It's January 2, and JV and I successfully made it through the holiday season! Whoop-De-Do. (And a special thanks to Andy Williams for the title of this blog post, with the hope that this isn't some sort of copyright infringement......) This year was a much quieter holiday season - I think in large part because I wasn't planning and attending a dozen children's holiday events and wrapping mass amounts of toys. And I still haven't decided if I missed all of that HFH holiday madness.
Overnight bag and dinner goodies (colorful cauliflower and cranberry-white-chocolate-chip-cookies) packed we headed to Long Island for Thanksgiving. Since it was Thanksgiving Eve, it's only natural that we planned the evening out in Patchouge, and spent a couple of hours at Hoptrop Brewtique visiting with Rachel and Nick. We hadn't seen them since our wedding and were long overdue for a visit, and had a great time chatting over beers. Later in the evening we headed to Bobbique to meet up with the Beickerts, and were happy to find Tim and his girlfriend Cassie, and Phil, there too. It was a fun night, made all the better by scoring the last take-out at Taco Bell on our way to my parents house. Thanksgiving Day started with the parade and a light breakfast before some last minute cleaning, and then cooking up a storm for dinner. We enjoyed the company of the Gillece's and Aunt Rita, who arrived midday, with appetizers and dinner side dishes in hand. Patrice was working but joined everyone for a bit during her dinner break, though by then we had all eaten a least two servings and dessert! After a filling day we headed back to BK. On Friday we went to the movies to see The Theory of Everything (Stephen Hawking biopic, very poignant, great acting, beautifully shot) and did a bit of shopping. On Saturday we headed up to Armonk to Zero Otto Nove Trattoria, to help celebrate Brigid and Jeff's one year anniversary. Dinner was wonderful, and we were happy to visit with some of their friends and the Martins and Mottas briefly. Sunday was a lazy day as we prepared for the work week.
We commemorated World AIDS Day by going to the RED Concert In Times Square, and listened to music by U2 with Chris Martin, Carrie Underwood, Kanye West (<--lame) and Bruce Springsteen, in addition to a special appearance and short speech by Bill Clinton (<-- awesome). It rained the whole time, but it was really interesting to see the different AIDS campaigns featured on the Times Square screens, and of course listen to some of the performances. Midweek I went to the KidCare fundraiser and visited with some old HFH buds. The first Saturday in December Jared participated in a hackathon for work, and that same day we headed to Charlestown to visit with the Vuonos and Verdis, and to celebrate Blake's baptism. Jared then left Boston for California for work, while I headed back to New York. We saw our first snow of the season that week, though sadly, it only lasted a day. I made a brief appearance at the holiday party for my new job (still too new to be comfortable) before heading to a small holiday get-together with Katie W., Ally, and Katie D. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in SoHo called Peasant, and then drinks at a pop-up bar called Miracle on 9th Street in Alphabet City/East Village, which was a hoot. That weekend we went to the New York Hall of Science to see the gingerbread display (very disappointing, so I'm glad we had free tickets) and play in the hall of mirrors (always awesome) before getting and decorating our Christmas tree. And though it's totally unrelated, I think it's worth noting that we said goodbye to the Colbert Report and the Newsroom this December, two television shows that made me feel like there were still intelligent people trying to provide intelligent TV programming. We saw The Imitation Game (Alan Turing biopic, a sad but incredible story: he really did end WWII; and loved loved Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly in it) at BAM one night and recommend everyone do the same. The Sunday before Christmas we headed down to Dyker Heights with Katie W. and Mike to walk around the neighborhood and see all of the crazy lights and have some Tasty Pastry (a serendipitous find: we were cold and hungry and randomly decided to turn to the left) and later dinner La Villa, a Park Slope staple. Somewhere in between all this Jared also went to the Behance Christmas Party at the SoHo House, but I have no idea when.
The Tuesday before Christmas we headed back to Charlestown to celebrate Verdi Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had lunch at an Italian restaurant before going ice-skating, where even JV skated. I haven't been on ice skates in years, so it was great fun to do it again. We went to Christmas Eve mass that afternoon and enjoyed dinner, cocktails, and cookies later in the evening. On Christmas morning we celebrated with everyone, opening presents and having the traditional Verdi bacon waffles, before heading back to New York midday. We missed our ferry reservation, but grabbed the next boat, and made it to Aunt Winnie and Uncle Mickey's around 8:00 pm. We visited with the Andersons, saw Santa Claus, and participated in grab bag fun. Later than evening we headed out to Medford, and had a quiet day on Friday. My mom, Olivia and I went to visit Aunt Adelaide for a bit, and then later in the afternoon opened Christmas presents, and had a simple dinner with everyone, plus Brendan. Before heading back into Brooklyn we swung through Patchogue and got a quick drink at Pera Bella with Lisa and Chris, who were home for the holidays, and also saw Katie W. and Mike, and Katie D. Jared and I finally celebrated Christmas, just us two, the next morning.
Later that weekend we ventured to Fort Green for some BBQ at the Smoke Joint before seeing Inherent Vice (so so weird; I can't even tell you what it was about) at BAM, and did a bit of Christmas returns/exchanges/shopping on Monday. I headed back to work on Tuesday but JV had 2 lovely weeks off, #jealous. I grabbed a post-Christmas dinner with Brigid on Tuesday at Le Pain Quotidien, which I've been wanting to try forever and might be hooked on. Jared and I had a super mellow New Year's Eve and Day: saw Selma in Brooklyn Heights (THE BEST MOVIE I/WE HAVE SEEN THIS YEAR, GO SEE IT, RIGHT NOW) watched the ball drop from home with some red wine in hand, and spent New Year's Day around Park Slope on a coffee date, grocery shopping, and the like.
So here we are, ready for 2015!
