The Spirit of Christmas Past

This Christmas is going to be a real change of pace for both Eric and me. This is the first year that we will not be able to make it home to spend the holidays with our families in Florida. It's kind of sad...we both had a feeling this day would come, but we had hoped to put it off as long as we could. It's hard to make that decision. We love our holiday traditions with our families, and we will miss them very much. Of course we know that this is a logical decision for us this year. Travel was just too expensive, and Eric would have had a tough time getting this week off work, so our visit would have been very costly for a very short period of time. Instead, we opted to go home in January for a longer stay and lower price tag. Definitely the smart decision, although not the easiest.

In thinking about the changes this Christmas is bringing for us, I was reminiscing about Christmases past. In looking through old photos, I came across a couple I thought I would share. Be prepared for cuteness!

Check it out, it's vintage Mrs. W. This picture was taken in 1985, when I was three years old. I wanted to share this one because this was probably my most favorite Christmas dress ever. It had a pretty full skirt, and hidden in the skirt were little tiny jingle bells, so when I swooshed my skirt around it jingled. I LOVED it. Please also note my white tights with red hearts, and black Mary Janes. I was stylin'.

Ah, it's me with my sister Heather, circa 1986. Notice that our dresses match but are in alternative Christmas colors. We were always pretty coordinated around the holidays. Please also note the chubbiness of Heather's cheeks. Is she not precious?

This one's from 1987. Once again we have the matching-yet-alternate-colors look. This year I felt extra fancy because I had my hair done at a salon. I had found a picture of a girl in a magazine who had a her hair braided like a crown around her head, and for whatever reason I had it done like that at a salon for Christmas. I remember coming home from the salon and being very concerned because I had to take a nap on my fancy hair. My hair survived, and I felt like a princess. Also great about this picture: Heather's super-natural smile.

And here we are, circa 1988, sitting on Santa's lap at the always-glamorous Parmatown mall. Heather is just as cute as a button. Once again she's sporting the chubbiest little cheeks and sweetest expression, no? And as for me...multicolored one-piece zip-up jumper? Check. My trusty headband that I always wore (my hair has always been mildly unruly, and I hate it in my face)? Check. Santa pin? Check. Awesome.

And here we are on Christmas Eve, 1989. This year we skipped the different colored-dresses and went for total matchy-matchy. Could it get better, you ask? Why, yes, it most certainly could. My mom also had a matching dress!

This is by far my favorite of the bunch: Eric and his siblings circa 1987. This is the only one I have of Eric and Co., sadly. But OH MY GOODNESS HOW CUTE. I hope Ronnie and Kelley aren't mad at me for sharing this, because my hands were tied. I just had to share it. I just adore this picture. They all look just like themselves, except small. Look at Eric's baby face! Love it. I also love his "Florida" t-shirt, so formally tucked in, and his haircut. And in case you were too distracted by the adorable children, please take a moment to notice THE CREEPIEST SANTA EVER. It only adds to the awesomeness of this picture.

It's so nice to think back to Christmases past and remember such happy times. Even though we can't be with our families this year, our hearts are home with them. And, I am excited to make new memories with my husband in our new home this year.

I hope you all have finished your preparations and are now ready to relax and enjoy the holiday with your loved ones. Merry Christmas!

Our Holiday Home

I realized last week that I've been showing you pictures of Christmas decorations all over the city. We've just loved seeing them all, so we've been having a great time. But, I realized that I have not shared any pictures of our own Christmas decorations! So, today I'm going to share with you some pictures of our own home decorated for Christmas!

Welcome to the W. Holiday Home! This is our wreath on our front door. My mom made this for me several years ago.

Our dining room, with a new Christmas tablecloth and the Advent wreath I made. We're kind of excited that this will be the first year since I made it years ago that we'll still be in town on Christmas day to actually light the Christmas candle! Also, you can see our "Happy Holidays" snowman banner hanging on the back of the front door.

Our pretty Christmas towels in the kitchen. (This is the scene of the crime where Eric will be making our Christmas lasagna, a tradition in his family! He already started on the homemade sauce yesterday. It smelled delicious. I'm pretty psyched about that lasagna.)

Our hallway, with mistletoe on the ceiling and Christmas cards hung down the wall.

Angel figurine and Christmas towels in the bathroom.

And finally, the main event! The living room. Let's look at this one a little closer, shall we?

Our Christmas Tree, with a new tree skirt this year! Our ornament collection has really been growing since we first got this tree three years ago. When we first got it, it was mainly decorated with store-bought ornament sets. Now it's much more eclectic as we've added more personal ornaments over the years. Eric and I exchange ornaments every Christmas, which is one reason that has happened. Plus we've gotten ornaments as gifts from other people, brought ornaments back from our trips to the Caymans, etc. I love it.

