I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree

I'll be home for Christmas

Where the love light gleams

Below is the view from my window as the airplane was approaching New York City. I finally am able to put together the photos and to begin sharing with my adoring fans my celebration of Christmas in New York and my husband's 49th birthday. We left St. Louis on Sunday, December 23rd and came back on January 2nd. We had a wonderful time with the family and really enjoyed many finer things New York City has to offer. We treated ourselves to a night stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, a show at Radio City, and a hockey game NY Rangers v. Montreal Canadiens. Just walking around NYC, the familiar places brought back all the wonderful memories of living and working in this fast-pace city.

For the first time since moving away, I finally was able to let go of my guilt for abandoning my family. I was excited thinking of my #1 nephew, JL, Mom, sister and brothers and look forward to being in the same house, not 1,000 miles away. I realized that my sister and brothers are capable to taking care of themselves, in the case of my brother, the Qaptain, with his own family. The sad feeling is still with me that my Dad will not be around during my visit. But I no longer let that be the reason that I would not be happy seeing Mom and everyone else. Below is the Christmas tree my brother put together prior to our arrival and later my husband and my nephew worked together to put more ornaments on the tree. Just watching CP and JL decorated the tree was one of the highlights of my visit or when JL kept checking the presents to see how many with his name on the packages.

I took this photo of the Brooklyn Bridge from the window of the car service on our ride from VL's home in Brooklyn into Manhattan. With its 276-foot towers, 5,989 foot span over the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge was the largest steel-wire suspension bridge ever when it opened in 1883. The bridge on the left side in the photo is Manhattan Bridge. I sure love my Sony Cyber-shot camera. I tried to capture images around me and constantly taking snapshots at images that others thought were silly and not worthy. My husband and my brother started to tease me by pointing at the ground and said, "There is a piece of gum, take a picture of it!".

On Monday, Christmas Eve, after checking into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, we walked over to Radio City Music Hall for a 4:30 p.m. performance. We purchased tickets in adance so there was only about 10 minutes of waiting in line to get inside. The Christmas Spectacular show with the Rockettes was really spectacular! Our tickets were in orchestra seats but way in the back. Luckily, the people in front of me were not tall and did not constantly moving, so I had a great view of the stage. It was also special as the show celebrated its 75 years of entertainment. When this lavish showplace opened in 1932, it was the nation's largest theater.

Below are more photos from Rockefeller Center, at night and during the day, both looking so beautiful with Christmas decoration. It was very crowded since everyone pointed their cameras trying to capture the famous Christmas tree and the golden status above the ice rink (the first two photos in this entry were taken by my husband as a short person like me would not be able to do in the sea of people).