Silver Bells

Two months after we were married, R was scheduled to fly here for a visit. His plane landed late afternoon on December 25th. "How will I get to your apartment?" he asked. It took me a while to understand the question. It didn't occur to him that the subway would be running; it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't.

Patience, NYPL

Just because the city doesn't grind to a halt though, doesn't mean the holiday isn't happening. For my money, NY is the best place in the world to be for Christmas. Whether you're doing it Jesus or Santa style, or at a Chinese restaurant and the movies, Christmas here is inescapable.

Where to go, exactly? Well personally, this is the only time of year I can bear to be in Midtown. I generally manage from about Central Park to Rockefeller Center, taking in the windows and light shows along the way. (Saks does a thing with projectors and Carol of the Bells that's worth standing around for.) There are also a million holiday markets, all of which are fun the first couple times but start to look extremely samey year after year.

Then of course there's ice skating, fantastic hot chocolate, tree tunnels, and just enough of a possibility of snow to keep things exciting.

Our own personal traditions involve a trip to the Grand Central Oyster Bar for oysters, champagne, and clam chowder; the painstaking selection of chocolates from a local chocolatier; stealing scraps of tree clippings from the sidewalk to strew about our apartment; sending cards; hanging ornaments; and playing the most eclectic holiday music I can find. (The Muppets, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Christmas in the Stars are a small, classic subset of this.)

Christmas Eve is tapas night. (It used to be pesto and shrimp cocktail night, but then we ended up with a regular guest who doesn't like pesto.) Christmas morning, whoever's up first plugs in the tree and makes coffee. I make french toast, as I have done since I was tall enough to reach the stove, which is served with breakfast sausages and fruit salad. (For a long time, it was the usual pan-fried version, but in recent years I've branched out to the baked, crème brûleé style. I also realized that if you're doing it in the oven, you don't have to keep the bread slices whole. Nowadays it looks a lot more like bread pudding, which... it is.)

Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center

Sated, we move on to stockings. I've heard tell recently that many families don't do stockings for adults, or stop entirely when the kids aren't anymore. Whatever. If we'd only ever done it for kids, it would have been me, all alone with a stocking while a bunch of adults looked on. Burdens of an only child.

The rest of the day continues in the same vein: eating, opening presents, drinking, eating, opening a few more. The main feast is in early afternoon, and it is ham. Oh, and we play with Legos. As of this year, a few rounds of Celebrity were added to the mix. And that's it. We make our weary way home, and snuggle the cat.

MAP

RECIPE: Minty Pea Dip. Serve with pita chips during any gathering requiring snacks.