Three Days of Christmas 2019

The Three Days of Christmas

December 24-26, 2019 

Framed around some classic verses (and with my sincere apologies for taking such liberties), here’s an account of our busy Christmas.

‘Twas the day before Christmas and all thru the house not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse. I arose from my bed . . . to do my driving for the Red Cross: blood deliveries to hospitals in Kingston, Rhinebeck, and Poughkeepsie. Now, I love Christmas music, but I’m getting a bit tired of it – I’ve been rehearsing Christmas with Mendelssohn Club since September, and been hearing all the usual standards over and over on the radio. But what to my wondering ears should I hear? Kingston radio 92.9 has the “Lighter Side of Christmas” with humorous versions of holiday classics. Some examples:

    Patrick Stewart a la Star Trek: ♫But as long as you love me so, make it so, make it so, 

           make it so♫

    ♫Just hear those noses snifflin’ and throats are tinglin’ too. Come on it’s lousy weather 

           for a flu ride together with you♫

    From the Beatles: ♫All you need is elves, all you need is elves, all you need is elves, 

           elves, elves are all you need♫

    And my personal favorite: Porky Pig singing ♫I’ll have a blue Christmas without you♫

Back home, Marjorie has been doing her last of many stints wrapping gifts (for donations) at Colonie Center mall for the local Cancer Society. I help clean up and take things away at the end. 

Then it’s off to sing with the St. Pius X choir at Midnight Mass. As always, a lovely service, lots of carols and anthems, joined by Tri-City Brass with friend Cathy Sheridan.

Christmas day arrives, but in a quite different fashion. It’s just the 2 of us, since the Queens family will be coming up New Year’s Eve. Marjorie has done her usual beautiful job of decorating, but there’s no tree in the living room - grandpuppy Arlo might find that too tempting. Instead we’re relying on the porch tree with added shiny balls. No morning stockings from Santa, and we’ll exchange only one present apiece today, holding off until the family is here. 

I head out for more choir singing at Mass while Marjorie prepares dining contributions for later.

We’re not bereft of holiday frivolity, off in early afternoon for 2 parties. And Marjorie comments that it’s nice to be so unencumbered, not responsible for preparing and hosting a dinner. A first stop for hors d'oeuvres with Dennis and Bela, friends from church. A house very full of friends and family (Dennis had threatened to escape to our house), but they can squeeze us in. We especially enjoy seeing their daughter Natalia and her husband and sons. She was a good friend of son Matt’s in high school, when both were in the Empire State Youth Orchestra.

On to Drew and Camille’s (more church friends) for dinner with their daughter and her husband, plus Drew’s brother and sister. It’s so nice to have friends willing to take us in! Quite a feast, highlighted by prime rib & crab legs plus Marjorie’s cheesecake that receives rave reviews. 

Gifts via a “Yankee trade”: pick a wrapped gift or “steal” one from someone. We do quite nicely: a cute cat teapot with several small bottles of Bailey’s, and movie passes. A fine time is had by all!

‘Twas the day after Christmas. We’ve had a couple of seasonal disappointments: a candlelight tour of Boscobel snowed out after Thanksgiving and a tour of the Governor’s Mansion cancelled (twice!). We aim to make up for those with a jaunt to the Bronx for the NY Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show and the Bronx Zoo’s Holiday Lights, the latter returning for the first time since 2007. We’d thought about including grandsons William & Miles, but decided it would be too complicated to meet up with them and get them back to Queens. We invited Poughkeepsie friend Marlene, but she was not available. So it’s just us.

 Off as planned at 7:15, “Carmina Burana” playing on a CD of music used in movies Marjorie gave me for Christmas. Mostly cloudy, headed to about 40; some early hazy sun but it doesn’t last, so the day seems a bit colder than expected. Easy drive down to Poughkeepsie to park the car and catch a MetroNorth train, on-time at 9:37. 

Down along the Hudson past familiar sights: Bannerman Castle, West Point, Cold Spring & Peekskill, Tappan Zee Bridge. 

Off at the Harlem-125^th St. station, a short wait for a train to the Botanical Garden stop right across from a garden entrance.

Onto the grounds about noon, a nice lunch at pretty Hudson Garden Grill. After lunch a tram ride around the gardens with a humorously gruff driver. The bare grounds and trees (any earlier snow is now gone) are nonetheless quite pretty. 

 After the ride we walk past carolers by 3 large decorated trees 

 on the way to a brief look into the NYBG store, full of pretty decorations, and a stop to have today’s tickets credited for renewal of our garden membership.

Now for the main event. There is a bit of disappointment that the trains are set up in a separate building, not running through the Conservatory as usual due to some work going on there. But it’s wonderful anyway! We have a timed ticket to avoid too much congestion. There is no line to get in (Matt would be surprised – he remembers the crowds when we did this when William was very young). Greeted at the entry by a costumed woman on stilts. 

First we see an interesting brief video on the construction of the buildings and tracks. G-scale model trains run on nearly1/2-mile of track thru scenes that incorporate more than 175 buildings old and new from the various NYC boroughs, as well as along the Hudson Valley, plus additional track running overhead on trestles. There is a good crowd on hand, but things move along and we’re able to see (and photograph, of course) everything. People are well-behaved, tho Marjorie scolds a couple of people who seem to think it’s OK to touch. A very impressive setup. 

After completing the tour, we spend some time enjoying the Conservatory.

The Bronx Zoo is right below NYBG, but it’s a 15-minute walk to the Zoo entrance, arriving about 4:00. All the animal exhibits are closed by then, and the main Holiday Lights activities covering several acres are scheduled to begin at 5:00, tho there’s much to see already. Lighted seals line the entry path, and we walk thru a canopy of lights to a main plaza with many lighted cranes.

 Into the Dancing Crane Café for muffins & coffee. Quite full and noisy, not the relaxed dining we had in the gardens, but it’s good to warm up.

Heading off I almost trip over a real peacock ˗ no lights! Into the Animal Lantern Safari, a path thru wildlife-themed displays depicting giraffes, elephants, lions, monkeys, and many more . . . oh my! 

The animals are beautiful sculptures of silk-like fabric with interior lighting and sound effects, like what we saw in the Montreal Botanical Garden in October and a similar festival outside Reno in summer 2018. We wonder if the same company was involved. Marjorie finds a scene of hyenas chasing a herd of reindeer perhaps too realistic. 

After the Safari we go by the colorful Bug Carousel (“1 person per bug” it’s announced), and pass on the chance to make our own s-mores (for $5.99!). We can hear ♫I want a hippopotamus for Christmas♫, filling a gap in my holiday listening, and see a couple of characters (penguin & lion) working the crowd. Very festive! 

Through the canopy of lights and a towered building to the Dancing Lights: 

lights on a large tree centered within a courtyard (surrounded by other lights) change to different colors, patterns, and animal silhouettes, again accompanied by animal sounds. 

And carolers singing as we leave.

We’re done at about 6:00, some 2 hours earlier than I thought it might take. A bus back to NYBG to give our tootsies a break, a bit of a wait for a train to Harlem-125^th St, then a quick connection for a train to Poughkeepsie. 

Since it’s not too late, we call Marlene to make a brief stop to admire her tree ˗ an amazing collection of ornaments! ˗ and enjoy a pumpkin bread snack. Then back on the road, home about 11:00. A long day, lots of walking and time on our feet on a kinda’ dampish cold day. Not bad for a couple of old Boomers! And a wonderful conclusion to our 3-day Christmas festival.