Belated: Midtown All Dressed Up for Christmas

Way back when, before Christmas -- oh, I am so hopelessly out of date -- Maxine (aka Grandmama), Rosie and I went to midtown for a fun afternoon seeing the holiday sights. Fifth Avenue is so twinkly - and crowded - that time of year. First stop, straight off the subway: Robert Indiana's pop chestnut, LOVE. This sculpture hasn't budged from that spot for years but Rosie was pretty sure it was an enormous Christmas decoration. I can see why.

Rosie and Grandmama at Rockefeller Center looking at the Christmas tree.

The big tree. 

Rosie absolutely insisted on having her picture taken here in front of the John Rockefeller Jr. memorial. Why? I think because it was a picture of her looking at the Christmas tree, but I'm not entirely sure.

Me and my girl:

Rosie and her girls...or at least the ones she wishes were her girls:  

A few months ago the dreaded American Girl found us: we started receiving catalogues in the mail out of the blue. R quietly plucks them out of the mail stack and takes them to her room to peruse, at which point everything goes silent for a long, long time. The first time, she flipped through it 2 or 3 times, and finally looked up and said, "This is a very instresting (sp intended) book." So far she's never actually asked for a doll, but when we happened upon the American Girl store it was next to impossible to get her away from the windows.

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a fabulous Berkshires Thanksgiving: relaxing, fun, and scrumptious (thanks to Chef Maxine). And once again the oven door graced us with its continued presence/attachment to the oven. 

Three cousins in action.  

 

They - or at least the two littlers - spent much of the weekend romping around the yard poking sticks at things, pulling pine cones off trees, and sweetly terrorizing the mice who set up for the winter in the smoke house. Elijah was most interested in playing football and Apples to Apples.

Kissin' cousins.

No, really kissing. I wonder how old they will be when they die of embarrassment and make me unpost this.

My parents joined the fun.

As did the Slawsky fam - David, Mimi, Susie and Mike. 

Sam went through some of her old boxed-up toys and was kind enough to give this doll to Rosie, who promptly christened her Aunt Sam. A slightly creepy but perfectly respectable homage. Here we have Aunt Sam elegantly riding a white stallion. 

The real Aunt Sam.

And a final highlight: 

The First Annual Thanksgiving Rumble. Bring it on.

 

We 3 + 2 more ladies on the way. (Thanks cousin David for the fine photography!)