Category Archives: Sonnystone at Christmas

The last 2 weeks…

By Posted in 2018, Christmas, Christmas at Sonnystone 2018, Photos, Sonnystone at Christmas, updates Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

It seems like forever since I’ve blogged, but with good reason.  I always feel a little guilty when I don’t keep ya’ll up-to-date with the latest coming and goings around the Acres, but sometimes life is just too full of Now to stop and write about it…and that’s all right with me.

Olivia played the piano beautifully at her recital on the 8th.  The grandkids are sure growing up fast… I have a lovely video of her performance of “Belle”, but WP makes it difficult to upload videos, so all you get today is a pic…

We flew to NYC on the 11th…remind me not to take the earliest flight on earth next time.  We arrived early enough to pick up Eliza from school, the first time I’ve visited there.  She took the next two days off to hang around with us…

Early our first morning, we took the subway to Rockefeller Center for the NBC Studio Tour.  It was so incredibly cool.  At the end of the eye-opening tour — who knew the SNL set was so small? — the do a video of a “late night talk show”.  I can’t take the time to upload it to wordpress and you probably wouldn’t watch it anyway, but Eliza was the announcer and I was the guest.  It is hilarious.  So fun.

We spent Thursday hanging out, decorating the tree and playing games.  Emma was there, too, but Emma will be 13 next month…if you know what I mean…

Friday both girls were back in school.  Eric, Melissa, PawPaw, and I spent the day traipsing through the Oculis and over to the Whitney to view the Warhol exhibit.  It was as good as Warhol, but I thought there might be more…  Seems like I had seen many of them already…am I getting jaded?

Or maybe it’s because NYC surrounds a person with art…like here on the High Line…

Saturday morning found us at Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, our annual tradition.  This was the 14th visit for my daughter and me, and the show has changed for the better.  I told them last year we needed to just concentrate on the dancers and they took my advice.  They added new music, new choreography, more light-show stuff, while keeping the old favorites…though they don’t do the Santas with mirrors anymore.

 I just realized that my obsession with the Spectacular is as strong as my obsession with Disney….okay, not quite, but I do tend to repeat my good experiences again and again.

 

 

We flew back home Sunday and spent Monday doing laundry and at the grocery store.  We’ve had Samantha for the last 2 days and that’s as much a workout as walking NYC.  Olivia’s out of school now, so they’ll be here for a sleepover tonight.  I still have to buy gifts…and get these witch nails manicured…and get more food…

Our Christmas with the Jrs. will be this Sunday and by Monday the sound of the silence will be strong…  I’ll have plenty of time to write…

 Jingle All the Way…

Peace

New York at Christmas – 2016 Edition

By Posted in 2016, Advent Season 2016, Sonnystone at Christmas Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

Ya’ll know that I fill my new-york-minutes to the brim, but I think this trip was over the top.  I arrived at noon on Thursday, 12/15, but I’m going to take you through the 30 hours between 7:45am Friday and 12:45pm Saturday.  Get comfortable.

Emma, a 5th grader, attends a new school this year, and I had the opportunity to visit during an all-school holiday assembly.  The Town School has a mellow vibe and their approach to teaching is just what Emma needed.

After the assembly, Eric went off to work and Melissa and I had some breakfast and conversation, then ambled back to 333 so Melissa could change clothes.  A quick donning of the gown, and we were off again to Lincoln Center and the 2pm performance of Messiah.  My seats were Perfect, 6th row center, and I could make eye-contact with my choral friends, smiling and winking.  The performance was just as good as you would expect from the NYC Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert. When it was over, I sneaked out the side door and around to the stage door to wait for Melissa.  I had just arrived, standing about 3 feet from the door, pulling on my gloves, when the door opened.  I looked up and saw a man emerging, nice suit…shifted my gaze further upward and met the eyes of….Alec Baldwin.  Wow, I thought, that’s Alec Baldwin.  My eyes smiled, his eyes nodded…1-3 seconds of acknowledgment that, yes, indeed, he is Alec Baldwin.  The young fella following him closely said, there he is, and they strode off to the waiting Escalade (it’s all about escalades).  I admired him as he walked out into traffic and slid into the car…nice suit…

Melissa soon appeared, and after a nice catch-up with a friend, we grabbed a cab back to her apartment.  She did another costume change and we ubered over to St. Joseph School, where Eliza’s Drama Club was having their Christmas Play.  The play was a little short on plot, but full of enthusiastic singing and dancing.  I don’t feel the least bit biased when I say that Eliza rocked her moves the best…

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Eric and the girls went out for dinner, but Melissa had to work that night and took me with her.  Her “job” was at the Mariah Carey concert.  You may have heard of Ms. Carey, the Queen of Christmas.  She does 9 shows at the Beacon Theatre every Christmas, and recently the Gotham Group, for whom Melissa is some fancy title, started doing her social media work.  So it happened that I took my trusty Nikon (which is, by the way, quite antiquated,  and someone should start a fund to buy me a new one), wore my film/team working pass, and pretended like I was a big-time photographer/blogger covering the show.  I was snapping like a papparazzi, so there are way too many pictures…Here’s the best…

While Melissa was upstairs with the Talent, I hung around backstage, eavesdropping (and occasionally joining in) on conversations, working on my Long Island accent, or was it Brooklyn?

Empty house, from center stage…

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But, wait, there’s more…  We woke up Saturday morning to about 2inches of snow, the pretty kind.   We arrived right on time at Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular—and Eliza stayed awake the entire time!!!

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This is worth staying awake for…

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We followed up the show with some good grub at Bill’s Burgers,

then came home to find that Eric had put up the Christmas Tree and lights…

The following 24 hours…

Eliza had started in with a cough that really annoyed me, and I soon heard some wheezing.  Long story short, she had pneumonia, diagnosed Sunday morning at the NYC version of MEC.  She got a breathing treatment, some antibiotics, and slept all day.  I went to church with Melissa after the doctor visit, then met up with Emma at the Barnes & Noble.  She helped me pick out presents for her and her little sister and we spent the evening back at the apartment playing.  Eliza was feeling much better and able to go to her Polar Express Pajama Party on Monday, when I flew out on a flight that arrived Early in Evansville…charmed, I’d say.

New York at Christmas–the sights, the sounds, the Love…

Peace