Third Christmas in the Big Apple

This year we celebrated our third Christmas in New York but this is the first time we've gotten a tree here. John gets credit for thinking maybe we could possibly fit a teeny little tree into our apartment.

So just as Sarah recently mentioned in an email, our tree came from one of a sidewalk Christmas tree vendor set up in front of Starbucks. John carried it the two-block walk home, and we decorated.















Our go-to gift this year was an herb wreath made by our favorite farmers market vendors, Stokes Farms. First I got one for Katie and Martin, then I got excited about the idea of supporting local farmers we really like, and the irony of being Manhattanites sending farm goods to friends in the Midwest. That's the beauty of New York's Greenmarkets -- it's easier to buy all manner of good things directly from farmers here than it was back in Michigan. Here's a picture of me with the cute kids from Stokes at the farmer's market that's literally across the street from our apartment building twice a week.

















It's sort of a New York cliche that all the Jews in the city go out for Chinese food on Christmas because the Chinese, like our Jewish neighbors, don't celebrate Christmas so they're open.

We sort of perpetuated the cliche by going to Chinatown for lunch on Christmas. Then we wandered through Tribeca, and up into the Village. If, like Lara, you don't have a mental picture of what's where on the island, here's a map to help you picture our long Christmas day walk.

























































My favorite part of the day was hanging out at Le Figaro, a restaurant/ bar on a busy corner in the Village. We scored an excellent little table out of the way and right up against the windows looking out on the corner, and a really friendly bartender tended to us while we just enjoyed an afternoon talking and soaking up our city.




























Ghosts of Christmas past

If you're counting on your fingers and trying to figure out how it's possible that we'd already be on our third Christmas here when I only got my job in May 2006, it's because we sublet on the Upper East Side in December 2005 -- is it weird blog etiquette to link to myself and point out my Christmas posting on Dec. 27, 2005?

In retrospect, it was a pretty amazing gift Nancy and Laura gave me to be able to do that. They let me take an unpaid leave from the News Service so John and I could test drive the city -- in effect, they let me try out quitting. It's not like they were investing in me because they figured I'd be a happy employee for years to come.

John quit the radio station and became a full-time freelancer in preparation for our month in the city. I depleted my vacation time, then took unpaid time off to network and schmooze as my full-time job. I also did a freelance gig for the Ann Arbor Observer, so I brought in a little cash.

I'd like to think that one day when and if I'm a boss again, I'd be as generous as my bosses were. John and I were really growing impatient with how long the job search was taking and he suggested the pretty radical step of just up and moving to New York. This is a crazy expensive city and I was too nervous to take that leap without knowing where our stupidly-high rent check would come from. Because the News Service was willing to give me the flexibility to disappear for several weeks, we struck a compromise. I infused new energy into my job search and we made sure this was what we really wanted to do, but I still had health insurance and a job to go back to, and we didn't have to pay our own moving costs.

It was one of the best Christmas gifts I'll probably ever get.