Clear Skies

It’s a beautiful day with sun shining, 33° and 7 mph winds.  

The sun reflecting off the buildings on the Jersey side of the Hudson River
No rain or umbrellas on the streets today 😁. 

We signed up for a Holiday Entertaining: Hors D’oeuvres cooking class at 10 this morning. 
We made:
*Olive oil crackers with smoked salmon and creme fraiche 
*Mini beef wellingtons with mushroom duxelle
*Caramelized onion and Gruyère tartlet
*Crostini with roasted butternut squash purée, honey and manchego
Rolling out the pastry for the wellingtons
Sautéing the mushrooms for the duxelle
Searing the beef 
Preparing the pastry for the tartlets 
Not too pretty but they tasted good
After our 2 hour cooking class we walked over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to listen to a concert by the Capital Arts Children’s Choir from London and the Manhattan Singers. 
We ended up getting there in time for mass which was quite interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Catholic mass. The cathedral is breathtaking!



The London children’s choir put the Manhattan Singers to shame. They were incredible.
The oboist was also amazing and he’s playing Gabriel’s Oboe, which is my favorite song of all time.  
The school of visual arts latest exhibition, now on view, is "Barkitecture,” a series of doghouse-themed installations created by 14 BFA Design students. Each student’s piece is illuminated within an eight-foot Lucite case and features whimsical dog photos placed along the base.



Standing in line to get into the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. 
Inside the theater
Once the show began we weren’t allowed to take pictures. 
More photos of all the Christmas lights. 






Stopped at Gordon Ramsay fish & chips to share an order on our way back to the hotel tonight. Jo Anne is a huge fan of Gordon’s. 
After dinner we walked over to the Signature Theater to see if we could get tickets to Night of the Iguana but the box office still wasn’t open. On the way there we stopped at another theater to check on tickets to the Neil Diamond musical “A Beautiful Noise” but they only had about 13 seats left and not two together without paying a fortune. So, we are still undecided about what we will do tomorrow evening on our last night in the city. 

We didn’t do as much walking today since we were taking a class and watching a concert and show but still got in some steps. 
17,879 steps
8 miles
16 floors

Again, I will end today with excerpts from The Messiah advent. 

“Angels play an important role in the Christmas story…Shepherds also play their part. And what a contrast these earthly beings provide to the angelic hosts. Thus, God sets the stage with actors of the most lofty (the angels) to the most lowly (the shepherds). Together they frame the most staggering scene imaginable.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the shepherds were “sore afraid.” Wouldn’t you be? …God has come to earth. The eternal One has chosen to arrive as a newborn baby. The One who crafted the stars with His fingers (see Ps. 8:3) now has a tiny hand grasping His mother’s finger. The almighty has taken the form of the most helpless. The One who merely uttered words to form the heavens and the earth has taken the form of One who cries and coos. No wonder we read, much later in God’s revealed word, “Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Pet. 1:12).

May it be that our celebration of Advent is filled with wonder and praise as we ponder the wonder of the incarnation.”

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