Christmas has somehow crept up on me the last few years. I feel like at one point in my life I was thoughtful and sent out cards, bought gifts on time, and actually decorated my apartment. Because I don’t like to blame myself, I am going to blame my holiday shortcomings as of late on NYC. The city is decorated by November so I usually think “Oh, well I still have weeks to prepare, they just decorate so far in advance” and never realize when Christmas is only a week away because everything has looked the same all season.

It probably won’t truly feel like Christmas until I am home with my family, watching horrible Christmas VHS tapes that we’ve had for decades (including Baby Sitters Club Christmas and Little House on the Prairie: Christmas at Plum Creek), hanging ornaments on the tree (which really consists of my sister taking down every ornament that I put up and rehanging it in a better place), and eating kielbasa and macaroni and cheese on Christmas Eve, before heading up to Mom-Mom’s on Christmas to reunite with the whole framily (family but also friends). But until I can get home, I have been spending the last few days trying to get into the spirit while still in town.

Katie, Aubrey, and I attended a live reading/performance of A Christmas Carol at Housing Works, read by published authors and a few actors/comedians, including Scott Adsit from 30 Rock, who has shown up in my life quite a few times over the last few months. Maybe he’s my soulmate.

I wanted to visit St Patrick’s Cathedral, as part of my 28 Things list but also because I thought it would be decorated nicely for Christmas, and it sure did have a nice nativity scene:

After I visited the cathedral, I walked across the street for five minutes, which was just about all I could handle of the web of tourists, to take a snapshot of the tree in Rockefeller Center:

And while I didn’t partake in the pubcrawl/disaster known as SantaCon, where thousands of drunk post-college kids dress up like Santa and his wasted elves, I did find a disguise at a recent holiday party and had some giggles with Aubrey:

If you’re looking for ideas to enjoy the city this time of year, check out my winter to-do’s from last year here.

xx