Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

I apologize...I feel like I have been slacking in my blog posting lately. But I have a good excuse: I've had work to do! I actually had some work come in that has kept me busy all week, which is great. So yay, but now it's time to get caught up.

And if we weren't before, we are now officially overcome with the Christmas spirit. Well, I am, at least. Eric has been working a LOT this week so he may be a little less spirited, but still. Even as I type these very words I am admiring our Christmas tree while I listen to Christmas music and sip warm apple cider. I'm all about the multi-tasking.

The impetus for this festivity was Monday night's event: the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. We saw it last year with my dad, and had such a good time we couldn't wait to see it again. This year, we brought Amanda along with us and all had a fantastic evening. I just love that show. How can you not be overcome with the Christmas spirit after such a performance? My two favorite scenes are the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and the Living Nativity. I am including a video of the Wooden Soldiers below, and if you'd like to see the entire Living Nativity scene (complete with live camels and sheep and everything!), I've got a video of that, too - just click here. It really is beautiful.

Santa gets things started!

The Nutcracker medley (another of my favorites, because I am a sucker for all things Nutcracker)

The Wooden Soldiers

VIDEO: Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Rockettes in the "New York at Christmas" number

Dancing Santas

The Living Nativity

After the show
(Hey Molly - look how we match! We kept joking about how very "Molly & Arturo" we were that night, ha!)

Striking some Rockette poses with Amanda

After the show, we walked over to Rockefeller Center to get some pictures of the Tree, since it was no longer an "OMG I have been standing in the rain for five hours, take a picture of this stupid tree and GET ME OUT OF HERE" situation like it was the night of the tree lighting. Of course the Plaza was still crowded with tourists, but really, when isn't it? We got some great pictures and really just enjoyed the beautiful Christmas decor.

With the tree behind us

Pretty, pretty!

My favorite part of the Plaza this time of year is the angels along the Promenade, but instead of looking towards the tree, I love to face the other way and admire the stars on the front of Saks. They're so gorgeous, and if you remember from last year, they do a dance to "Carol of the Bells" every fifteen minutes or so. We made sure to stick around so Amanda could see that for herself.

One of the angels with the snowflakes behind her

VIDEO: Dancing snowflakes on Saks

My favorite pictures of the night

Of course, after enjoying the Saks Snowflake show, we had to cross the street to check out the Saks window displays, which are always a big deal. Last year they told the story of Mike, the first individual snowflake. This year, they told the story of Twinkle, the little snowflake who was trying to figure out where she was supposed to end up. She traveled the world and ended up in New York City, where she nearly landed on a "lumbering bear" (who was actually a rather portly lady in a fur coat). But then she saw a crowd of smiling faces and would up landing on a new baby named Noelle - and that little snowflake became the Twinkle in Noelle's eye. Get it? Awww.

The "lumbering bear"

So true, Somewhat-Creepy-Eyed-Snowflake-Named-Twinkle, so true.

And that was really the end of our festive evening. We all walked home together, then called it a night. What a nice evening it was!

More fun stuff on the agenda for this weekend - Eric is heading to Florida for the weekend, but I have lots going on here to keep me occupied while he is away. Stay tuned!