Christmas with the Italian New Yorkers

I spent Christmas 2011 with my very Italian New York family. My Grandparents (in their late 70s), my parents, and my boyfriend all hustled out into the city bundled from head to toe. It wasn’t snowing, but it was still the typical New York cold! We joined the non-natives in Rockefeller Center and admired the tree, then sent pictures of it by cell-phone to the other relatives in far off states. Everyone from our family has lived in New York at least once, and we got quick messages back of “wish we could be there” and general pinings to be in New York City once again.

The younger members of our group tried our luck at ice skating, but were soon pushed out of the rink by one of those massive blue and white ice resurfacers, so we just returned our skates. Our Christmas lunch was a patchwork of food bought from concession stands around Rockefeller Center and included the most random of items from cans of soda to Italian ice to pretzels and powdered dough. The entire time, my Grandmother amused us all by insisting how much better her home made Italian meals were. Better than the Rockefeller concession stands and better even than the pretzels!