Christmas/New Years!

Christmas and New Years were a whirlwind of activity for us this year. The week started off on a rain-soaked Wednesday night with a flight back to SF that was delayed (which is becoming an unwanted tradition it seems). Fortunately, we had access to the United Club so our holiday spirits weren't dampened in the slightest!

Pictured above: holiday spirits

We touched down at 2:30am on Christmas Eve (thanks for the ride, Kathleen and Dave!) and headed back to Lynch Court for some much-needed travel recovery. That afternoon, we went over to Steve and Phyl's for the Augustus Christmas Eve Dinner. It was great to see everybody and catch up! The food, as always, was amazing and the wine superb!

The bartenders for the evening

Gregg setting the table. "This Cab goes riiiiight here."

Eating outside in December?! We miss this West Coast weather!

On Christmas Day, we packed up our stuff and made the long trip over to the other side of town to the Irvings. Another delicious, gourmet dinner (back-to-back Tenderloin, yum!) and we found ourselves thinking, "Who needs New York City food?".  We sorely missed Sean and Gail who were out enjoying a White Christmas in Kansas. But we did send plenty of pictures and videos back and forth!

"We miss you, 'Shail'!"

On the 26th, we had a brunch at the Irvings with Grandma Harris, the Schafers, and Bryan and Marcia. We watched more sports than Meg could imagine while we visited and enjoyed each others company. The following day we met up with the Drennans, who had just returned from Newport Beach, at the Country Club for one more meal before heading back to the airport.

Missing from the pic, Dave, was already on to his next adventure of retirement.  He and brother, Steve, were headed across the country to Nashville to drop of Hayley's car.  Hayley, Meg's cousin, is finishing her last two years at Belmont University!

Meg also managed to meet-up with her gal-pals (while Gregg packed!) at the renowned Sisi's Caffe in Moraga before the final departure. What fun!

After getting back to New York we had plans to see old friends who were out for a celebratory trip (happy birthday, Alex and Skyler!). We met at their hotel, the amazing Nomad, for cocktails, ventured out to Beecher's Cheese Cellar for appetizers, then returned to the Nomad Library for dinner.

Enjoying an incredible birthday crunchy chocolate ice cream cake contraption

For New Years, Sean and Gail planned an extension of their Kansas trip to meet up with us in NYC! They arrived on Wednesday evening and we went straight to the best pizza spot in all of New York, Lucali, for a pie and a calzone.  With that, the list of family members we've taken to this neighborhood staple grew to eight (Kyle, Sean, Gail, Kelly, Kathleen, Dave, Grandma, and Gran Gran) and Brad felt even more left out despite his best efforts (closed for renovations during his last visit). I guess you'll just have to plan another trip out!

The next day was New Years Eve, so Gail and Meg did a morning Pilates class while Sean and Gregg jogged in Brooklyn Bridge Park to kickstart the celebration.  Since we had late reservations for New Years Eve dinner (9:45pm), we decided to get a late lunch at Jolie Cantina, a Mexican-French fusion spot, and watch a little college football.  After getting our fill (and then some), we went down to a new microbrewery in Carroll Gardens to try some crafts.  Other Half Brewing is a literal hole-in-the-wall, one room shop but with a great selection of tasty beers, the guys were in heaven!

Then it was finally time for the main event.  Our plan for the evening was a late seating at a highly recommended restaurant in Nolita called The Musket Room.  They offered a 5-course tasting with a champagne toast at midnight which seemed like the perfect fit for this crew!

Flashing furs through SoHo

The glasses came from a pyramid stacked in the corner of the room. Because of his history with stacked glasses, Sean got nervous just looking at it.

Gregg's defective noisemaker, alternating between a shrill squeal and a dying duck. He made sure the whole restaurant knew his was different :)

On the First, we went to Friend of a Farmer for brunch and thoroughly enjoyed watching our waiter Aleks (very Russian) learn how to manage a table on what had to have been his first day on the job, or maybe even his first in the country.  The food was great though!
And on Sean and Gail's last day, we went in to the City and enjoyed some old favorites of the East Village: McSorley's and Momofuko.  Not a bad way to end the trip!