Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas in Montreal

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img_4386Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season so far! We celebrated our Christmas in Montreal with my family. We arrived on Thursday, Christmas Eve and spent the next day four days relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous city.

We spent a lot of time walking around, enjoying the holiday sights, a Christmas Day movie (Daddy’s Home is hilarious no matter what the NY Times review says) and Chinese food in Chinatown, celebrating Boxing Day, hiking Mount Royal, a couple of short runs, and touring the Underground City, and Old Montreal. Montreal is very easy to get to especially from New York either by car or plane (less than an hour flight) that I have a feeling we will be back very soon.

What better way to recap the trip than through pictures? Though these are just the iPhone ones.

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We ate some really good food while away, including dinner in Chinatown on Christmas day, dim sum, Italian and French cuisines, and this ginormous salad from Mandy’s.

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Running is one of the best ways to see a city and on my first run in Montreal, I ran from downtown Montreal to Chinatown and Old Montreal and back.

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The next day was Boxing Day so the streets were a lot more crowded, but I was able to capture some of craziness with the lines of people waiting for H&M to open.

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We even got to sit on some interactive, illuminated seesaws called Impulse. Impulse is a public art display located right outside of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

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We took a tour of the Underground City which I highly recommend especially if the day you’re supposed to go is snowing and cold out. And we hiked to the top of Mount Royal to see some amazing views of the city.

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While a short trip, we had a great time in Montreal and are looking forward to returning, maybe when the weather is warmer (there’s going to be over 2 feet of snow there today!).

Now it’s time to get ready for New Year!

 

 

The Holiday Season

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This was a busy blogging holiday season for me and the one thing I didn’t spend much time talking about was what made it such a great break.

You can't go wrong with Nutella hot chocolate

You can’t go wrong with Nutella hot chocolate

We booked a last-minute trip to Atlanta to visit Josh’s brother and to see his parents who were also coming into town. We arrived early morning on Christmas Eve and left the day after Christmas. While it was a very short trip, we enjoyed spending time with the family, celebrating a belated Chanukah with everyone, running in Piedmont Park, and eating a lot of great food.

Piedmont Park on Christmas morning

Piedmont Park on Christmas morning

The next day after Atlanta, we had tickets to go see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with my family. We were that group of adults without young children at the 9:00AM show! It was intentional, of course, to be able to see my friend, Amanda perform (she was incredible as always). After the show, Amanda brought us backstage and we saw the sets, costumes, changing rooms, and the highlight, the camels. I decided that it is no longer possible to see shows that you don’t know people in; I’m spoiled thanks to Amanda.

With Amanda and the camels

With Amanda and the camels

Later that day, we walked around a less hectic Rockefeller Center area and ate brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Fig & Olive. I am so glad to have the chance to introduce my family to such a great dining experience and after 31 years, I think I might finally have succeeded at choosing a restaurant my mom enjoys. Even though it was busier after brunch, we did a little shopping. No trip to NYC with mom is complete without some new clothes! This was one of favorite purchases, now I just need to wear it somewhere fun and I am also so excited about my Christmas present from my parents – a new Links of London charm bracelet.

The Tree

The Tree

The next day, we made waffles for our good friends and their daughter at our apartment. It is such blast having little ones in the apartment and seeing how they react to different things each time they are here. Months ago, she was fascinated by my foam roller and now, she’s moved on to Piglet (definitely a girl who knows the way to my heart).

The bracelet looks better next to the Fuelband, huh?!?!

The bracelet looks better next to the Fuelband, huh?!?!

The rest of next week was spent relaxing and trying new things. Josh was battling a cold, so my week off wasn’t as lonely as he was home working and sick for most of the week. I went to my first Mile High Run Club class and ran my first speed workout with the Dashing Whippets Running Team. We spent New Year’s Eve making dinner and hanging out on the couch. I’m surprised we made it to midnight, though I did take a nap during the day. Friday was my first full day back at work, it felt like it was a Monday but I’m so glad it wasn’t. I’m not ready for a full week yet.

Silly family picture

Silly family picture

And finally yesterday, we hosted my dad’s side of the family for a get together at our place. We made appetizers, went out to dinner, and had dessert back here. It a great way to bring in the new year!

Now, I am prepping myself for the first full week back to work.

How did you spend your holidays?