We kicked off the 2012 holiday season with one of two Thanksgiving Dinners, the first hosted by Aunt Sheila and Uncle Jim. Chris was in New York for the weekend, and brought the Anderson clan together to visit with him. Dinner and dessert were super scrumptious, and it was nice to visit with the whole family.

The next day we headed to Arizona to visit with the Verdi's and celebrate Thanksgiving. We had a busy week with lots of activities. We visited the the Heard Museum in Phoenix, rented a boat and went out on Canyon Lake located along the Apache Trail, explored the old Goldfield Ghost Town, played at the park and the pool, and went on a short hike. Like always we went to the rodeo at the Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek. This year it included a special rodeo for little kids, who rode sheep! The Buffalo Chip Saloon is always a fun time. We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Verdi's, Jared's Grandma Mary, Aunt Celeste, Uncle Greg, and cousin Alana. Carol and Shelly, Greg's parents, also joined everyone for dinner. We had a great meal, with lots of great food, including the carrot soup which we made. Some pictures of our trip are below.

The holiday season continued with some fun activities throughout the month. I went to Fordham University's Lessons and Carols at St. Paul the Apostle Church with Katie D. and Katie W. Beforehand we walked through the holiday market in Central Park at Columbus Circle, the mall at the Time Warner Center (where we watched the singing holiday lights) and grabbed a quick dinner on 10th at the Hudson Eatery. Dinner was terrible, but I suppose not all NYC restaurants can be good. Mid-month we bought and decorated our Christmas tree, and finished our shopping. We also drove to deep into Brooklyn to see the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights. It's fun to walk around and see the houses all decked out. Dyker Heights is truly a suburban neighborhood, so different from the area of Brooklyn we live in. Sometimes it is hard to believe it is the same borough!

We spent Christmas Eve with Jared's parents, and Ashlyn and Ben, in Nassau with the extended Verdi / Assante Family. Christmas Day was spent with the Menghini's, opening presents in the morning, going to mass mid-day at St. Sylvester's, and having a quiet dinner at home, which included the traditional cappelletti, made by Pete. Like always we spent Christmas night at Aunt Rita's with the a large contingent of the Anderson Family. New to Aunt Rita's gathering this year was a grab bag amongst the adults, which provided lots of laughter. At the end of the week we drove to Massachusetts to celebrate Fake-Christmas in Charlestown with the Verdi crew. We spent Saturday exchanging gifts, watching lots of Sebastien's favorite documentaries, and having an excellent second Christmas dinner. We returned to New York early Sunday evening. We spent New Year's Eve in super low-key fashion: take-out dinner from Whole Foods, which we ate at the movies while we saw The Hobbit (mini movie review to come). We were home in time to walk to Prospect Park and catch the fireworks to officially ring in 2013!

So, while the East Coast was being decimated by Hurricane Sandy, I was in sunny, albeit chilly New Mexico. I traveled the day before the storm hit (Saturday) to attend the annual National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Conference (NAEHCY) with team members from Homes for the Homeless and HFH's sister agency, the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness. Each conference session and the various keynotes highlighted best practices for working with homeless children and youth, and brought attention to the ever changing difficulties they face.

One of the most emotional parts of the conference was legislative updates that included watching the testimony of homeless and formerly homeless youth to Congress earlier this year. Highlighted was a young women serving in the U.S. Army and based at Fort Hood (Texas), who is homeless and forced to couch surf while on leave. In her testimony before the Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity Subcommittee (of the House Financial Services Committee) she stated, "Like me, you have chosen to serve our country. You here in Washington, and me in the field. Just as you can have faith that I will be out there protecting you, it is my hope that you will use your power here to protect youth like me." Whether you are a Democrat, Independent, or Republican, I think everyone can agree that all children and youth deserve stable housing. To read the testimony of each of the six homeless youth who spoke to the panel of Representatives, click on each of their names under Witness List, Panel I here.

