Okay. Promise in the New Year not to wax poetic so much. About living in New York City. Again. Finally. Central Park. I get it. Enough about loving it here.
But. This beautiful Christmas Day on Oak Bridge will always be at the top of my bliss list.
Holiday Dilemma
Which’d you rather?
Spiked egg nog or faux champagne.
Lobster Newburg or a burger.
Gift cards or re-gifts.
Multi-color or all white lights.
Nutcracker or cracked nuts.
Trump tweets or Hillary whine.
Menorah candles or melted gelt.
Jersey Boys or Rockettes.
Rock Center or Smugglers Notch.
Or just scotch on the rocks.
Kitty kreamer or Chia pet. Or. Hatchimal.
Kathy & Anderson or Ryan & Jenny.
Parade Views
Perched over the crowd. View from our apartment. Away from the fray. Sweet.
6:00 A.M. not so much. 7:00 gathering steam. 9:00 crazy. 
Balloons and Santa! Look big out our window.
Garbage truck as terrorist barrier. Modern times.
Local Reflections
A glimpse of Election Day on the Upper West Side, a hyper-liberal urban enclave. I overhead the Hispanic doormen and porters in our building say they voted for Trump. Most of these guys have 2 jobs to take care of their families and send their kids to college. Later in the day, as a movie was being filmed on our street, I was surprised to see many of the grips and other crew members wearing red hats that said “Make America Great Again”.
Then after the election, a 10-year old boy who lives on our floor said to Dr. Husband, “I hit myself on the head with my lunch box because Donald Trump is President”.
Election Day Movie Set
Outside our window no parked cars on the street. Block closed off. Quite an accomplishment. Booms. Cameras. Lights. Action! Yay. Blessed distractions on Election Day. 
The Only Living Boy in New York, Callum Turner & Cynthia Nixon.
Soul Cycle
Definitely not doing a spinning class. All Soul’s Day. Dr. Husband’s Happy Birthday! So. Maybe a long walk around “Our Lake” in Central Park. To shed Gramercy Tavern cake. 
Skippy Hallow UWS
Mariachi Skeleton West 74th.
Darth Pumpkin West 77th. 
Dangerous Ray
Saw “Ray Donovan” on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Liev Schreiber the unlikely Vicomte de Valmont. Although the play stayed incredibly true-to-Laclos’ 1782 French novel, Liev was a big lug of a roué. Not sure why he chose this particular role.
Read the risqué epistolary work in its original French. Graphic and ribald typical of the day. Très débauché. The play kept to the piece all the way. A good thing? Hmmm. It was 3 heures long.
Voted!
On a perfect autumn day. Strolled around the Lake. Brought ballots to the Post Office. Voted! For whom? Hint. Stayed true to my initial instinct. Wanted a billionaire businessman who had success in both private and public sectors. It was before the tectonic announcement last June 16 of that other so-called buffoon/tycoon. So. Yes. I wrote in. Guess who. 
Dr. Husband. Well. He voted for her. I’m sure. TTSD almost over.
RiRi & BiBi
Exciting weekend in the ‘hood. Global Citizen concert in Central Park. Saturday night our apartment 10 blocks down shook with the bass and drums of Metallica and Kendrick Lamar. Then came the show stopper. Rihanna. RiRi. She didn’t seem to know much about the cause. Nonetheless she performed. Reminiscent of Amy Winehouse R&B. Generous show. mAdBen got to see it up close. Lucky.
Today as we strolled toward home, guys in suits stopped us from going down our street. Walkie talkies into the lapel earpiece thing. Clearly somebody was coming to our neighbor building San Remo. As a rush of men entered the lobby and the sirens abated, we asked , who was that? They gave us hints. A tall man with white hair. Not American. Met with both candidates today to get their support. Got it. BiBi Netanyahu. Woo hoo. As we watched him leave from our bedroom view, he rolled down the window and waved. Then on to Hamilton.
Side Trek . NYC 