It's Christmas-time in the City

Christmas came early this year with the arrival of family from Alaska on the 17th.  

My sister, Lori arrived with two of her daughters, 

Hali and Emily 

and Emily's boyfriend, Joe.

We have not spent Christmas together since before Lori moved to Alaska 25 years ago!

We had a lot planned for the ten day visit.

After giving them a day to adjust to the time change,

we headed to NYC.

Emily, Hali and Joe had never been there.

 After taking an early train from New Haven to Grand Central Station,

we headed out to begin a long day of site-seeing.

 First stop - Rockefeller Center.

 We went all the way to the Top of the Rock for a view of the city.

 It was a little windy, even though the glass panels helped block most of the wind.

 This is my beautiful sister Lori with Hali (left) and Emily (right).

 Emily didn't know it yet, but not only was she at the top of the rock, she would be receiving a rock from Joe a few days later!

 I must be shrinking, because Kerry has never been taller than me before!

 I find the resemblance among the cousins remarkable!

 The crystal chandelier in Rockefeller Center was beautiful!

 The Salvation Army workers were quite fun to watch as they danced to music on their boom box.

 We proceeded down 5th Avenue and stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Hali lit a candle for her grandparents.

 The stores on 5th Avenue were dressed for Christmas.

 I really liked the Tiffany window.  

(Emily would be receiving a similar turquoise box in a few days) 

 After taking the subway to Union Square for lunch and spending time shopping at the Christmas market there, we made our way downtown.

There was another big Christmas tree on Wall Street.

We waited in line for the 9/11 Memorial.  The tall shiny buildings are some of the new World Trade Center towers. 

 The memorial's twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. 

The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. 

The names of all who died are carved and backlit around the outside of each pool.

 Our last stop of the day was Times Square.

 It just had to be seen after dark!  

 We walked around a little before meeting Vance for dinner.

He was there on a business trip.

There were plenty of characters walking around the streets - kind of creepy.

 I didn't get a picture (darn), but Spiderman was very taken by Lori and swung down off his pole to say hello to her!

There we are on the Forever 21 video board... 

Right in the center, Hali has the black coat and white scarf.

After leaving the house at 5:45 AM, we got back home at 11PM.

It was a long day, but we had a lot of fun together!

And it was only the beginning!