NYC Christmas Trip

It’s been a while since I have blogged!!!

I have every intention to be consistent with blogging and then life hits fast and hard and it is not something I make a priority. I still love reading blogs and love reading my old blog posts, so I hope to blog more in 2026!

Anyways, the girls and I just got back from a Christmas trip to New York City. We were able to go with my mom and sister and we had the best time!

We flew out on Friday morning and landed in NYC around 4:30 their time (they are an hour ahead of us). By the time we took an Uber to our hotel and put our stuff up we were starving so we headed to find some food.

We ate at a Shake Shack near our hotel and then went and shopped the rest of the night. We went to the famous Macy’s and also found a Target and Sephora. In that Macy’s they have their original wooden escalator that you can ride which is really cool.

Saturday we went to Liberty Bagels and tried the viral rainbow bagels that IG and Tik Tok talks about. They definitely are worth the hype and some of the best bagels I have ever had!

The first thing on the agenda for the day was going to the Staten Island Ferry so we can see the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Skyline. We had an excellent view of both and this ferry was nice because it was FREE! I kept asking my mom if she wanted to ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty closer but she was content seeing it from inside the ferry.

After our ferry ride we went to see the Wall Street tree. It wasn’t near as big as the Rockefeller tree but it was still beautiful. The charging bull and the New York Stock Exchange was in this area also.

Next up we went to the 9/11 Memorial. I have been there 3 times now and every time I am there it is always so humbling to be there. I have many emotions while there from being mad at the terrorists that cost so many people to lose their lives that day, to feeling proud of the wonderful country we live in. My mom loved seeing this in person.

Our next stop was taking an Uber over to Brooklyn to eat lunch. We found a great pizza place and had a nice lunch there. We then went to a park in the DUMBO area to see the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Skyline. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

When we took the Uber back from Brooklyn we went to the Soho area to shop a little bit. There was one store in particular that the girls wanted to make sure to stop in- it was called Colorful Natalie. We waited in line to enter and when we got close to the door they told us they were out of every size except for XS. None of us are XS people, but we still wanted to go in and see the store. Liz was able to buy a hair clip from there and my sister bought a really pretty necklace. It was a really cute shop and I wish they would’e been stocked better so we could’ve gotten a sweatshirt from there.

We went back to our hotel and rested for a little bit and then got ready for Hamilton on BROADWAY! This was such a bucket list item being able to see Hamilton in NYC!

Sunday we got up early and had bagels again and then headed up to the Radio City Hall area. We were there early so we had time to walk around and see the Rockefeller tree during the day (not crowded at all) and we also saw the beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Seeing The Rockettes was on the agenda next. Radio City Hall is the prettiest theater I have ever been inside and the show didn’t disappoint! I was amazed at the dancing and how in sync all the performers/music/orchestra/lighting were. This was definitely another highlight of the trip!

After the show we had tickets to the Summit so we took an Uber to the Grand Central Station area. I love how “old-timey” the station feels on the inside. There was a man playing Christmas songs on his saxophone and he was so energetic and fun! We listened to him for a while and then made our way over to the Summit Vanderbilt. This is a new building that is the 4th tallest building in NYC- taller than even the Empire State Building.

You go up to the 91st floor first and there are glass windows everywhere to see the views of the city. Talk about WOW! We were in awe of how cool it was to see the city from that high up. After this you go to the 92nd floor where there are these really cool silver balloons that you can take pictures of and/or hit. This was another thing that was IG and Tik Tok famous- it was neat but the room was really small and crowded! The last thing we did here was go up to the 93rd floor and then we rode a glass elevator up to the 102nd floor to see the views of the city from even higher up. This was a really neat experience and something I am glad we got tickets to do. My mom loved it!

After this my mom was exhausted so we took her back to the hotel and then my sister and girls and I went to 5th Avenue to shop. We hit up a lot of stores and enjoyed being in the hustle and bustle of everything. We saw the Rockefeller tree at night (so many people) and watched the Saks 5th Avenue Light show on their building. We were so close to Times Square so we had to walk that way to see it at night time (we had drove by it the night before after Hamilton).

We finally found a Raising Cane’s to eat supper at in Times Square and decided to call it a night after that- it was almost 10:00 and we were TIRED.

Monday morning we decided to sleep in and enjoy one last breafkast at Liberty Bagels before making our way to the airport to fly home.

What a wonderful, memorable Christmas trip that I am so thankful we were able to go on!