As Hurricane Sandy grew and New York City prepared for the terrible weather coming their way, the conference continued. I received updates via NBC News and the NYTImes to my phone, Twitter, Facebook, and Jared, who is always on top of things throughout Sunday and Monday. Reports were of strong wind and flooding, as well as the massive power outages and inability to travel within New York City. HFH staff in New Mexico was dealing with an administration office with no power and flooding at some of our facilities. With the subway crippled and schools closed, my immediate tasks were to adjust some of our shelter programs, continuing to serve our children and families as best we could with limited staff, and cancel all the Halloween festivities we had planned, :-( . Late Sunday our return flights into LaGuardia, slated for Tuesday morning, were officially cancelled.

Tuesday rolled around, the conference ended, and I was now stuck in New Mexico until Thursday morning. While I should have been thrilled to have a few extra days to explore, I was pretty anxious to get home. I had been away at a conference two nights the week before, and hadn't planned on being in New Mexico an additional two nights. But when life hands you lemons, the best thing you can do is make lemonade! So after purchasing some sneakers, underwear and sunglasses, I was ready to make lemonade! On Tuesday, I had a quick, solo lunch at Forque (the really good restaurant located at the Hyatt Regency where we were staying) and travelled to the Botanic Gardens at the ABQ BioPark. It was relaxing to walk through the different gardens. A bunch of pictures are below.

That evening my colleagues and I met up for dinner at Forque again. (I know, i know, a restaurant more than once? Yes. The Hyatt Regency is a great hotel, and super convenient to the Albuquerque Convention Center, but downtown Albuquerque is the business area, and deserted at night, making it kind of sketchy. Going to Forque was safe, easy, and offered good food.) Over dinner we planned to take the train up to Santa Fe the following day, to explore the capital of New Mexico.

The train ride, via the Rail Runner Express, from Albuquerque took about an hour and a half, was super cheap (just $10 round trip), and was picturesque. The easiest part of this journey is the free bus that shuttles you from the train station to Santa Fe's Historic Plaza. We strolled through the plaza for a bit, made a few purchase from some local Native American's who sell various handmade items. I purchased a small wall hanging made of sand used for protection and strength. It doesn't really go with any of our current decor, but will one day add nicely to the wall of art we're slowly collecting of the places we've visited. While my colleagues continued their shopping I went off to the find the Santa Fe Public Library which was really beautiful, with a gorgeous reading room.

We then ventured to the San Miguel Mission just a few blocks away. The mission was beautiful, and one of the oldest churches in New Mexico. Although not part of a parish today, they still offer a Latin Mass once a week. We walked across De Vargas Street and visited briefly The Oldest House, dating back to the 1640's. Though the Adobe house is just a few rooms now, it has a number of interesting South Western "everyday life" artifacts or antiques, as well as a timeline of the house with pictures, and photos as far back as the 1800's. The women who runs the little museum funds its operation solely on donations and the sale of pastries and soft refreshments which people can enjoy off the back patio. If you ever visit, definitely get the buttermilk-cranberry-orange scone; it was great. We chatted for a few minutes and departed, heading to Guadalupe Cafe for lunch. It was a laid back, no frills place, but the service was good and the portions huge. I got a salad that could have easily been split between two people.

After our lunch we walked to the famed Canyon Road, with cafes and wine bars in between tons of high end art galleries. We walked in and out of a few commenting that to purchase some of the beautiful art work would be awesome, and viewed other work, paintings, photographs, and sculptures displayed on porches and in the yards of galleries. We after about 45 minutes of longing, we headed back, stopping briefly at St. Francis Cathedral, another beautiful building. After a really quick walk through, we headed back to plaza, caught the shuttle to the train station, and headed back to Albuquerque, enjoying another beautiful train ride. It was a nice afternoon in Santa Fe, a beautiful little city, definitely worth another visit to. It would be great to enjoy some more of the restaurants, spas, galleries, and outdoor activities. Pictures of our afternoon in Santa Fe are below.

I was excited to see a bit of Albuquerque and a bit of Santa Fe, but also to be back in New York, late Thursday afternoon.

Holiday Season 2012

Sandy Stranded Me in New Mexico