city sidewalks on Christmas day

For the past month my family and I have been laboring under the delusion that Manhattan would be quiet on Christmas day. We were dead wrong. The city was busier than I've seen it in a while, and it's been very busy in my opinion. The only time I've (personally) ever seen more people in Manhattan was when I accidentally turned up in the middle of Rockefeller Center on the very evening of the tree lighting ceremony. Talk about claustrophobia.

Despite the severely packed sidewalks, we had a great time and even found parking on the street.. a first for us because we only take the train (because driving in the city is a straight up nightmare and parking is even worse.. and trains are nice because you don't have to drive them.)

We took a stroll through Central Park, stopped in the Plaza in search of a restroom- fail, glanced at the Bergdorf windows, wandered into one of the Trump buildings and actually found a restroom- thanks mr. trump, stopped in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and then walked over to see the tree.

The tree was a bit fatter than usual, which is great. I love a good fat tree. The rounder the better, really. It was a lot prettier this time than the last time I saw it.. that could be because the darn thing was covered in scaffolding when I was last there at 1am on a chilly November evening.

After seeing the tree we ducked into a little cafe for some hot chocolate although it really wasn't cold enough to warrant a steamy beverage.. 45 degrees on Christmas day when just last year we had a major blizzard the day after Christmas. That's ok though, I'd drink hot chocolate even on a summer day. Actually, I heard that hypothermia can set in even at 50 degrees, so I take back what I said about it not being cold enough for a hot beverage.

And on that note, I think I'll go to sleep! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I loved seeing your Christmasy instagram snaps throughout the day!