking the entire view. That’s when everyone’s phones sounded the emergency alert for a “Sudden Snow Squall.” Our southern-selves had no idea what that meant and we didn’t have much time to think. We jumped onto the elevator to hopefully get to the top before the view was completely blocked, but by the time we opened the doors, the clouds covered the windows in a total whiteout. Such a bummer. We were so high up that you couldn’t see anything at all. We waited. If you’ve been to the top, it’s a small room with windows all the way around. Nothing else to do. We waited. We were 30 minutes before we were about to give up and go eat dinner. In fact, we were getting in line for the elevator when we saw the first break in the clouds. And then another. So, we jumped over to the window just in time to see the clouds start to part, and below was New York City with its colorful twinkling lights, dusted in snow. PURE. MAGIC.
Then we'll go ice skating
And we DID. I hadn’t planned on spending a ton of time there, because the last time Russell and I skated at Rockefeller Center and my feet hurt so bad that we barely had time for a photo before I gave up. This time though, the kids absolutely loved it. We had such a great time that I had to bribe them with hot chocolate to leave or we may still be there today. We also did a lot of other things in New York. Here were our favorites:
TYPICAL TOURIST MUST-SEEs
Empire State Building
Rockefeller Center (especially at Christmas!)
Statue of Liberty
Top of the Rock
Brooklyn Bridge
Grand Central Terminal
9/11 Tribute Museum
then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can
We ate. And ate. And ate some more. For our family, to travel is to eat. And we spend as much time choosing restaurants as activities. Especially in New York, because there are just so many delicious options! Places we love to eat:
Beauty & Essex for a speakeasy brunch
John’s on Bleeker for pizza!
Mille-Feuille pastries
Gallagher’s Steakhouse for dinner near Broadway
MEW sushi
The Plaza Hotel for black and white cookies
The Doughnut Project near Central Park