"Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmastime in the city!..."

The Christmas season seemed to pass like a whirlwind in my life this year. One day, I was enjoying the warm sunny rays on a beach in Mexico on the first of December. Before I knew it, December 31st was upon me with all the New Year's Eve festivities. A gathering of some friends & family in my house, rather intense games of UNO and Phase 10, wonderful food, smiles and laughter all around.

And now that my wonderful December has passed, I want to savor the beautiful moments. This is one of the reasons I (heart) photography so much. I love reliving beautiful memories. And dreams fulfilled.

I've always wanted to see New York City during the Christmas season. So many of my favorite Christmas movies are set in New York City. So many things to see. There's Rockefeller Center and Macy's Christmas windows and festive decorations everywhere! Glorious! I gathered a couple willing friends to go along for the ride, and we hit NYC for less than 48 hours (honestly, I should completely give up on the idea of "slow travel." It's just not me. When I do things, it's fast and furious!)

Holiday Markets! Diverse offerings of food, handcrafts, vintage jewelry (my favorite), hats, Christmas ornaments, photographs...

The silver-flower ring. I liiiiikey.

My classic line. Which was uttered about 10 times during those 48 hours.
"Ooooo! Sparkly things!" :) I need a chandelier.

Being cold is part of the Christmas fun! Brrrrr...

Ice & cold winter sunlight.

Hot apple cider! Just the thing!

Luscious-looking chocolate cupcakes. *drooling* But alas, I did not eat.

Bryant Park Market was undoubtedly my favorite holiday market!

Grand Central Station.

I give money to street musicians. I can't help myself. They look starving. ;)

Macy's! And all the fascinating Christmas windows.

A window after my own heart. <3

Only in New York?

Let me introduce my travel buddies!!
Meet Heidi! Good friend and fellow Christmas-in-New-York enthusiast!

Meet Jamel! Native New Yorker turned Pennsylvania resident... We're convinced that he only came along for the food. :D

Meet Steven! Native New Yorker.. still NYC resident. For the present. :)

Speaking of my travel buddies, there are definitely perks to walking around with native New Yorkers. Because they know where to get the GOOD STREET FOOD!
Chicken & Rice. :) This stuff was ahhmazing!! Flavorful & filling dinner on the streets.. :)

We are kids at heart. Really. One of my favorite places:
FAO Schwarz Toy Store!

The door greeter. :)

Lions and tigers and bears.. OH MY!

Kaliedescope room!

Man made of jelly beans. :)

We were so tired by the time we reached the store... we found an empty rocking chair and aisle floor, and sat down. And maybe revived our flagging energy with 1/2 lb. of sour gummy candy purchased in the candy area. I love Sour Patch Kids! :)

New York City by night:

Crazy store windows. I'm sure there was a deep meaning to this one, but for the life of me, I don't get it.

I do understand sparkly things! Hahahaha.

Another Holiday Market! This one by Central Park.

I wanted to buy this adorable hat for my little nieces/nephew. But I did not (so much self-control, ya know).

By now you should know.. I took a picture for the chandelier.

This holiday market was fun, especially because of the many nice things to smell. Candles, homemade soaps, bath salts, aromatic herbs and spices. And then there was hot apple cider again!! Only this time we got the mixed fruit juice variety! MMMMMM.

On our way back from the holiday market, we decided to walk a couple blocks over.. just because we could. Just to see what we could see. And there were signs of Christmas everywhere!

And the *best* thing we stumbled upon...
Magnolia Bakery! Famous for their cupcakes.

I loved the whimsical cuteness of the shop/bakery..

finding a little corner table to pass the time, look out on the streets...

... stare at the delectable baked offerings..

Heidi decided to get a yummy cupcake...

.. however, I was not hungry. Decided to nobly forgo the cupcake-idea (I'm still kicking myself for that)... and sip coffee instead.

PS- Isn't this a cute bike?

Christmastime in the City was beautiful. I loved so many other things that I won't torture my poor blog readers with... a lovely tea shop with a rolling ladder (like the library in Beauty & the Beast!), a meal in Little Italy as a Chinese dragon parade rolls by, wandering around the lighting distract, very-squished-quarters in the subway, standing in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.. along with about a thousand other people (or so it seemed), a Christmas play at Times Square Church, seeing old friends and making new friends, twinkling Christmas lights everywhere, holiday shopping...

So I will say,
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"
(and that seems perfectly appropriate)