Visiting New York

Last weekend we celebrated a belated Christmas with Chris' parents. They were so thoughtful and generous about the whole thing...on the television, Anita had on the VHS of a fireplace burning, with Christmas carols playing in the background, and even our stockings were filled. For me, the most touching part of the weekend was how his parents kept up all of the decorations for us. The apartment glowed. It was so nice--a joy--to spend this time with them. Our reservations about delaying the visit to mid-January dissolved entirely. Belated or not, when you're with people who love you and treat you well, the timing of the visit is not important.
We were all about the matching fuzzy clothes this year...below, Chris & I in our fuzzy sweatshirts, and grandma and I in our white fuzzies (hers is a robe that she plans to never take off).
Grandma took us out to dinner on Saturday and we were joined by John Greg - Chris' close friend from St. Johns and the man who gave me the gift of The Cat Who... mystery series. I, of course, forgot my camera, but someone has photos from that snowy night.

(Garden Cafe, 1.11.09. I love these sneaky photos!)

One of the highlights of the weekend was Sunday night, when Chris' parents took us back up to our old beat, Inwood (the northern most part of Manhattan), where Chris & I used to live. Chris' mom, Anita, who has impeccable taste in restaurants, loves the Garden Cafe, one of our old favorite date-places. The restaurant's back patio, which is more like a mini-oasis, has treated us well with relaxing evenings.

Across the street is the Piper's Kilt (of Inwood), where we've celebrated past birthdays, graduations, and even a New Years Eve. We've made friends with neighbors there and watched a ridiculous number of Mets games, with Tommy, a bartender who befriended us back in 2006. Neither Chris nor I had had seen Tommy in a year and a half, but the moment we walked in the door, he asked, "How's Providence?" There's no Tommy in Providence, that's for sure. And it's his fault that I ended up on stage singing karaoke that night. So embarrassing. I'm fortunate that they love me.I'll leave you with the glow of their Christmas tree.