This is probably my favorite part of our decorated apartment. The stockings are also new this year, replacing old dollar-store stockings we bought back in Gainesville. Eric is the red stocking, I'm the green, and Achilles is clearly the paw. In this picture, you can also see my Willow Tree Nativity Set. Here's a closer look:

It was a gift from my mom. She gave us the main pieces last year, and this year she gave us the wisemen. She's going to keep adding to it until we have the complete set. It's one of my most favorite decorations. I love nativity sets. I have two others in the apartment:

This one was a gift from my dad a few years ago. I think it's just beautiful. We have it on the top shelf of the bookshelf in our living room.

This one was also a gift from my mom. Isn't it adorable? They're so cute! And there's a light in it that shines out on the Baby Jesus, aww. This one is on a little side table next to the Christmas tree.

Another shot of our living room, but the other side, including our bowl o' ornaments on the coffee table.

A closer view of our ornament bowl. I was testing out the "macro" setting on our new camera. Turned out pretty well, yes?

And last but not least, a picture of Achilles enjoying the holiday cheer!

That's our holiday home!

A (Very Cold) Day Downtown

Before I officially begin the planned substance of this post, I would just like to point out that this is my 100th post! I can't believe I've rambled on about our lives for 100 posts-worth...and even more impressively, you've continued reading. I had no idea how this blogging experiment would turn out, but I am so glad it has come along so well. I really enjoy it, and I love hearing feedback from you and knowing that you're reading it. I hope it helps you feel like you're a part of our everyday lives. It makes me happy to share, both to keep everyone up-to-date with what's happening for us, but also for my own diary-type purposes. So, thanks for sticking with me for this long! I hope you'll continue reading as I continue writing.

Anyway...we had a very fun but very cold day yesterday. We started out with a subway ride downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. We had been meaning to get down there to walk across the bridge to check it out, to see if it was something cool that should be incorporated into our visitor tours. The verdict: yes, it is.

So, we got down there and started our walk. Honestly, we picked a pretty lousy day to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. When we left the house at 2:00 in the afternoon, weather.com told us that the current temperature was 22 degrees, but the "feels like" was 15 degrees. That's not a lot of degrees. Especially when you're walking across a bridge. Plus, thanks to the snow-turned-freezing-rain yesterday, the bridge was ICY. Parts were coated with more snow, so not too bad, but other parts were very slick. So it was a bit treacherous. But still very cool! Definitely a fun experience, with great views. Apparently there is also a really great ice cream place on the Brooklyn side of the bridge (although we didn't stop today, we weren't exactly in an ice cream mood after our ice walk), so that will make a nice little afternoon with our out-of-town guests. Who wants to be first?

On the Brooklyn Bridge! Please note, I'm sporting my new rainboots with pink fleece liners from Target. Love me some Target.

Hooray bridge!

Artsy bridge shot

We made it to the middle of the bridge! Yay!

View of Manhattan

Statue of Liberty

Eric and the City

Me and Manhattan

After we walked back over to the Manhattan side of the bridge, we wandered around the area a little more. City Hall is down there, and there's a very nice little park in front of it. Unfortunately, the park was closed, so we couldn't get in. But, we still wandered around and took some pictures of the snowy scenery.

Snowy subway

City Hall

Cool lamp post

There were several of sculptures like this all over the park, and I thought they were cool-looking. To me, they look like dripped candle wax. The colors really stood out against the snow! Apparently it's an exhibition of the work of Robert Melee, on display until April. This one is called "It Alone."

From there, we started walking over towards Wall Street and on our way we ran into South Street Seaport, which is a very cool little area with shops and restaurants right on the water. They had a huge Christmas tree, and while we were there the Big Apple Chorus even gave a performance.

South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport Christmas Tree

Ship at South Street Seaport

The Big Apple Chorus

 

VIDEO: The Big Apple Chorus singing the Beach Boys' "Little St. Nick"

When we left South Street Seaport, we stopped for lunch at Chipotle and took some time to sit and thaw out. It was SO COLD. After we warmed up a bit, we headed back out and finally made our way to Wall Street. As you may recall in my post about my dad's visit, there was a huge Christmas tree in front of the Stock Exchange, and the flag that usually covers the columns on the front of the building had been replaced with Christmas lights to make a flag. Since then we've been wanting to get out there in the evening to see it all lit up. So, we did! Very impressive.

The Christmas Stock Exchange

Close-up of the light flag

Don't freeze, Eric!

From there we walked down to Battery Park to see if there were any other Christmas happenings. Sure enough, we found the Bull to be all Christmas-ed up, and another little holiday market set up. Love those holiday markets!

Eric on Wall Street

The Wall Street Christmas Bull

After Battery Park we had planned to head back uptown to Bryant Park for a little more Christmas shopping at that holiday market, but by this time we had been out in the cold for 4 hours and were just chilled to the bone. So, we called it a day and went on home. Poor, cold Eric's face was so red!

It was such a nice little day! Hope you all enjoyed your Saturday, as well.

