Today kicks off our special holiday activities. Literally! We try to go in to the city at least once during the holiday season. Last year we ate at Butter and took in the tree and decorations at Rockefeller Center. It seems odd that we would have chosen almost the exact day again this year to go in without realizing it. But, we did!

Tonight we have tickets for the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall with the rockin’ Rockettes. The Rockettes are celebrating 85 years of kicking up their heels. I know I’ve said this before in the blog, but as a child my parents took us in to the city twice for my birthday (which happens around Christmas). We waited in the early morning darkness for the train to arrive and the whole trip seemed very magical since this was not a common occurrence. We saw a matinee show at Radio City with a movie and the Rockettes. This was back in the day before they featured in a whole show. The movie was Father Goose with Cary Grant and I remember it well.

We’re driving in late this afternoon and parking near The Rock. We’ll walk around, visit the tree and take in the throngs of Japanese tourists and their flashing cameras, the Saks 5th Avenue window display and the Christmas lights. Then it’s off to dinner at an Italian restaurant that we have not eaten in before, Alfredo’s. We chose something close by so we wouldn’t have to rush anywhere. We originally were going to eat at The Sea Grill which looks out over the skating rink at Rockefeller Center but they were closed for a private party tonight. I had some great restaurant recommendations from a fellow blogger who recently moved from New York City (thanks, Steve!) but since they were farther away we opted to stay closer.

And yes, I am lugging my camera plus my smaller zoom lens with me. Crazy, I know, but I also know I’ll be sorry if I don’t bring it along.

Yesterday presented yet another special treat for us this holiday season. Rick’s work had a raffle to give away two tickets to see the play The Sound of Music at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and Rick’s name was pulled out of the hat! How’s that for luck? We’re really looking forward to it. It’s on Saturday, December 22nd, the matinee showing.

To add to the festivities, there’s been talk of a possible stormy track to the weather. Does that mean snow before Christmas? I certainly hope so. How perfect that would be: the icing on the season, so to speak!

How about you? Are you doing something fun this holiday season?

P.S. Now we’ve added a 3D showing of The Hobbit to our list this weekend! woo hoo!

This morning I decided I was going to walk down to the newly opened Jessie’s for a TEC (Taylor, Egg & Cheese) breakfast sandwich that I’ve been craving for months now. Remember Jessie’s that burned down? They have reopened in a a different space: a restaurant that went bust just a few doors down from where their old place used to be. It’s right at the bottom of the hill on the main road that we live off of. We’re glad to have Jessie’s back! I’m not certain if they are going to rebuild in their old spot or not. For now they are renting the building.

This location has been three different restaurants since we’ve lived here. Most of the time it has just sat vacant. Every time we’ve seen a new restaurant open up we get excited since it’s so close to us. We eat there once and think meh. When they put up a sign that says “On Vacation” we know we won’t be seeing them again. It was a grill, then a pancake house (basically diner food) and most recently “Mexican” (I use that term loosely to describe their food) called El Rusty Anchor. The bars associated with the assorted restaurants always did a lively business but the food has never been great.

The last owner even planted a palm tree in the front to go along with his Mexican theme, which as you can see does not like life in northern New Jersey. It thrived the same way his restaurant did.

It’s a nice walk, maybe 3/4 of a mile? And here was my reward. Yum! I don’t indulge in these very often but they sure are tasty.

My walk took me past Green Turtle Pond which was placid and reflective this morning.

Alongside the road the woods are brown brown brown right now. Still pretty. But very brown.

This sign caught my eye and I thought it was funny.

I was hoping that the walk would help to burn off the calories I consumed but probably not! It was a nice walk either way.

Shadows on the wall created by our lighted garland on the stair banister.

We spent a quiet weekend hanging out around the house mostly. It was mostly foggy and drizzly all weekend long. Pretty gray. It’s still foggy out there this morning and in the mid 40’s. Today we’re supposed to get thunderstorms and more rain with temps in the 50’s. Not exactly wintry Christmas weather! It does this to me every year it seems. It taunts us with a few small snowfalls early on, then zip. So far so much for their predictions of a heavier-than-normal snowfall for this coming winter. But … it’s not winter officially yet and to their credit they did say it would mostly occur in January & February. Last year was so disappointing in the snow department that I was hoping it would make up for it this year. Patience, Lynne.

On Saturday we finished decorating the tree. To make up for the lack of snow outside we created our own snowstorm on our tree by decorating solely with the crocheted snowflakes my Mom made for us.

Alex helped with this photo.

Our neighbors (Aileen with the chickens) had their annual company Christmas party at their house yesterday. Every year her husband hitches up his big John Deer tractor to a large flathead trailer and they take their guests on a “hay ride” minus the hay. Last night it was foggy and drizzling when I let the dogs out after dark and happened to see Bruce driving the festively lit trailer up from their barn. I waited a few minutes, then went and stood on my front step. When I saw them coming I flashed our outside house lights three times and as they drove by waved and shouted “Merry Christmas” as the people on the trailer stood up and waved and shouted back. The sound of carols drifted along behind them as they made their way down our street. Sweet.

I am also hoping to catch Fire Truck Santa when he makes the rounds this year. We’ve missed him so many years in a row now it’s sad. The first year we saw him I thought someone’s house in the neighborhood was on fire when I heard the sirens, but it was just our volunteer fire department making the rounds with Santa strapped to the front of the engine. Here is a video of another version of Fire Truck Santa in our town in 2010. Funny, heh? I hope to catch him this year as he drives by our house and get some photos. Here’s hoping!

Small town living—you’ve gotta love it!

I’ve been drinking a lot this. I caught Rick’s cold bug and have been trying to shake it now for a week or more. It’s not the flu, just an annoying drainage down the back of my throat combined with laryngitis, a hacking cough and just a general malaise. I’m ready for it to be gone!

Today we are supposed to have freezing rain, my least favorite wintery precipitation. It makes the roads slippery with black ice that you can’t see and you don’t get much out of it moisture wise. It’s just nasty.

So I’ll be sticking pretty close to home today. I have the bone from our ham that we baked on Sunday (we’ve been having ham all week in one way or another) and I’ll be cooking the bone with split peas for Split Pea Soup tonight. I think I might even make these oh-so-easy-and-super-tasty rolls too.

Bring on the freezing drizzle and more hot tea and honey, please!

The faeries have been decorating the Thorn Queen’s Kingdom of late. See the lights back in the woods?

They are really droplets of water left behind from our rain yesterday with the sun shining through them, but I like to think of them as something otherwordly. Like the Thorn Queen.

But if you squint your eyes up they become faerie lights and not just droplets of plain water.

Squint a little bit more … there, that’s it.

And you might just see something very special.

And for you non-believers out there, this is not the first time I’ve sighted faeries in my woods. Check this out.