holiday shopping

greg and i had different chores and errands to do in the morning and then we finally met at union square to look together for a record for my nephew. after visiting barnes and noble (which didn't have what we wanted) we headed to petco for cat food . . 

and ran into santa! was santa in petco . . 

and were these pups and their owners waiting to see him? 

i think they were because here's santa on the balcony by the cat food aisle! i also overheard a manager whispering to santa that a line had formed and he needed to come in and visit with the customers. greg and i were very amused and today when reading an article about christmas trees i saw a long island pet store ad with the times that santa would be available to meet their customers' pets. i guess it's a thing to do these days! i think it's very cute and very crazy. 

we had not eaten breakfast and at 1 pm we were very hungry and happy to find a cozy diner near where we were shopping.

lots of food! half of the wrap sandwiches came home with us.

the grinch kept an eye on us as we ate.

walking home . . such a beautiful sky.

(we were at janet's solstice party for a little while in the evening where we saw several homeschooling friends we hadn't seen in years!)

out and about

here are some photos from running errands these past two days . . above is the tree at washington square . .

my peppermint mocha from levain bakery on lafayette (their latest spot that opened) . . 

the empire state building looking very pretty in blue . . 

a festive staircase . . 

greg walking by the fancy brownstone that is always beautifully decorated . . 

cricket looking very cute this afternoon . . 

morgan's pudding hat for little dougie!

it looks wonderfully warm and is very cute!

a cold and icy day

 

zuzu and . . 

cricket . . keeping an eye on anything that flits by . . 

everything has frozen as it's in the mid 20's today.

greg worked from home and we had lunch together (my plate is reminiscent of my breakfasts at gail's cafe in london on the fulham road where i would get a salami sandwich on a small brioche roll with a pickle).

here are a few pieces from my clay creche that my mom bought for me years ago when greg and i first moved to the neighborhood. there was a lovely shop on west 10th street, across from jefferson market library that sold beautiful pottery from local artisans and from south america. so far the cats are leaving it alone, so i might add the rest of the figures.

and on the piano . . 

greg made deviled eggs this evening to take to his holiday work party tomorrow. he even walked to the container store for three medium size containers to put them in.

they look very yummy!

i mainly packed a small padded envelope for london today . . it takes me ages to do and it will supposedly take three weeks to get there.

fourth sunday of advent

 
on our way to visit kendall and aurélien this morning, morgan and i passed this frozen water bottle . . !

their sweet christmas tree underneath which we sneaked a few gifts!

morgan brought three books from london for him, and i had picked up a book titled flow and a yellow taxi cab car.

we chatted and drank hojicha tea with slices of apple and delicious cheese from saturday's green market. kendall shared her thoughts about several schools she had visited for aurélien to attend next year. applications are due in january.

reading the paddington bear book . . 

some of their tree decorations . . 

back at home i had a cup of bellocq's christmas tea with stollen . . 

and chanda fixed the lights on the tree.

and trimmed some of the lower branches.

our fourth sunday of advent meal . . (faicco's chicken sausage with einkorn penne pasta and sautéed kale and fresh spinach from our favorite farm at the green market).

cleaning up afterwards . . (while i spoke with korrina on the phone. she had run several errands in the cold weather today and was happy to be home again, relaxing with dinner and hot tea . . and wash the cat.)

decorating the tree . . 

pluto kept an eye on things . . of course.

hot chocolate . .

and caroling . .

the fourth light of advent is the light of you and i,

the light of love, of thought, to give and understand.

we also sang good king wenceslas, people look east, and children go, where i send thee.

people look east, the time is near,

of the crowning of the year. 

make your house fair as you are able,

trim the hearth and set the table.

people look east and sing today,

love the guest is on the way . . 

angels announce to man and beast,

he, who cometh from the east!

set every peak and valley humming,

with the word the lord is coming.

people look east and sing today,

love the lord is on the way.