More NYC Randomness

Before I get to my latest installment of Random Sights Around New York, first I'd like to share that I officially have all my GRE scores! And I did very well! On the general test, I was in the 90th percentile on the Verbal and Writing sections, and 69th percentile on the Math section. And on the Psychology test, I scored a 700, which puts me in the 82nd percentile and is better than I was scoring on my practice tests, so I am very pleased. I worked so hard studying for these tests, so it's reassuring to know that my efforts were worthwhile. I also got word that the school received all of my application materials and are now reviewing everything. I have no idea when I'll find out if I got in or not, but I'm optimistic and I hope it will be soon!

And now, on to some more fun stuff. I just have a few pictures to share with you in this installment, but they are pretty random. Enjoy:

This is the Naked Cowboy (in the white briefs and boots), and apparently on this day he had a little Naked Friend with him. The Naked Cowboy hangs out in Times Square. He's pretty random the first time you see him, but after you've seen him a couple times, he loses his shock value and all you want is the tourists to stop gawking and get out of your way. At least, that's how it went for me. But, he gets a mention in this post because I took this picture on the day of our first substantial snowfall. So, I find the Naked Cowboy to be crazy. Sure, it's all well and good to hang out in Times Square in your underwear in July, but in December on a snowy day? Pure craziness. That's pneumonia waiting to happen.

This is quite possibly the most frightening and dangerous part of living in New York City. McDonald's delivery??? You mean all I have to do is a dial a phone and the McDonald's comes right to me? Well then, hello Mr. Gluttony and Mr. Sloth, make yourselves right at home here on my couch. Yikes! (Note, especially to my mother: I have never ordered McDonald's delivery, nor do I have any plans to do so in the future. I am simply discussing what COULD happen to someone less walking-inclined. Although I enjoy a nice ordered-in dinner on occasion, I generally walk to get my food instead. So don't worry, Mom. I'm not binging on ordered-in double cheeseburgers.)

This is my last picture for today, and I find it to be excessively random. Eric took this one on his way to work the other day. CAMELS! Standing on the street in New York City! That's ridiculous. Although, Eric said they were standing by Radio City Music Hall, so I assume they are the camels that star in the Nativity Scene of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. So, I get it. But still...camels are one thing you probably would not expect to see as you walk around the Big Apple.

I hope you all are having a nice weekend, and your holiday preparations are coming together nicely. Eric and I are going out on the town this afternoon for some shopping and exploring, which I am very much looking forward to.

Stay tuned...I have lots more things up my blog-posting sleeve for this week!

Firm Festivities

Last night was Eric's firm's Christmas party at the St. Regis Hotel. I met him at his office around 6:00pm and we walked over to the party with our friend Jose from there. The party was really nice. Of course, the venue was beautiful, the drinks flowed freely, and the food was yummy. It was also really nice to get to meet some of the people I hear Eric talk about all the time.

Party spot

In front of a fireplace in the banquet room

Eric and the other first-year associate guys: Jose and Jesse

Enjoying ourselves!

Today, it's snowing like crazy! We're supposed to get snow/wintry mix all weekend. I'm holding out hope that we'll have a white Christmas this year. It would be Eric's first ever, and my first in a long time. I figure if we don't get to be in Florida with our families for the holiday, at least we could have some snow!

Snowy afternoon, looking out our living room window

I was hoping the snowy downpour would get Eric out of work early today, so we can get our weekend underway, but no such luck. Actually, he has a pretty fun afternoon in store for him, I think. His firm sort of "adopted" a few kindergarten and first grade classes from a school in the Bronx, and attorneys/staff at the firm each took a child's "letter to Santa" and bought gifts for that child. On Wednesday they wrapped all the gifts, and today a few people from the firm (Eric included) are going to the school to help deliver the gifts.

Eric and I actually took two letters, one from a little kindergarten boy and one from a kindergarten girl. Despite the inescapable crowds at Toys 'R Us in Times Square, we had a blast shopping for them (our only other shopping option really was FAO Schwartz, which would not have been less crowded. Such is life when you have to shop in tourist locations). We bought the little girl some dolls and a whole bunch of kitchen set stuff, like pots and pans and dishes and play food. For the boy, we bought a remote-controlled car and a really awesome huge foam dinosaur. Although this is probably not what you're supposed to do, we couldn't resist playing with the dinosaur with a Achilles a little bit before taking it in to be wrapped. I mean, the thing was bigger than him. How could we NOT see what he thought of it?

Forcing him to be courageous: we put a treat in the dinosaur's mouth. This is a great picture for size comparison.

"Why is this thing hovering over my treat pieces?" Note: the flat ears equal nervousness in this situation.
(Also, please excuse the messy, unmade bed. It was late at night on a weekend. Honest.)

"Is that thing EATING my treats? Why, this won't do. I might have to take action."

"I will brave the jaws of this beast to retrieve my treat!"

Happy weekend everyone!