White Christmas Night in Roanoke

Finally I have a camera that allows me to take decent night time shots. I am loving my Samsung!

Christmas night in Roanoke, VA...

Christmas in Brooklyn

Meanwhile back in Brooklyn, all over the radio and internet people were buzzing about the live nativity being held at an old church built in 1828.



Living now in Roanoke, we're no strangers to live nativities but apparently it's a big deal to a lot of Brooklynites. After we saw what was being heralded as a "must see" we laughed. It was pretty pathetic. The wise Mexicans were about ten years old and freezing their butts off. The poor baby Jesus looked like he was bought at the 99cent store.



Later that evening we witnessed a more spectacular nativity that wasn't "live" but on someone's lawn...



as we ventured into the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn where the Christmas lights burst from the trees.



If you watch The Travel Channel you might recognize this house as the "Sausage Queen's."





Dyker Heights is about five avenues and might as well be a lifetime away from my modest Brooklyn home. Big money and a lot of Italians are up in those thar hills and they can afford to hire professional Christmas decorators.









I'm assuming this blow-up house didn't splurge on a decorator...



But this one definitely did...







I'd hate to live on one of these blocks during Christmas because the cars come from all over to view these homes and traffic is at a standstill. Being a "native" I knew to go early before the crowds came so we missed Santa giving out candy canes and Frosty shaking the kiddies hands and the Christmas carols blaring through the speakers on some homes. Some people think the whole thing is tacky, but I don't. This is what I grew up with and why we decorate our house like The Griswolds, although we pale next to these lights. At least the folks in Roanoke aren't as jaded as we are and they appreciate all our efforts as many people pull into out driveway, stop us by the mailbox or at the store and thank us.

My daughter, the photographer, loved Dyker Heights as well..."If I can't afford a place in Manhattan, I'm going to live here." Yeah, good luck with both of those choices!



Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everything just looks more beautiful this time of the year...



Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Christmas in Manhattan

There's no city that does Christmas better than New York City so this year we decided to head up before Christmas instead of after. If you're not in the Christmas spirit when you arrive, after spending even just one day in Manhattan, you probably will be. On this trip my daughter got to see neighborhoods of Manhattan she hasn't before (more on that in another post another day). I actually found a parking space in Soho after only fifteen minutes...quite a feat I assure you! We started walking through Little Italy on our way to Chinatown (more on that later too).





After lunch we headed up to Macy's. It was a zoo.



Too many people in midtown caused us to head uptown where we encountered beautiful lit trees and even more people.



Like every other "tourist" in the world we simply had to go to Rockefeller Center. This time my daughter was able to see the tree in the dark. It was quite spectacular.











As I wrote in yesterday's post, as we were standing there music filled the air. We all turned to see where it was coming from...



and were treated to a 3D light show on Saks Fifth Avenue's wall, entitled "The Snowflake and the Bubble"...if you haven't watched it you should.



Afterwards we went into St. Patrick's Cathedral which was as beautiful as always. Unfortunately there were so many people I couldn't get near the gift shop.



After St. Pat's we headed to Sephora where the girl stocked up on more cosmetics. As we were shopping I heard someone call my name. When I turned to see who it was I was surprised to see it was someone I knew from Roanoke! How wild is that??? In a city of millions I run into someone from little ole Roanoke. I was surprised she recognized me as I was sporting a new haircut which my cousin said was a "little Chinese boy's haircut." Funny thing is that a cool Chinese boy cut it for me! From there we headed back home to Brooklyn, where the next day we experienced Christmas in Dyker Heights. If Manhattan couldn't put one in a Christmas mood, Brooklyn certainly could! Pics to come tomorrow....

First Night Snow

While the snow fell Saturday night blanketing the critters and bushes...















The girls stayed inside cozy and warm and created a Gingerbread House...



The girls may be getting "old" but thankfully, making a Gingerbread House never does.

Christmas Light Fire Hazard

When I saw this Christmas bubbling night light at Tuesday Morning it reminded me of the old bubble lights my grandfather's girlfriend used to trim her tree with four decades ago. Naturally, I immediately bought it.



You can't see it too clearly but there is a little scene inside the Christmas ball which includes a teddy bear and wooden soldier. As the bulb heats up it causes the liquid inside the tube to bubble and the sparkles inside the glass twinkle. I just loved it and was disappointed when I returned to Tuesday Morning to find they didn't have any more left.

Last night the girl smelled something strange coming from the light. She noticed the plastic teddy bear had begun melting and the soldier's head had melded onto the light. You can see this shot better...



Made in China, clearly this light is a fire hazard, so I wanted to warn anyone who had purchased it to not use it. I'm thankful the girl had discovered it while we were awake and that it didn't catch on fire while we were sleeping. Unfortunately the girl did not discover she had left her straightening iron on this morning so luckily I was the one to smell something burning and found it, almost three hours after she had already left! So fire safety tip number two -- always pull the plug from the straightener when you're finished.

Chistmas Lights III

Having a lousy digital camera does has its advantages...