On the 1st Day of Christmas...

The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
Well...here we are, kids! Last day of Operation: 12 Days of Christmas (in New York)! I saved the best for last (in my opinion :) I just love the Metropolitan Opera House -- so beautiful -- and I feel so spoiled to live near it now.

Thanks for joining me on this little project. It's been great fun and has forced me to take notice of my surroundings and take more photos. In fact, I am thinking of ways to keep it up in some capacity (minus the Christmas element obviously). Maybe not a daily thing, but weekly perhaps? We shall see....I will be brainstorming this week :) All I know is, keeping my eyes peeled for New York Magic has made my sometimes-mundane, daily commute a little more special.

Hope you are all having a beautiful & merry Christmas! May you feel the *magic* today and always.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

Grand Central Terminal
We saw the outside of Grand Central last week, so I thought I'd share the interior now, which is just as beautiful and Christmasy this time of year. Not a fun place to walk through during rush hour (one could easily be mowed over by hurried commuters and eager tourists -- not pretty) but it's nice to look at :)

It's been a lovely and relaxing Christmas Eve day here in Virginia with the fam. Now we are just cooking and wrapping gifts and getting ready for our extended family to come over later for dinner. After that, it's off to church for an 11:00 candlelight service, and then I always like to end the night sitting in the living room with all the lights off except for the tree lights, thinking about the year behind me, the year ahead, and the meaning behind it all. I am excited to share it all with my husband this year -- our first Christmas as a married couple!

Happy Christmas Eve, all.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

Holiday market in Central Park
It was a happy accident when I stumbled upon this little Christmas Village the other night. I was standing in the middle of Columbus Circle taking pictures of the tangle of twinkle lights and snowflakes galore at the mall, when I turned around towards the park to see the familiar red & white striped tents of New York's Holiday Markets that can be found throughout the city. Of course, I was immediately drawn to it, and had to take a look :) It had all the makings of a good holiday market: twinkle lights strewn about, stands selling steaming cups of apple cider and pastries, and little shops with unique artwork and gifts.

I will miss stumbling upon these little magical villages around the city once the Christmas season is over.

Other holiday markets I've been to (that are definitely worth checking out) are in Grand Central, Bryant Park and Union Square.

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

the stars of Columbus
four days? is that right? my, how time flies. have you finished your christmas shopping, friends? i think i am just about done. i stopped at the Shops at Columbus Circle last night to get a few more gifts, and was just mesmerized by this cool starry-light show. beautiful.

we leave for virginia tomorrow, but don't worry -- i've stocked up on photos of magical new york so we are set for the next three days. :)

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

{Janine and Dan walking ahead of me during our winter-wonderland-walk through Central Park last night}
So there might not be any twinkle lights or red bows or wreaths in this picture, but I'd still put it in the categories of "Christmas" and "magic" because a) it's Central Park (which equals magic) and b) it's snow (which equals (evokes) Christmas). So there we go.

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

cafe lalo
It was a full and happy day here in the Big Apple that started at the lovely Cafe Lalo (made famous in movie 'You've Got Mail') for breakfast with Dan and a good friend (hi Janine!). From there we hit up two different Christmas parties, both in beautiful high-rise apartments on the west side, then headed to the evening Redeemer service on the east side which was all decked out with poinsettias and Christmas-goodness, and finally ended with a brisk but beautiful walk through Central Park in the snow.

It was a good, good day.

On the 7th Day of Christmas...

snow on Broadway
It is snowing like crazy here in NYC! Dan and I ventured out earlier tonight to finish up some Christmas shopping and take a walk in the snow, but it was a bit too blizzard-like and windy to really enjoy. This was taken from the 2nd story window of the Barnes & Noble on 66th and Broadway.

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

our apartment all dressed up
Sorry I am little late on this post (that means we get two today!) but it was super late after wrapping up the party last night. Which, by the way, was hit! We had a delightful time with everyone and the apartment looked like absolute magic (as you can see above). I love, love, love our place. Especially the fireplace (which will be getting plenty of use now that winter is officially upon us. In fact, snow is falling outside the window right now as I write this. Yay, snow!).

