Christmas Glamour

It was a green Christmas this year. Singing songs on 5th Avenue about sleigh rides seemed a bit off, but the passers-by enjoyed it. One woman sang along to Jingle Bells in sign language! Here are some images of the season.

Three NYC socialites...



...with a spectacular Manhattan backdrop...



A patriotic holiday display:



A budding rock star (move over, Bono!):


I managed to stuff all my remaining Christmas gifts into my luggage and then caught an earlier flight out than I'd planned. The festivities were, well, festive. Delicious home-made eggnog flowed. Ancient Christmas records (yes, LPs) were dusted off for the occasion, for the first time in years. And once I broke into the record collection, we feasted on Beethoven symphonies and concertos as well. The local pastor gave a sermon about gift cards on Christmas Day -- I thought at first this was a broad hint to the congregation about what he was hoping to receive in the offering plates, but then it turned out he was just working his way around to talk about the gift [card] of the holy spirit. Oddly, he managed to avoid mentioning the need to "redeem" spiritual gift cards. Well, he certainly did better than some other pastors. At one church, they invited Santa in to talk to the kids, apparently in an effort to embrace materialism as part of the holy day.