Visiting New York City during the Christmas season has been on my travel destination wish list for years. Last December we finally made it a reality for our family.  I can’t even begin to tell you how giddy I felt when I started planning this trip. Getting to do it with Chris and Avery was the icing on the cake! I’ve been to New York City, once before, many moons ago (September 2012) with my mom and we had a fabulous time.

I thought I would write a post and share some of the best things we did on our trip: where we stayed and some of our most magical moments. Our trip was a total of eight (8) days, which included almost three driving days (yes, we drove!) 

We arrived in Brooklyn on an early Sunday afternoon, checked in to our hotel and hit the ground running with all the exploring we had planned. The weather was perfect and the scenery got me so excited to be in this bustling city. Avery and Chris experienced their first New York City subway ride, as we ventured up to explore Lower Manhattan.

The highlights included the 9/11 Water Memorial, which was beautiful and sad to see in person. We followed the Memorial up by a quick lunch and walk through Zuccotti Park to see the Christmas market.

Instead of taking the subway back to the hotel, we decided to walk via the Brooklyn Bridge. We experienced the sunset over the bridge, which was just spectacular and the pictures didn’t do it justice. It was quite busy, which we expected, but Avery definitely found the amount of people on the bridge to be overwhelming at times, but the views made it worth it.

Our first night ended with a drive to Dyker Heights to see the beautiful Christmas Lights display, which were so bright and cheerful. It was insanely busy with the sidewalks and roads packed, but we made the most out of it and enjoyed the displays. It’s not something I could recommend doing if you don’t have a vehicle with you. We drove back to our hotel and settled in for the night.

Monday was our first full day in the city – we started the day with a warm and tasty breakfast at Junior’s, Avery was a big fan of their pancakes and hot chocolate. We went back and checked out of our hotel in Brooklyn and made our way to our hotel in Manhattan – the Lotte Palace Hotel. When visiting New York City in December, staying at a Christmas-themed hotel was a must for me (even if it was just for one night). Our stay at the Lotte Palace didn’t disappoint, from its warm greeting to its festive décor, I was in Christmas heaven!

We checked into our room at the Palace and Avery was given some beautiful stationary to write a letter to Santa. The hotel has a mailbox that sends the letters directly to Santa. If he has time, he will respond during your stay. She was quite excited about this! After she finished her letter, we dropped it in the lobby mailbox and explored the hotel a little bit to soak in all the holiday cheer. We then ventured out to see the Rockefeller Plaza during the daytime and stopped by FAO Schwarz to do some shopping. Following Avery’s successful shopping trip we walked to Time Square for lunch and some more exploring.

We recharged at the hotel for a little bit and then went back out to see some of the holiday fun once the sun had set. The Rockefeller tree all lit up at night was spectacular, we also caught a glimpse of the Saks 5th Avenue light display! On our way back we stopped by to quickly look at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was in a midst of a service. It was beautiful.

When we arrived back at the hotel, there was a surprise waiting for us! Santa had responded to Avery’s letter and it was waiting for us in our room! It was absolutely magical and the excitement and joy on her face was fantastic! What an amazing end to our day.

Early the next morning we headed out for our appointment at Macy’s Santaland to visit with Santa. This experience topped Avery’s list and she had the most amazing time meeting the big guy! It was done very well and we didn’t find the photo package pricing to be too expensive – it’s an great keepsake.

After our fun visit with Santa, we hopped on the subway and heading to explore the New York Public Library. We wandered around the library and Polonsky Exhibit. Lunch was a quick stop at a great pizzeria – Stone Bridge. Following lunch we were greeted by some rain and made our way to the Titanic Exhibit. It is no longer in New York City, but worth visiting if it’s in a city near you. They provided you with audio devices and you could explore at your own pace. All of us agreed that we learnt a lot about the Titanic and had some great conversations. This was an early/busy day, so we headed back to the hotel and had dinner in that night.

All of us had a great night sleep and were off bright and early again to catch the subway. We had plans to spend part of the day at the American Natural History Museum. In total we spent close to three hours exploring all the exhibits and didn’t make it to all the areas. Chris and Avery loved their time at the museum. If you are heading to the museum with your kiddos, be sure to watch Night At the Museum before going – it really made Avery that much more excited!

In preparation for this trip, I had made a reservation at the popular Serendipity 3. Be prepared to wait (even with a reservation), a busy restaurant and overly priced food. The Frrrrrozen hot chocolate, which was the size of Avery’s head was worth it! We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the experience! The restaurant was amazing to see and the menu was HUGE!

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