Christmas in New York

There is nothing like a "Tender Tennessee Christmas." However, this year the Mills family learned that "New York is a Christmas Kind of Town!" On Christmas Eve my parents and my sister, Kim, flew into New York
City and then arrived at our Manhattan apartment right before lunch. The next several days of their stay was assuredly fast-paced, extremely eye-opening, thoroughly exciting, and yet refreshing all at the same time.

After their arrival I allowed them to unpack and get adjusted to where everything was in the apartment. Mom and dad stayed in the master bedroom as they are obviously the "masters" of our family. My sister slept in the children's room, since I was already occupying the guest bedroom for that past two months since my arrival in New York City. After unpacking and doing a little grocery shopping at the neighborhood grocery store we set off for the subway station just down down the street and we 'trained it' downtown to Manhattan Times Square. As they came out of the tunnel their eyes grew as big as the surrounding Times Square neon-lights that greeted them. After walking around taking in the sites for awhile we decided to eat dinner in Times Square. The dessert was a trip to the top of the Empire State Building for a spectacular night time view of the city for over 20 miles in every direction! Mom couldn't get over the fact there were lights as far as you could see, and you could see forever.

The next day we opened Christmas presents, ate dad's "famous french toast," and then headed into the city for a special Chris Mills guided tour of many of the hot spots in the city. We saw Central Park, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trump Towers, 5th Ave., Chinatown, Little Italy, the World Trade Center site, and Greenwich Village. We made sure to work in a very special stop at The Gallery Church. That evening we stopped at the local "Titans Fan Club" bar to watch the Titans game with other Titans fans. I just wish the game would have went as well as the day's tour did.

The next few days were a mix of shopping, me having to fit in a couple of shifts at Choice, a short but interesting tour of Brooklyn, the Broadway play "In The Heights," and a "quick" visit to Jersey to spend some family time with some of my dad's side of the family. The play we saw, "In the Heights", was tremendous! We all had a special attachment to it because it was set close to the area of town in which we were sleeping each night. The trip to New Jersey was a chance to meet some of dad's family that I have never met and an opportunity to see an uncle that I had not seen since I was a kid.

This was truly a very special Christmas for the Mills family. Somehow we were able to pack quite a lot into five days in the city. Both, my parents and my sister, left thinking that they would really need another vacation to rest after spending their Christmas vacation in the "City That Never Sleeps". I was not as tired as they were but I am looking forward to possibly traveling south for the holidays next year. "New York is a Christmas Kind of Town" but I might be ready for a "Tender Tennessee Christmas" next year.