It's Christmastime in the City

We're home, for the time being. In a few hours we'll be packing up again and heading to PA to ring in the new year with friends.

December 24

What a fun Christmas we had this year! New York was absolutely incredible. Joshua and I found our way to the hotel without any trouble at all, arriving almost an hour before planned (and four hours before check in - thankfully our room was ready). After meeting up with my family, the five of us walked to the United Nations building and got food while waiting for our tour to begin. We had a great guide and a fun group. I'd love to get another tour the next time I'm in the city.

After exploring the UN, we discovered this great Italian restaurant called Fabio Piccolo Fiore. We all ordered pasta; Canaan, Dad, and Joshua all got rigatoni with either bolognese, or marinara; Mom ordered fettucini alfredo; I ordered pesto gnocchi. All of the pastas and sauces were freshly made, and now Joshua and I feel inspired to make our own pastas. After a failed attempt at getting on the ice at Rockefeller, we all retired to my parent's room, and spent the rest of the night playing games and talking.

December 25

Christmas morning we worshiped at St. Peters, opened gifts, walked all over Times Square and the Theatre District, and had an early dinner at Carmine's. After dinner we went to an exhibit featuring the inventions of DaVinci, and went back to the Belvedere to relax.

December 26

The 26th was probably my favorite day there. Everyone got up early and went ice skating at Rockefeller. For about 25 minutes or so there was only one other person on the ice. It was a blast. Joshua and I left a bit before my parents and brother did, because we had early tickets to the Bodies Exhibit. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. I definitely plan on going again.

Following out time at Bodies, Joshua and I grabbed a quick lunch, stopped at a small local coffee shop for genmaicha, wandered over to Ground Zero, and then took the metro back uptown. We arrived at the theatre about twenty minutes before the show began, and it took about half that time just to get to our seats - the place was absolutely packed.

Seeing Jersey Boy's was the highlight of the trip for me by far. The choreography, set design, and singing blew us away. I found it hard not to sing out loud, and there were many members of the audience (including my mother) who did. I would recommend this musical to anyone, but especially to those already familiar with their songs.

School's Out

But grades are in... a perfect 4.0

I am definitely excited about that; juggling 18 credits was a bit more than I had bargained for, but I did it anyway! It will be interesting to see how my classes play out next semester. I am only taking 14 credits, so that I will be able to pick up a part time job somewhere (I hope). So I signed up for Chem 2, World Lit, American Gov, A&P 2 and the labs for both sciences.

I checked out all of the professors to make sure that I wouldn't regret any of my class selections, so I am pretty confident that I will enjoy them.

In other news, tomorrow begins the Christmas festivities. Joshua and I will celebrate by ourselves, and then head over to Susan's for the night. We'll leave for the city early on Christmas Eve morning.

Well, Joshua and I are boiling water for tea, and are about to head out on a long wintery walk.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

It's snowing outside... a lot. We have more than a foot of snow, and it's not supposed to stop anytime soon. We're planning to stay inside all day today, but I'm not sure if we could go anywhere even if we wanted.

Right now Karis is reading a book, and I'm blogging (how'd you guess), and listening to the PIAA Class AAAA Football Championship - I'm as surprised as you; my cousin is playing in it, but the first half is almost over and the other team is up by 17.

Earlier we wrapped presents, played games and listened to Christmas music, and later we might bake cookies and play more games.

Tomorrow we'll adventure outside, the snow should have stopped by then, but we probably won't make it to church. If there is school on Monday I think I'll be called, and then it's vacation (for both of us). We've no plans for Tuesday, but Wednesday is Christmas with the two of us in the morning, and with my family in the evening, and then we're flying out Thursday morning.

After we get back from NYC, it'll be up to PA for a family get together on my side, and then New Year's we'll be in Lancaster with the Amish (well, there won't be Amish, but we will be in PA).

Fah who for-aze!

Dah who dor-aze!

Welcome Christmas,

Come this way!

A few notes on November:

- One night we set up a tent in the living room, hung cut out stars from it's top, made s'mores and hot cocoa, read a bit of Lord of the Rings outloud, and spent the night "camping"

- We started taking long walks around after sunset with warm thermoses to keep us warm

- Thanksgiving was spent at the LaRusso's, where we enjoyed good food and fun games

We're not quite a week into December, and it's already proven to be a busy month:

- I surprised Joshua by baking a cake and decorating the house for his birthday while he was at orientation. (The cake, made entirely from scratch, was a dark chocolate one with mocha frosting, and I was really excited about how well it came out. )

- Yesterday we started celebrating the christmas seasoson. Went and saw a children's play, bought and decorated a tree, and started listening to christmas music.

- Today I'll be going (hopefully) to a christmas concert at my school, and finishing the weekend housework

- Next weekend we think Joshua's Houghton friends will be visiting