Christmas Eve- 3rd year to NYC!

To see all the photos from today, click HERE!


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This was our third year taking the train to and from NYC on Christmas Eve.  It's a BUSY day, but totally worth the effort.  It's getting to be more and more fun as the kids are getting older too.

I'm really REALLY big on traditions, so this is perfect for me.  Ryan's really into this one too, so that makes it easy.

We don't quite have our breakfast part of this tradition mailed down yet... last year we drove through somewhere on the way to the train (I think?) and this year we bought $17 worth of food from the cafe car on the Amtrak (which is just a coffee, muffin, yogurt, milk & 2 bagels).  Since we're usually in a hurry to get out the door, I'm thinking some kind of make-the-night-before breakfast casserole we can take with us might work well.  Suggestions?!?

Anyway- we were a little up in the air about where our NYC lunch favorite would be (Mr. Broadway would have been our pick but they are closed on Saturdays...) so today we went to Johns Pizzeria and holy cow, we're never turning back.  That's nothing against the awesome Shawarma you can get from Mr. Broadway but this pizza... and the pizza roll appetizers?  Oh. My.  So fresh, so tasty.  Must try if you are in NYC.  We watched the guys make our stuff and then shove it into the massive brick ovens.  Mmm!  And, it's a good sized place (HUGE in NYC standards) so there was plenty of room for us to all sit at a table and eat.  It was perfect.

After lunch we headed to the tree in a taxi.  Jillian looks forward to the taxi ride (and "pushing the TV") the whole year.  Seriously.  If you mention NYC she will always bring this up.  It's a (totally germ ridden) highlight for her.  Go figure.  Taxi without car seats= terrifying for parents.

The tree was a little sparse this year to be honest- there was a guy behind us critiquing it for about 5 straight minutes.  It made me want to defend this beautiful pine so here it goes: The tree in NYC was beautiful!  I always love to see how many lights they manage to squeeze onto it, and I love to read the story about where the tree came from.  This year it is a 75 year old 74 foot Norway Spruce from Middinville, PA.  There's a good article/photos about it HERE.

This year Jillian took ice skating lessons so I think the people ice skating were of particular interest to her.  It is always fun to watch all the people going around but we've yet to stand in that (very long) line to participate.  Once all the kids can do it, I think we will.  Liv barely looked at them because at this point she was exhausted.  She was a trooper though!

After the tree it's a little walk over to Carnegie Deli  to grab dinner to bring back on the train with us.  We've done this all three years and there's no going back- one sandwich feeds all of us (granted, it costs about $20) but it's always tender & delicious.  So yummy.  This year we tried a roast beef and while it was lovely, we'll go back to the pastrami with provolone next year I think.

Taxi back to Penn Station and 3 hours back home.  Long day?  Yes.  Worth it?  TOTALLY.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!  Hope you day tomorrow is WONDERFUL!  We're so looking forward to our little sweeties opening their gifts!

Nancy