A fun fact: I found this apartment by plugging the words "working fireplace" into the search engine on craigslist. From the moment we walked in, it was love at first sight. We were willing to overlook the teeny-tiny kitchen and crap-old appliances and five flights of stairs (no elevator, of course) because the apartment was just so charming and dreamy. Dan loves it when I ask him to build us a fire because that means going out in the cold, picking up a bunch of really heavy bundles of firewood from the little bodega across the street, and then carrying it back up five flights of stairs. It's his favorite :)

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

snowflake on columbus avenue
this isn't my favorite shot in the world, but it was such a rushed day of diving back into the real world after being cooped up sick the last two days. there was work and an office christmas party and then loads of errands and prep work for the little party dan and i are throwing tomorrow night. it didn't leave a whole lot of time for snapping pictures (and even though my eyes were peeled for christmas magic there wasn't a whole lot to choose from in the small vicinity of the city i covered today).

i took this one as i balanced a bag of groceries on my hip, right outside the front door of our apartment building. columbus avenue is all decked out with twinkle lights and these snowflake guys. the overall effect is beautiful, but i just couldn't seem to capture it with my camera. so the lone snowflake will have to do for tonight.

it is late. good night all.

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

Bryant Park Christmas Tree
As I made my way home from the doctor's office yesterday evening, I decided to take a slight detour through Bryant Park* so that I could see it in all of its magical, Christmas splendor. Even though I was totally pooped-out and achy, I couldn't help but be swept up in the magic of Bryant Park's Christmas Village. I bought a $3 cup of hot apple cider (what a steal, eh? Thanks New York!), sat myself down on a metal chair all snuggled up in my hat and super-soft scarf, and snapped some pictures. Here is the result of that lil' rest.

*I'm such a sucker for Bryant Park this time of year. See photos from years past here, here and here :)

On the 11th Day of Christmas...

Grand Central looking grand & merry
I am lucky enough to pass the grandness of Grand Central Station every day on my way to work, and was happy to see it standing tall and proud in all of its wreath-clad glory on this mild winter afternoon.

(Although my trip past GC today was for reasons unrelated to work and instead entailed a trip to the doctor's office and a diagnosis of strep. yuck. But despite all that I still managed to snap this picture on my way. See my dedication to this project? :).

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

christmas trees for sale on 9th ave.

Remember my "12 Days of Christmas (in New York)" project from 2007 in which I attempted to spread Christmas Magic by posting a photo-a-day of Magical Manhattan dressed up in her Christmas finery? Remember?

After spotting this beautiful & perfect Christmas-in-New-York scene (above) the other night along 9th Avenue as I journeyed home, I decided that *this* would be the year to pick it up again.

So my friends...be sure to check back in for more Christmas-in-New-York-magic coming your way over the next 12 days!

{I realized as I was typing this that I don't actually know what the 12 Days of Christmas signify. Do you? I've turned to my trusty friend, Wikipedia, for help. Apparently, the 12 Days of Christmas (aka "Christmastide") are not the 12 days leading up to Christmas, like I had mistakenly thought*, but actually start Christmas Day and end January 5, the day before the Feast of the Epiphany, which is the celebration of the manifestation of Jesus to the Wise Men. AND, many sources on the World Wide Web confirm that the carol, '12 Days of Christmas,' was actually a "code" song written for persecuted Christians during the 16th century religious wars of England. (see how we all just learned something there? thanks, internet!)}

*Given what we now know, I suppose the proper way to do this little photo project would be to start posting pics on Christmas Day and continue forward til the 5th -- the "proper" and "actual" 12 Days of Christmas. But...well, I'm going to go ahead and buck tradition and carry on with The Plan of posting one pic a day for the next 12 days leading up to Christmas. A sort of countdown to the Big Day, if you will.