Christmastime in the City

Yesterday I finally kind of got in the Christmas spirit. We went to Grand Central for the annual light show and holiday fair, and even though the light show is sort of unimpressive, it was nice to hear Christmas music piped in so loudly. We were heading to the Transit Museum Store's train show when we stumbled upon SantaCon, and the entire concourse of Grand Central was overtaken by santa's. Pimp Santa, Darth Vader Santa, Scooby Santa, Sexy Santa, Robin Hood Santa, all singing carols, some giving out candy, and most looking kind of drunk at 1 in the afternoon.
We also managed to make it to the Bryant Park fair, the BUST Holiday Craftacular (averting the block-long line somehow), and a festively-decorated Bar Jamon where we met a hot waiter and drank Spanish wine.

Drunk on holiday spirit, I finally gave in and took a look at the Christmas trees across the street in front of Duane Reade. In past years, I've haggled pretty good prices for some nice trees, all a little too big for the size of my shoebox studio apartment. One year I even went all the way up to Food Emporium six blocks away to get a better price for a bigger tree, and had to roll it home in a shopping cart. This year, I had my eye on two trees: one short, round one and one tall, skinny one. The tall skinny one looked like the runt of the litter, but at $30 - half the price of the short one - it seemed like a great deal and I brought it into its new home.
Oh, it's not perfect. The branches are patchy and weak. But it's over six feet high, towering above me and fitting perfectly into my little nook by the window. Besides, I'd bought so many Christmas tree ornaments as souvenirs over the past year, I was dying to display them on something.
A little more wine, a little Christmas music, and some tinsel and I was suddenly READY for the holidays. Just have to get the Claritin ready for that allergic reaction to pine....