GHETTO SUPER STAR

So Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family near and far! This Christmas, Nathan and I decided to brave the city, just the two of us. We have had a good time bringing the Christmas spirit into out home. Pictured above is our Christmas tree. It is a little bit of a Charlie Brown tree, but has a lot of character. We picked out our tree about three weeks ago on the corner of Jane St. and Hudson. The funny thing about Christmas tree "lots" in New York, is they are not really "lots" at all, but rather Christmas trees lined up on popular street corners. Our particular corner lot was employed with an old man with white beard who looked very-Santa-like, a small, dread-headed, hippy-like elf-man, and a little boy in full cowboy gear. As Nathan would say in the words of Austen Powers - "carnies - small hands, smell like cabbage." I wonder what happens to the carnies after the Christmas season? Perhaps they head back to the ranch to begin growing pumpkins for next Halloween. We were gone during Halloween this year. I'll be curious to see if the "pumpkin patches" look similar to the Christmas tree "lots." I'll keep you posted.

Nathan and I brought out little tree home and spent the weekend making it festive. For the past nine or so years, Nate and I have been purchasing Christmas tree ornaments whenever we take a trip somewhere new. Each year when we decorate our tree, it is fun to remember the trip and the funny events associated with each . When we made the move to NY we had to leave behind our box of souvenir ornaments and lights. Given our new small quarters, even just one medium size box accounted for too much real estate in our tiny apartment. This caused us to be a little more creative with our decor this particular Christmas. Aside from the senor y senora ornaments picked up in Zihuatanjo, the cross from Mexico City and the Bajan woman made from a coconut seed from Barbados, we had no traditional ornaments to think of. We decide we would convert all of the cards we received from friends and family into ornaments for our tree. If you look closely you will see a few of our favorite newlyweds thanks to Jess and Janae, some darling children - the Bland kids, the Saenz kids, the Booser kids, the Maitlen kids, and an orray of beautiful holiday scenery from cards from everywhere else. With each glance at the tree I am filled with happiness and friendship from each greeting mailed from our dearest friends. We also spent an entire Saturday night watching Sopranos and stringing popcorn to adorn the branches of our XMas tree (hence the snow like effect;). When the stringing of the popcorn was complete we looked at our Charlie Brown Tree and realized that we were missing an angel or a star to top our tree. Nathan suggested we pull out our art supplies (which we did find a space for in our tiny apartment) so we could construct a star for the tree topper. Amongst the paints, tape, markers, pastels, etc., we found a full jar of gold glitter - perfect! Nate cut out the star as I got crazy with the glue stick and glitter. Before long we had the best "ghetto super star" we could imagine possible.

As for other Holiday decor, we have a gorgeous wreath adorning our front door (also purchased from the carnies on my way home from a L'Oreal Holiday Party - what can I say, I was in the Holiday Spirit after a few celebratory glasses of vino) and a string of vintage christmas lights illuminating the fire escape outside our apartment window.

As for our Christmas weekend activities, we spent Saturday with my dear friend, Steven, from work, and his family in Central Park attempting to ice skate, followed by cocktails on the roof-top deck of the Peninsula Hotel. On Sunday we headed to Madison Square Garden for the Knicks'/Laker Game, where the Laker's almost blew it in the 4th Quarter, but pulled through with 30 seconds left in the game. Thank goodness, as I sported my vintage Magic Johnson shirt amongst a sea of blue and orange. Christmas Eve we spent doing some last minute shopping and settled down to Nathan's homemade jalepeno-corn cakes and guacamole and caught Hugh Grant in Love Actually (a new Christmas classic) on DVD.

Christmas day entailed coffee and presents in the morning, followed by a long run to mid-town on the bike path. Nate and I have both been running quite a bit and we were eager to try out our new all-weather attire in the cold. After our run we headed uptown to W. 57th where our friends, the Spielman's, invited us over for Christmas Dinner. Melissa and Jim's neighbors cooked up a feast of beef wellington and an array or sides including carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes, cheese rolls and asparagus, as well as three kinds of desserts. We left happy and full with a couple of new faces to call friends. We turned in early for the night, knowing we both had to head back to work early in the morning.

All in all, it was a festive and fun Christmas, though very unlike the California Christmas' we know and love. We missed our families and quality time we typically spend together. I am hoping next year we will be able to head back west to see all your smiling faces.

Have a safe and Happy New Year. Missing you all and thinking of you often!
Signing off, with a special farewell to the corner of Jane St. and Hudson carnies.