The Brown's Family Journal: December 2024

Lisa's ideas germinate into some of the best family moments.

Last year we surprised the boys with a Disney Cruise the day after Christmas. The memory of their shock still brings a smile to our faces. Last year's success led us to the decision to have another family trip over the holiday rather than spending the whole Winter Break at home. Experiences instead of presents. So, back in the summer we floated the idea of going to a professional sports event somewhere on the east coast. This time the boys were included in the planning process and this was the result...

Christmas in New York City!

We returned to New York City for two and a half days, including Christmas Eve and Christmas. On Christmas Eve morning we were surprised by big, fluffy snowflakes coming down on 8th Avenue and all of Manhattan. By midday the snow had passed, but not before depositing an inch or two on the sidewalks and any open space in the city. There was even sledding in Central Park.

We walked over to Macy's and admired the window displays, and the store decked out from the ground floor to the ninth floor. From there we strolled up to Bryant Park for the Christmas Market, some hot chocolate and a window ornament for the house. We then got into the Morgan Library (for free) to see an original manuscript of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," a Gutenberg bible, and J.P. Morgan's amazing reading room.

For early dinner we went to a Thai restaurant because, hey, its NYC and why not Thai food the night before Christmas. We walked up to Saint Patrick's Cathedral for 5:30pm mass. We got in around 4:00pm and sat down thinking we would have to eventually move for people with reservations. After an hour it became apparent that there were no reservations and our seats were great. Having grown up Catholic, both Lisa and I were familiar with the service, however the pageantry of a Christmas Eve mass was particularly spectacular.

From mass, we walked across the street to Rockefeller Center to live out one of my lifelong bucket list items, ice skating underneath the Christmas tree. Samantha bought us the tickets to thank us for taking Buoy into our home for four months, and it was so worth it.

Getting into the skating rink required us to push through a crush of humanity. Every tourist in New York seemed to be in Rockefeller Center to live stream, selfie, or pose with the golden statue of "Prometheus" and the tree in their background. It was a little intimidating and Grant stayed right on my tail through the horde. Then, just like that, we got to the other side, showed our tickets and within ten minutes had our skates on, ready to meet the ice.

Incredibly, everyone skated well for not knowing how to skate. Yes, Grant biffed spectacularly a couple of times, but Lisa and I held hands around the ice, interrupted from time to time by TJ, who somehow managed to FaceTime his friends AND skate at the same time. It lived up to all of the expectations and was/is a wonderful holiday memory. I remember all four of us smiling. Our walk back to the hotel included a stop for slices of pizza. Lisa brought, and I read, "T'was the Night Before Christmas," to the boys before we all turned in, exhausted.

The next day was Christmas. We convinced the boys to sit in the stairwell of the twenty-third floor of the DoubleTree Hotel to complete the Brown Family tradition of "waiting on the stairs to make sure Santa left presents." After breakfast we walked over to Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena," to watch the New York Knicks play the San Antonio Spurs. Yes, that's what the boys decided on back in the late summer.

A NBA game.

On Christmas Day.

In New York City.

We watched the Spurs' star Victor Wembanyama drain a bunch of three pointers in a nail biter of a game. However, in the last two minutes the Knicks pulled ahead and stayed there. We had a great time.

We spent a very cold and windy afternoon walking down towards the Hudson River to see The Vessel and walk the High Line from the rail yards all the way down to 16th Street (and back!). We walked up 9th Avenue all the way to the Sky Light Diner that was closed - what a surprise, it's Christmas - to settle on a pub just down from Penn Station for dinner and a stop in the Tick Tock Diner for dessert.

It was another night where we just dropped from exhaustion.

And just like that, it was time to go home. I was the first customer in the door at Liberty Bagels, picking up sandwiches for the train ride and a dozen real NYC bagels for home. We packed up, learned a short cut to get to the trains at the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station thanks to a very friendly employee, and rolled back home by dinner time.

Merry Christmas to all!