Merry Christmas from NYC!

This Christmas was a Christmas to remember in New York City! We love New York so much and went last summer for a week, so we decided to see what it's like during the Christmas Holidays. I was so excited to go because I knew it would be just like the movies, so festive and happy. We were not disappointed at all! The kids were a little worried at first if Santa would know we were out of town so as soon as Melf the Elf came to our house, they made sure to always tell him we would be in New York. We were hoping that Santa would bring some presents to New York and some presents here. They also asked Melf if he could go to New York too. We told them it may be too long of a trip for him and we'd just have to see if he was able to come or not :) Wayne and I did so much research and planning for this trip. Since we already went during the summer, we didn't have to do all of the touristy things. We wanted to just focus on holiday type activities. Wayne made a spreadsheet itinerary for us and we pretty much stuck to it. We definitely did all we wanted to do! We left December 21 and came back on the 29th so we had tons of time there! Before our trip, we had fun with Melf who loves to play tricks on Nathan and Charlotte. I also got a small tree from Five Below that I set up in my classroom and then took that with us to set up in the hotel room. Mama and Papa had an early Christmas gift for Nathan and Charlotte. They got them matching rolling suitcases that they absolutely loved!!! They felt so grown up walking through the airport with their suitcases. Charlotte even watched a You Tube video about how to pack your suitcase! When we first got there, we decorated our hotel room and went out to walk around. When we got back that night, Melf was there!!! Nathan and Charlotte were so excited to see him! He moved every night while everyone was asleep. The kids asked if he could stay even after Christmas Day and were so excited that he did :) The following is a brief description of all we did:

Day 2: The day after we got to New York, we walked all around the city. We stayed at the New York Hilton Midtown which was right by Rockefeller Center. It was the perfect location and super nice! We first went to Rockefeller Center and saw the enormous Christmas tree then we went to FAO Schwartz. Nathan and Charlotte loved it here!!! We got Starbucks, watched the ice skaters, and went to lots of shops. We had a great dinner at JUNIORS before going to the School Of Rock Broadway show. We all loved this show!!!! And it was the last month of it running on Broadway so we were lucky to see it!Day 3: Today was the day Nathan and Charlotte were so excited for...we saw The Rockettes first then went to Macy’s to see Santa and write their letters. I have to say the Macy’s Santaland was wonderful. They are convinced he is the REAL Santa!Day 4: Christmas Eve! We spent the day in Central Park, seeing the miniature trains at Grand Central Station, shopping at the holiday shops in Bryant Park, singing Christmas carols at Grammercy Park, and ending the night eating pizza. We are hoping Santa comes to the hotel tonight!Day 5: Merry Christmas from NYC! Nathan and Charlotte were so relieved that Santa did find us here, and he let Melf the elf stay one more day so he could watch them open presents. We went to church at St. Patrick’s Cathedral which was beautiful and then had a wonderful Italian Christmas dinner at Bond 45.Day 6: Today we ice skated at Rockefeller Center then headed to China Town for lunch and souvenir shopping. Next we went to the 911 Memorial, Wall Street, and saw the Statue of Liberty. Nathan and Charlotte are the best little travelers!!! They love everything about New York!Day 7: Well we have had the best luck on our trip until last night. We were supposed to leave NY at 8 pm last night and get home around midnight. Because of weather in Dallas, several flights were cancelled but ours was just delayed until 10:20. While we were waiting at the gate, the fire alarm went off and we saw a huge explosion outside the gate window. Then all the lights go out and security officers are yelling for everyone to evacuate. It was chaos and so scary. Charlotte was crying. I really thought a bomb went off. Imagine running through a dark airport with kids and bags and people screaming. Once we got outside, I felt a little more relaxed. After about 45 minutes, we found out it was a transformer that exploded about a mile away. But then our flight got cancelled. So we had to find a hotel for the night. And to make matters worse, they rebooked us on a flight leaving two days later! Oh and the one bag we checked was the Christmas present bag. We’re not sure where it is, hopefully it gets to Dallas.Day 8: I don’t know why we aren’t meant to get home! Our flight just got cancelled! The one before us already left. There’s one after us that is still set to leave, but not us. I’ve never seen wayne raise so much hell  We are on priority standby for the 8:00 pm flight but who knows. I mean seriously, this is crazy.Day 9: Finally made it home! We were able to fly standby on the 5:30 am flight!