Confessions of a Christmas Tree Nut---The Sequel

(Too much still to do, too little time, so I'm re-posting this six-year-old essay about my Christmas trees.  It  still applies--I've got those four trees up now.   But this year I expanded my tree collection, adding two more trees, just as I threatened in the original post.  In the living room, near the large real tree, is a small white one with some of the handmade ornaments I bought in Mexico and India.  And in the family room, a small green tree has appeared decorated with the forest creatures I've collected, mostly made out of twigs and straw and wood.  I couldn't resist giving them a tree of their own.  And I keep thinking of new tree themes for next year.  As for the Christmas cards,they're all going to be late this year.  That's why I call them "Holiday cards" and figure if I get them out before January 1, they still count.)

Above is the Woodland Creatures tree, made up mostly of ornaments I got from Pier One (all at least 30 per cent off, because it's the last minute.) I just couldn't resist these rustic little animals and birds made mostly of twigs and straw and natural products.(The star on top is a tiny starfish.)  The gold stars seem to be made of twigs--I cut apart a Pier One garland to get them. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

And here below is the little white tree I decorated with my hammered, painted tin ornaments  from Mexico and the lacquer-on-wood (I think) ornaments from India.

 

The Mexican tin ornaments are wonderfully crude and folk-y and the Indian ones are so  carefully detailed and elegant, so each country really should each have its own tree.

There's even a Mexican nativity scene of tin.  I love the clay angel at upper left sucking its toe.  And I love the Indian sets of three camels and three elephants.

At Thanksgiving 2015, with the help of kids and guests at the tree-trimming open house on Saturday night before Nicolas's baptism, we decorated the four trees that I always have. And here they are (in photos from 2010, but they look much the same in 2015).

The Real Tree goes in the living room.    I usually pick a color scheme, and this year went with silver and white, with the only color coming from some crazy peacock ornaments I got from Pier One.

With the peacocks, I also used lots of white butterflies (from the Dollar Store) and white birds and angel wings, so I guess the theme of the wonderful-smelling Real Tree this year would be wings.

In the dining room I always put a wire tree to show off my antique ornaments.  And I put a wire from the tree to the window latch so that it (hopefully) can't get knocked over.  You can see that we don't have much snow in Massachusetts, unlike Minnesota, but we will soon.

Some of these ornaments are reproductions, but most are the real thing.  My grandmother had a whole tree decorated with blown-glass birds with those spun glass tails and often a metal clip to hold it on the tree.  I really love the fragile teapots once sold at every Woolworth's for pennies. They cost a lot more now.  The blown-glass ornaments usually say "West Germany" on the metal cap.  The  glass ornaments that were once screw-in light bulbs were made in Japan between 1930 and 1950 and are a lot less likely to break.

In the library I always put my Shoe Tree, which started when the Metropolitan Museum in New York first started selling ornaments based on shoes in their collections.  

This became a kind of mania and now I can't afford to buy the newest ones from the Museum, but I've added lots of cunning real (baby-sized) shoes, and people keep giving me more.  My favorites on this tree are the Chinese baby shoes that look like cats and the fur-lined baby moccasins and the tiny Adidas sneakers. 

On the porch I've put the  Kitchen Tree, or Cookie and Candy Tree.  This was inspired by some friends who live in a tiny apartment and decorate their tree only with cookies and candy and pretzels and candy canes.  Then, when Christmas is over, they put it all outside for the birds and other New York fauna to enjoy.

As you can see, I've cheated quite a bit--adding ornaments that look like kitchen utensils and non-edible gingerbread men and peppermints.  An authentic Kitchen Tree should have chains of real popcorn and cranberries (which we did back when I had children small enough to enjoy stringing them.)

Last year  Trader Joe's sold little gingerbread men with holes already punched in their heads so I could string them on the tree, but this year the gingerbread men are frosted but the holes are missing, so I just  stabbed them with the wire hooks and it worked fine (and any that broke, I ate, of course. They taste better frosted.)

