The Holidays in 50 words or less. or more.

I'm mostly just tired of seeing the balloons on my blog.  Time for something new.  Christmas in Utah was good.  Here's some of what you missed if you weren't with me:

1.  My birthday cake.  Ann, the hostess with the mostest graciously offered to make my cake this year.  She's pretty amazing as was the cake.

Isn't it pretty? There were fresh berries on top! It was some kind of lemon deliciousness on the inside. I loved it. We did not partake of the sparkling cider Jessica is holding however. Turns out some non-alcoholic sparkling ciders do have alcohol. Go figure.  Martinelli's is the way to go.

2.  Indian food for Christmas Eve dinner.   My dad is in a student ward bishopric and there were some students in his ward from Nepal who didn't get to go home for the holidays.  My mom, being the bleeding heart that she is (I totally understand where I got it now) invited them to join us.  She ordered Indian food so they would feel at home.  It was a little weird to spend Christmas Eve with 6 guys I didn't know and I admit that I was disappointed that there would be no turkey and mashed potatoes.  But it was so much fun.  Much better than having only my sister and my parents to celebrate.  

3.  Sledding.  I haven't done that for years.  None of the Nepalese guys had ever gone before so after dinner we headed to the perfect sledding hill that's in the park conveniently located in  my parents' back yard.  We didn't have proper sleds, but we scrounged around and found a McCain/Palin sign (it was the slipperiest) and a garbage can lid and some big black trash bags.  They were perfect.  Only those round discs would have been better.  It was a blast.  Here is some proof:

This is the before picture.  My mom raided the closet for all the warm weather gear she could find.  Hence the weird hats and pink gloves.

Shoot, I just realized that the actually sledding picture are on my mom's camera.  My battery died shortly after this shot was taken.  Okay, you'll have to imagine awesome sledding on a deserted hill (all the kiddies were home waiting for Santa) and basically the best time ever.  Afterwards we played some games, had some hot choch, and other such awesomeness.

3b.  It was good to be in Utah with my family.  I saw nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters and a cousin and it was relaxing.  I also noticed (as I after the holidays shopped with my mom) that people are nice in regular stores.  They don't generally give you dirty looks when you ask a question.  And sometimes they ask if they can help you right when you walk in the store.   Just something I noticed. 

4.  The New Year brought me back to the city.  I signed up for the New Years Run in Central Park again this year. 

Jessica, Me, Ann, Kim, and Ryan at the countdown.

Last year was a lovely 37 degrees at midnight when the race began.  This year, figuring in the windchill (and that wind was chilly) it was below zero.  Everyone was dancing around to stay warm until the race started.  The fireworks were great.  There were water stations, but by the time we got to them all the water was frozen.  It was a great way to ring in 2009.

5.  After the new year happened Jessica and I realized that we hadn't really done any of the Christmas sights of the city.  We decided to amend that and took a Christmas Tree tour on New Year's Day.

 This is the tree in Washington Square Park

This is a little tree outside a random lobby on the way to Washington Square Park

The tree at Lincoln Center

The Angels at Rockefeller Center

The Tree at Rockefeller Center

The only one we missed (that we know of) was the one in our neighborhood.  We missed a picture of our Harlem Christmas tree.