Christmas Holidays - Family Celebrations

 Christmas in New York is hands down one of my favorite times of year. The Tree is amazing and I get to look forward to a number of family traditions. Dan and I got into town the evening of the 22nd and hit the ground running. We headed straight from the airport to Bathtub Gin, in Chelsea, an awesome reservations only speakeasy that doubles as a coffee shop during the day with a hidden door leading to the bar at night. My cousin Kristen met us and we headed off. Our luggage took so long that we actually missed our reservation but were able to sneak in late. It is an awesome bar with a copper bathtub in the center of the bar and on Sundays and Tuesdays there is a burlesque show at the bar. Who else can say they kicked off Christmas with the family taking in a burlesque show together?

On Monday, we were off to see The Nutcracker Ballet at Lincoln Center and then had dinner at Rockefeller Plaza Cafe. They are a customer of my uncle and we got the table with the best view of the tree and skaters on the rink. It was so fun, even though my mom paid more attention to the show on the ice than to any of us!

It's a nice tree

On the 24th, we had brunch with my godfather and his family, and then I headed out to lunch with my two high school besties, Jackie and Stacey. We have an annual tradition of brunch or lunch on Christmas Eve where we exchange gifts and catch up on life. It was wonderful as always.

We then headed off to Meme's apartment (my grandma) for Christmas Eve celebrations. We now have a progressive style dinner since my cousin and sister are roommates in the same building. We start with hors d'oeuvres and champagne in Dom and Kristen's apartment, and the cousins open their stockings. We then head up to Meme's apartment for dinner. This year she made choucroute, which is veal chops, sausage, bacon, sauerkraut, and potatoes; so very delicious. We then head back downstairs for gifts and desert (which is always ice cream and Aunt Bern's amazing apple cake). We also have recently started the tradition of enjoying Dominique's version of George Washington's Egg Nog recipe.

This year we missed Eric and Amelia as they were with her family in North Carolina. Luckily we will all be together next year, fingers crossed, and hopefully for Easter this 2014!!

Me, Dan, Kristen, Dom and Peter at Christmas Eve Dinner.

Peter, Dominique, Kristen, Me and Dan after Christmas Eve gifts. 

After Christmas Eve wrapped up, we were off for the long drive upstate. It is a 3 hour drive and we usually don't leave until midnight. We then all put out the gifts before hitting the sack and then off to bed. I enjoy that we don't need to get up super early but take our time and then start Christmas morning by unwrapping presents. Dad then made breakfast (which was more like lunch) and then we went for a walk around the mountain and hit the pond in the back for some hockey time. My mom then made a wonderful dinner of roast beef, gratin and veggies and Dominique made a pumpkin pie and Bouche de Noel (a chocolate French holiday cake).  After dinner we played some Christmas charades with Meme (a new tradition these past few years) and then opened stockings.

Dominique really had a Ninja Turtle Christmas.

Dominique, Dan, Dad and I playing some hockey on the back pond.

We came back to the city after a few days upstate complete with hockey, hiking and skiing and on January 30th we had a cousin's night out with all the cousins on my Mom's side. Eric had to go back to work early on the 31st so he and Amelia had to head out after a wonderful dinner at BLT Burger and then the rest of us were off to Bleecker Street Tavern and Village Tavern. It was really nice to spend time as a group just the 7 of us and really be grownups together!

Cousin's Night Out: Lisa, Peter, Dominique, Dan, Kristen, Me, Eric, Amelia

After New Year's we were on our way back to California. It was a wonderful trip full of great food, a lot of Settler's of Catan match ups, and family. Miss them already!