That's four trees so far (six in 2015!)-- and I haven't  shown you my Santa Claus collection and the miniature town in the bay window in the kitchen and the many creche scenes we have from around the world....But let's face it, I have to get back to those Christmas cards.

Confessions of a Christmas Tree Nut --The Sequel

Above is the Woodland Creatures tree, new for 2015, made up mostly of ornaments I got from Pier One (all at least 30 per cent off, because it's the last minute.) I just couldn't resist these rustic little animals and birds made mostly of twigs and straw and natural products.(The star on top is a tiny starfish.)  The gold stars seem to be made of twigs--I cut apart a Pier One garland to get them. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

And here below is the little white tree I decorated with my hammered, painted tin ornaments  from Mexico and the lacquer-on-wood (I think) ornaments from India.

 

The Mexican tin ornaments are wonderfully crude and folk-y and the Indian ones are so  carefully detailed and elegant, so each country really should each have its own tree.

There's even a Mexican nativity scene of tin.  I love the clay angel at upper left sucking its toe.  And I love the Indian sets of three camels and three elephants.

At Thanksgiving 2015, with the help of kids and guests at the tree-trimming open house on Saturday night before Nicolas's baptism, we decorated the four trees that I always have. And here they are (in photos from 2010, but they look much the same in 2015).

The Real Tree goes in the living room.    I usually pick a color scheme, and this year went with silver and white, with the only color coming from some crazy peacock ornaments I got from Pier One.

With the peacocks, I also used lots of white butterflies (from the Dollar Store) and white birds and angel wings, so I guess the theme of the wonderful-smelling Real Tree this year would be wings.

In the dining room I always put a wire tree to show off my antique ornaments.  And I put a wire from the tree to the window latch so that it (hopefully) can't get knocked over.  You can see that we don't have snow yet in Massachusetts, unlike Minnesota, but we will soon.

Some of these ornaments are reproductions, but most are the real thing.  My grandmother had a whole tree decorated with blown-glass birds with those spun glass tails and often a metal clip to hold it on the tree.  I really love the fragile teapots once sold at every Woolworth's for pennies. They cost a lot more now.  The blown-glass ornaments usually say "West Germany" on the metal cap.  The  glass ornaments that were once screw-in light bulbs were made in Japan between 1930 and 1950 and are a lot less likely to break.

In the library I always put my Shoe Tree, which started when the Metropolitan Museum in New York first started selling ornaments based on shoes in their collections.  

This became a kind of mania and now I can't afford to buy the newest ones from the Museum, but I've added lots of cunning real (baby-sized) shoes, and people keep giving me more.  My favorites on this tree are the Chinese baby shoes that look like cats and the fur-lined baby moccasins and the tiny Adidas sneakers. 

On the porch I've put the  Kitchen Tree, or Cookie and Candy Tree.  This was inspired by some friends who live in a tiny apartment and decorate their tree only with cookies and candy and pretzels and candy canes.  Then, when Christmas is over, they put it all outside for the birds and other New York fauna to enjoy.

As you can see, I've cheated quite a bit--adding ornaments that look like kitchen utensils and non-edible gingerbread men and peppermints.  An authentic Kitchen Tree should have chains of real popcorn and cranberries (which we did back when I had children small enough to enjoy stringing them.)

Last year  Trader Joe's sold little gingerbread men with holes already punched in their heads so I could string them on the tree, but this year the gingerbread men are frosted but the holes are missing, so I just  stabbed them with the wire hooks and it worked fine (and any that broke, I ate, of course. They taste better frosted.)

That's four trees so far (six in 2015!)-- and I haven't  shown you my Santa Claus collection and the miniature town in the bay window in the kitchen and the many creche scenes we have from around the world....But let's face it, I have to get back to those Christmas cards.

Amalia Eats Out -- (Diary of a Manhattan Toddler--Part Two)

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There are dozens of restaurants within walking distance of granddaughter Amalia’s apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, but not all of them welcome the sight of an almost three-year-old coming in the door.  Maitre D’s take one look at Amalia and have visions of food dropped on the floor, water spilled on the table and melt-downs that cause other diners to ask to have their table moved. (She’s done it all.)

