NYC at Christmas

I've never experienced New York City at Christmas time. Even though I've lived in the NYC metropolitan area for about 2.5 years now, I still haven't made the trek up to the city to see the lights and bask in Christmas cheer. I figured that this was the year to do it.

Most of our day was spent walking (Sam tracked about 20,000 steps!). But when we stopped, it was for food and Christmas lights.

Food stop 1: Katz's Delicatessen.

Katz's is basically semi-controlled anarchy. But, their pastrami sandwich was worth the chaos. 

Food stop 2: Fabrique Bakery. 

I wanted to try a kardemummabullar ever since I saw Henry on this year's Great British Bakeoff make them. They looked so good. I tried making them, but I messed up on the dough rise, and so I ended up with really heavy cardamom buns. 

This is what they're supposed to look like. 

And they taste so, SO GOOD. Definitely worth the trip and the extra 20 minutes to have a new batch come out of the oven. 10/10 recommend. 

[and this Swedish bakery is just so cozy.]

Last stop: The Christmas lights. 

I wasn't expecting the Christmas tree (the tree) at Rockefeller Center to be as incredible as it was, but I was utterly delighted by it. I stopped mid-sentence to let out a "Whoa!" when I saw the tree. It lived up to the hype. And I was delighted. 

[This is where I stopped talking and was like, "I need to take a picture." Still doesn't properly capture the moment. Maybe if I had a better camera? Still probably not.]

[The TREE]

[Right before this, we got in the way of a proposal picture, and then right after this, we got in the way of a family picture. Go us.]

All in all, even though going to New York alllllways exhausts us, it was a good day in the city. Maybe New York is growing on me? Or maybe it's just Christmas magic.