I decided to turn this three-day New York City trip into our electronic Christmas Card. Most of my communication these days is done by cell phone so I hope you don’t mind receiving this message via text or email or instant message of some kind.
John and I have wanted to visit New York City for quite some time. This whirlwind tour included the lights of Christmas amongst the best spots in the city. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was the main reason for our choice of Christmas time to visit. We saw it in the crowded evening and enjoyed it more in the early morning. We stayed at the Sheraton Times Square at 53rd Street and 7th Avenue. Unfortunately it was rainy during most of our stay.
Day 1: We started the day with mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We took a walking tour of Lower Manhattan and learned to ride the subway. We visited the financial district, China Town, Little Italy, the 911 Memorial and The Occulus. We walked through Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty. We walked and walked and walked. Grand Central Station was amazing as was the many shops and Christmas displays throughout the city. We visited Trump tower and rode the famous escalator.
We finished the day with an amazing Italian dinner and a bottle of wine at Patsy’s.
Day 2: We started the day walking through Central Park, walking through the Rockefeller Center and then shopping at the American Girl store. We stopped for coffee and a waffle along the street. Our trip to the “Top of the Rock” gave us a foggy view of the city from the top of the Rockefeller Center. This city is truly amazing in its speed and rhythm of life. We are learning the subway to keep the pace.
We went to two different Irish Pubs and visited a Christmas Market in Bryant Park. The highlight of the trip was The Rockettes Holiday Show at the Radio City Music Hall. It was beyond words.
Day 3: We had no agenda for our final full day in NYC. We walked to an interesting breakfast restaurant and then jumped on the subway to head uptown. We were looking for Riverside Church and found ourselves on the campus of Columbia University. We toured The park near Grant’s tomb. We stopped for a pop at Tom’s restaurant that is used in the Seinfeld series.
The surprise and delight was St John the Divine Cathedral. One of the interesting exhibitions was an interactive story of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. There was a Motet exhibition of 40 individual singers through separate speakers that was mind blowing. We spent a couple of hours touring the cathedral before getting back on the subway to go downtown to Greenwich Village.
Another surprise and delight was an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village called Morandi’s that served amazing food and delicious wine.
We took the subway to 34th street to see the Christmas decorations in the Macy’s store and also visited Madison Square Garden. A welcome subway ride took us back to the hotel to rest our weary feet. We have been walking in the rain for the past three days.
Overall this has been an amazing trip. We are proud to have utilized the subway and navigated the city through this complex mass transportation system. We were surprised at the overwhelming smell of pot everywhere we went. We expected the traffic and could get used to the fast pace of life here. We enjoyed the food and the walking in spite of the rainy weather.
Highlights from the past year
Please excuse my recency bias. I spent most of this Christmas website on three days in NYC from last week. There were many bigger highlights from the past year.
We are so thankful to Our Lord for the many blessings that He’s given us. Our mom, sons, daughter-in-laws, granddaughter and granddogs are the love of our life. We are thankful to see them often and share their lives. We are blessed with extended family and many dear friends who make life worth living.
The biggest and happiest event of the past year was the marriage of Philip and Lauren.
We are very proud of our adult children and their growing families.
- Matthew works for Continental Tires and his wife, Michelle, works for General Motors. Their daugher, Emma is the most beautiful baby girl we’ve ever seen. We may be biased as her grandparents.
- Philip works for Dematic Corporation and his wife, Lauren, works for West Ottawa Middle School. Their Husky dog, Bubba, made us grandparents and they have a new puppy named Maverick.
- Andrew works for Ford Motor Company and his wife, Erin, is finishing medical school at Wayne State University. They have a Husky, Nala, who is our only girl grandpup.
We are blessed with good friends and neighbors that are too numerous to mention. As I scrolled through my pictures from the past year I smiled and laughed at the fun times shared with so many good friends. If you are still reading this Christmas message…. Thank you. I count YOU as a friend and blessing. Let’s make some more memories.
John and I have been blessed since the moment we were born with good parents. Sadly, I lost my mom and John lost his dad in the past year. They will always live in our hearts until we see them again in Heaven. John’s mom is our rock through it all and we are grateful for her presence. We are also grateful for our siblings and their families who have been by our side through it all. We also lost other family and friends this year and we look forward to reuniting in Heaven one day.
We pray that you and your family are healthy and at peace. May you know the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. I hope we will make more happy memories with you in the coming year. Let’s take some pictures!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours. Love, John & Terri
This is the end of the Christmas message. Please disregard old posts beyond this point. I use this site for travel logs and have imperfect website development skills. 🎄
Greetings from The Caris Family 