So, after canvassing the neighborhood for child-friendly restaurants, Amalia has narrowed down her list of eating-out favorites to about ten. Here’s her Toddlers Restaurant Guide to the Upper East Side.

Strawberry ice cream at a table outside of Eli’s, on Third Avenue near 80^th, is a hot weather favorite.  (It HAS to be strawberry ice cream, Amalia’s favorite because it’s pink.)  Here she is with beloved super-nanny Julia, who just got married on June 20 and embarked on a two-week honeymoon, which is why Yiayia Joanie stepped in for the first week and Abuela Carmen came up from Nicaragua to handle the second week.  The reason Amalia is looking with suspicion at the ice cream is because she doesn’t want chunks of strawberries in it—just uniform pink color.

Here is Amalia eating with Papou at his favorite restaurant, Dué, only steps from her door.  Dué counts as a serious, non-toddler kind of restaurant, especially at night, but during the day, when it’s not crowded, the staff lets Amalia in as long as she’s with Papou.  They know to immediately bring her a basket of Italian bread with butter and/or olive oil to dip it in, and she won’t ask for anything else.

At Tandoor Oven, at 175 East 83^rd Street, they greet Amalia by name and always bring her pistachio ice cream for dessert.  For dipping, she likes Indian bread, naan,  just as well as Italian, and will share the Tandoori Chicken with whichever adult orders it.

Big Daddy’s at 1596 Second Avenue, calls itself a “blast from the past” and it’s a favorite with all the kids in the neighborhood, because it provides crayons and pages to color, trivia game cards (for older customers), penny candy machines,  and really big portions of glorified diner food.  Amalia usually orders the Mac and Cheese from the kids’ menu.

Every weekend, early in the morning, Amalia likes to go to her most favorite restaurant, Alice’s Tea Cup, which has over 150 kinds of tea as well as children’s books to read.  Here, as soon as Amalia comes in the door, she gets sprinkled with sparkly fairy dust and handed a pair of wings to wear.  

 At Alice’s Tea Cup Amalia always orders, in a loud voice, corn pancakes, which need to be slathered with butter and syrup and then cut into pieces under her direction.  (Unlike most brunch and breakfast restaurants, Alice’s opens at eight a.m. and if you come much later, you will find a line outside the door, waiting for seating.)

                                              Photo at the entrance to Alice's Tea Cup

Since Amalia visits Central Park almost every day, she highly recommends the Dancing Crane Café at the Central Park Zoo, Kerbs Boathouse Café on the Model Boat Pond (where you can feed the ducks), Le Pain Quotidien, just North of Sheep’s Meadow, and the elegant Boathouse restaurant (and less fancy Express Café at the Boathouse). They’re at East 72^nd St and Park Drive North, and you can feed the fish in the lake or even rent a rowboat or hire a gondola and gondolier. 

But Amalia’s most favorite restaurant in Central Park is the Petrie Court Café and Wine Bar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where her parents often take her.  It has a moderately priced ($37 with a glass of wine) prix-fixe three-course dinner keyed to one of the current exhibits, and although it’s an elegant restaurant, Amalia behaves there because, when she gets tired of sitting still, she can walk around and look at the statues or enjoy the panoramic view of Central Park.  Or turn her napkin into a hat. 

On a recent Saturday night, Amalia and her Mommy took Yiayia into the Met and up to the roof, where Amalia likes to run around, wending her way through the reflective glass walls of the Roof Garden Commission by Dan Graham with Gunther Vogt, which the museum describes as “part garden maze, part modernist skyscraper façade.”

 

The roof of the Met also has the Roof Garden Café and Martini Bar, and many folks were enjoying martinis  as well as the view, but it was too crowded, so Amalia led us downstairs to her favorite section—the Egyptian Wing with the Temple of Dendur-- where she always has to say hello to her favorite crocodile and throw coins in the water while making a wish.  Then it was off to the Petrie Court for dinner.

