Christmas in NYC!

Let's kick it day-by-day style, k?

Friday: Arrived in NYC in the evening. The flight appeared to be on time, until on the runway, the pilot announced that we had to be delayed an hour. Instead of circling in the air, he decided it'd be better to just sit on the runway for an hour. That was fun. Finally made it to my sister's boyfriend's apartment around 9ish. His place is NICE. I don't have many points of reference since all I've really seen are my sister's two apartments, but it was a great place. Seemed like a place you can call home. They decorated everything for Christmas (real tree, real wreath on the front door, Christmas lights everywhere). It was beautiful.
My sister had invited over a friend and her brother for dinner. Everyone was enjoying wine and cheese and watching 40-year-old Virgin when I came in. Went to dinner at a nice cozy Italian restaurant.

Saturday (aka Christmas Eve Eve): Met up with my cousin for lunch at this all-vegetarian Asian place in Union Square. Did some last-minute Christmas shopping. Went to Avenue Q (a satire of Sesame Street involving a guy who moves to New York City) in the evening. After the show, met one of my sister's boyfriend's frat brothers at this cool bar where you can play board games. I kicked ass at Connect Four (but not so much at Boggle).

Sunday (aka Christmas Eve): Hung out at the apartment watching Christmas movies (in HD!). Helped the sis' bf assemble an entertainment center for his new TV. In the evening, they had invited a British friend over and we had a nice formal home-cooked lasagna for dinner.

Monday (aka Christmas Day): Opened presents. I've been thinking of having a party at my place at some point, and now I have the perfect dishes! Got some really nice martini glasses, scotch glasses, and shot glasses, a book, as well as a gift certificate for a Wii! My sister received a camera, an ipod, and some books. Her boyfriend got a laptop bag and some books. Everyone seemed pretty content with their gifts. I'm definitely a fan of the stocking stuffer idea. It's a nice little appetizer before you open the other gifts. ;)

Tuesday (aka yesterday): Left NY to go to DC to visit my parents who had just returned from India on Monday. I was dreading it since the Thanksgiving trip was horrible. But they were in a much better mood and I actually had a pretty good time. They showed me pics and all the stuff they got in India and Switzerland. I think more of my trips to see them should be less than 24 hours ;)

Wednesday (aka today): Just got home. Had a fun little trip to the airport in DC where my parents warned me about the dangers of alcohol (apparently if you get a couple of nice glasses for Christmas, that means you're an alcoholic): "Never get to the point where you NEED to have a drink; it's a very difficult habit to break.." Uh, I'll keep that in mind, but I think the 2-3 drinks I have once a week is nowhere near that point. Maybe showing them my Christmas gifts wasn't such a great idea...

All in all, it was an awesome Christmas. Very memorable and enjoyable.