I love documenting our Christmas and New Years trips back east because they’re fun to look back on year after year. We always kind of do the same things and truly the time spent with our family is always the best part.
This year was great because we got to spend a good amount of time home. We were there for almost two weeks! We left Denver in the early morning and got in to New York mid-afternoon. Honestly, it was such a relief when we landed in New York. There were a few delays and our plane had to try landing twice (which wasn’t very comforting) due to the amount of traffic on the runway. It was pretty scary being about 20 feet from touchdown and then hearing the engines roar to take off again. Eek! Anyways, since we had to circle the city to land a second time, we at least got to soak up the great view!
Once we got home to Connecticut we immediately changed into our comfy clothes, raided my parents fridge and relaxed on the couch. We have this big green chair that usually sits in our family room, but every Christmas we move it to the corner of the kitchen to make way for the Christmas tree. It’s everyones favorite chair because it’s so big and cozy. Dave was greeted by his favorite chair, cookies and tea. Let’s be real, we love going home because we get spoiled ;)
The rest of our time home was really chill. It was SO cold that we couldn’t do much outside. I secretly loved it because it gave us an excuse to stay in and not feel like we needed to go out and do things. We walked around the beach, did some Christmas shopping, baked Christmas cookies, watched plenty of movies, and made ginger bread houses.
Christmas morning we lucked out with a white Christmas. I think it helped everyone get into the Christmas spirit a little bit more. And of course, we ate lots of yummy food, had our extended family over, played games, opened gifts… you know, the whole shebang!
On one of our days home, Dave and I took the train into the city. We didn’t do Christmas gifts this year but instead decided to spend the money on something fun to do together in the city. We love going to Broadway shows, so that was our Christmas gift. We ended up getting day of matinee tickets to Phantom of the Opera, and I kid you not, I’m still walking around singing the songs (I make up most of the lyrics) because they’re so catchy and get stuck in your head like no other.
We also had to have NY pizza while we were in the city because I really believe it’s the best kind of pizza in the world. We went to one of our favorite spots for pizza in midtown. It’s a small order-behind-the-counter restaurant, always crowded with lots of attitude and being there gives me all sorts of NY feels.
After the show we walked around midtown. Honestly, it was so so cold we had to hop in and out of stores just to stay warm. We saw the tree (because we can’t not see the tree every year), and strolled around Bryant park for chocolate, strawberry and Nutella crepes. We then headed back to Connecticut because we couldn’t bear the cold anymore!
We went into the city again for NYE with my cousin, her boyfriend, my brother and Hazal. We had a blast going out with them! I feel really cool tagging along since they’re locals and know all the best spots. We first had fancy cocktails at The Dead Rabbit, ate ramen noodles at Jeju, and then rang in the new year at a bar.
On New Year’s Day we had to fly back to Colorado. Before that though, we got brunch in Brooklyn and I had to see city skyline from the promenade. We have this tradition that every New Year’s Day we walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to ring in the new year. Even though it’s typically packed with tourists and cold, it’s always a fun thing to do. This year though, we totally cheated! We ended up driving across because… COLD!!