On our last day before returning to Massachusetts, early in the morning, Amalia and her Mommy put on nearly matching sundresses. 

With Abuela Carmen—who had arrived the night before to take over babysitting duties— and Papou, we all walked to Alice’s Tea Cup for breakfast where Amalia got sprinkled with fairy dust and put on her wings. 

Abuela Carmen helped Amalia cut up her pancakes and Papou told her scary stories while we all ate indulgent, calorific breakfast treats.

Finally it was time for Papou and Yiayia to load up the car and head home, while Amalia took another power nap, dreaming of crocodiles and fairy wings and bottles labeled “Drink Me” that make you very big, and pancakes with lots of butter and syrup.

Diary of a Manhattan Toddler—Part One

I just got home from a week of  following granddaughter Amalia, who’s nearly three, on her daily rounds on New York City's Upper East Side.  I served as social secretary, carriage pusher, snack provider and diaper changer, and although I was exhausted every night, (check out “How to Put A Toddler to Sleep in 100 Easy Steps”—I think “Honest Toddler” is eavesdropping on us),  I realized that—while New York toddlers can’t run out into the back yard for unsupervised play or catch tadpoles in the nearest pond,  Manhattan has more opportunities for toddler fun than anywhere else.

Here’s Amalia in her new (bigger) apartment—in the same building as before, but on a different floor.  After breakfast with dinosaurs, she’ll make her plans for the day.

Yoga at the nearby children’s store “Sprout” happens on Tuesday mornings and some Thursdays, and Hip Hop Dance plus Yoga happens at 4:30 on Mondays, with the same teachers: Rachel and Samara.  They can be found at lilyogisnyc.com.

Toddler Story Time, ideal for rainy days, is at 10:30 every weekday morning at the Metropolitan Museum’s Nolen library, and it’s free and open to all!

Barnes and Noble on 86^th Street is also popular on bad weather days—there’s a whole play area with toys as well as books on the lower level.

Here’s Amalia sitting in on a trial visit to Kidville, at 163 East 84^h Street between Third and Lexington, which has every kind of lesson and playtime for preschoolers (for a price),  even summer day camp.  This lesson was called “Messy Lab” and while it was indeed messy, it was meant to teach about various properties of water.

Central Park is Amalia’s personal playground every day that it’s not raining. She’s crazy about the penguins and seals at the Zoo and has worked up the courage to ride on the chariot on the carousel (not the horses.) 

One day we encountered Nathan the Bubble Man who was making giant bubbles in front of the Band Shell.  (He says his secret is “Dawn” dish soap.)

Amalia was so excited about chasing after the gargantuan bubbles and popping them that we got Nathan’s phone number in case he might be available for Amalia’s next birthday party.

On the way back, we stopped to look at a horse and carriage and Bethesda Fountain—Yiayia Joanie’s favorite spot in Central Park.

And we threw bread to the ducks in the Toy Boat Pond.  (This is probably illegal.)

On another day in Central Park we managed to get an inflatable kite (featuring Doc McStuffins) up in the air.

As Amalia climbed rocks in her patriotic dress, passing Asian tourists snapped her picture.

With the hot weather—at last!--the sprinklers have been turned on in Amalia’s favorite playground in the park, and the little ones are flocking to them. 

One day Amalia came wearing her bathing suit and carrying her friends Nemo and Boots to see if they could swim. (They couldn’t.)

She changed into dry clothes and introduced them to the sandbox…

where she buried Nemo, but we managed to find him and dig him up.

After so much exertion, she wanted ice cream and we had to go to the front of the Metropolitan Museum to find it.  She chose the Hello Kitty ice cream bar (because it’s pink) but when she got it, she wouldn’t eat it, because the ice cream didn’t have yellow eyes like the picture on the wrap.

But at least we got to enjoy a free live concert.

Back home, Amalia had lunch and decided to take a power nap in her new bedroom before embarking on the afternoon’s activities, while her animal friends watched over her.

Next: "Diary of a Toddler Part 2"--Amalia's tips on restaurants and museums.