Christmas in NY/NJ

As I am writing this, we are wrapping up an incredible Winter Break. We wrapped up Semester 1 at school prior to the break, so we had a few days of intense grading, prep, essay reviews, and lesson planning before we left. So basically, all of the worst parts of being an educator, without the good stuff, the day to day interactions with students. So by the time we were truly on break, we were well overdue and ready for it.

As soon as it actually started, we hopped aboard the first possible flight to the states and flew across the world and landed in New York. Groggy and out of it, we found our way to a taxi and got in a cab to Shannon’s sisters’ apartment. We wandered over to our favorite bagel shop in the city, loaded up on lunch (which at this point had no meaning to us since our body clocks said it should have been 1am, not lunch time) and we ate it all up before going to dinner in Brooklyn at Meagan’s boyfriend’s apartment.

Early the next morning, we got ourselves a rental car and drove down to New Jersey. On the way, Shannon and I met up with my niece and sister and had a visit with a long lost family member who we hadn’t seen in about twenty years. We had lunch, caught up, shared some stories, and went on our way. It was a great way to really start our visit.

After that, we went straight to our hotel to drop off the many things we were lugging around, and to wrap presents of course. Given that we live in Saudi now, and no one from my home town knows much about it, there is a natural inclination of curiosity and all things Saudi. So as Christmas presents, Shannon and I brought back some Saudi goods. We had scarves, wooden jewelry boxes, camel milk chocolates, blankets, art, and of course, stuffed camels for the children. After wrapping it all up, we went out to a party at our friends’ house. We were able to meet up with three of the four guys in my wedding party, their families, and countless other friends. Well, not really countless. I would say the numbers were somewhere in the range of thirty people. We caught up with them and their families, shared stories and food, and of course, gave the gifts we brought.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we went to my grandma's house for a big breakfast. We met up with my sister and niece again, along with my cousin and his girlfriend, my aunt, and obviously my grandma. We ate a ton of delicious food and again shared presents and stories.

We left after breakfast and went to the movies with my sister and niece, where we saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We absolutely loved it. My niece is 7 as well, so she’s old enough to get the stories, idolize Rey, and yet still young enough to be enveloped in a good narrative. As a fan of the movies for my whole life, it was really cool to see her enjoy it through her eyes. We talked about it all after we left and said our goodbyes.

Then, we went to my mom’s house and made a big Christmas dinner with all of the necessary components. We had a big ham, green beans, and the whole deal. I also prepped the meal for the next day, the big Christmas Day dinner. I seasoned the turkey, peeled potatoes for mashed potatoes, and helped taste test my mom’s famous pumpkin cheesecake. We hung out with her, watched some movies, and again, caught up on our stories. We really wanted to spend some quality time with my mom. It’s always important, especially when you don’t see relatives often. But this year in particular was important to us. Our family has always made a big deal about Christmas. We spend a lot of time together, we have our own specific traditions and routines, and we really focus on enjoying each other’s company. We knew this year would be especially hard on my mom since it was the first Christmas she would be spending alone. My stepdad, Jeff, passed away last February, so in addition to having a naturally tough time coping with that, our whole family knew that without his gregarious, generous, happy, magnetic presence, this Christmas was going to be tough on everyone. It was really important to spend some time with my mom as a result.

The next day, Christmas morning, we slept in. If you are following the progression of this trip, we did all of that in less than 48 hrs, while dealing with no sleep, and jet lag. So the sleeping in was needed. When we got up, we went over to my mom’s place to help her make Christmas dinner. We watched the NBA’s Christmas Day games (featuring my beloved 76ers beating the Knicks) and watched a few classic Christmas movies. We spent the entirety of the day there hanging out. At one point we went for a walk through the park by my mom’s apartment (which is hard now as she is still regaining mobility post-stroke) and enjoyed the biting temperatures of 15 degrees. At around 5, we wrapped up the food as best as we could and took it over to my sister’s house for a big proper meal with her, my brother-in-law, and my niece.

The following morning, we did our usual running around to grocery stores, Target, and the mall to pick up things we would need for when we returned home to Saudi. Then we went back to my mom’s place to spend some more time hanging out. In the late afternoon, we met up with my mom, grandma, sister, niece, and Shannon’s family! Her parents had flown in from Florida to hang out in New York City with her sisters and us. They drove down from NYC to see another family member and then drove to meet us for dinner. This was a big deal to Shannon and I, as we were unable to get the whole family together prior to this. Like ever. Shannon and I have been together for about 5 years, and our families have never met! Not even at the wedding. My sister was able to come, but that’s it! So to have so much of my family, and her family sitting together to enjoy a meal was really special to me. It always seemed inevitable but distance and circumstance always made it tough. We enjoyed our meal together and said our goodbyes to my family before hitting the road to drive up to New York again.

These trips are always busy because we need to fit in visiting time with everyone, and usually, everyone is curious about what we’re up to. So we often end up telling different versions of the same stories 7-8 times. It’s a small price to pay for quality time with people that we don’t usually get to spend time with. We had a wonderful time with all of our friends and family. We did all of the above in three days! It was a very condensed visit, but certainly worthwhile and fantastic.

When we got to NY, we promptly crashed from exhaustion. We slept through the night, and most of the next day. When we did wake up, we ate, walked around, watched a movie or two, and crashed again. Despite being six people in a two bedroom apartment in NYC, I don’t think I saw the outside that day. It was strictly for hanging out and recuperation.

The next day however, we hit the ground running. We woke up and went to the Met to see some art and culture. We were in New York afterall. We got in line and waited in line as the life slowly seeped out of us. The temperature was nothing short of catastrophic. We would have needed the girth and wool of a mastadon to have found that tolerable, but after waiting for twenty minutes, we made it inside and slowly regained feeling in our appendages.

We wandered a bit and saw some cool Roman antiquities before finding our way over to the exhibit we came for, Michelangelo. There was a traveling exhibit featuring many of Michelangelo’s sketches, paintings, sculptures, and even some renderings he used in preparation for the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing. I took a few photos where I could to share with my students. (we reviewed the Renaissance and Enlightenment in my World History class) The art was spectacular and the exhibit was packed. In each room, it felt like there was more mass of bodies and winter coats than there was air. Despite my admiration for the art, I moved quickly throughout the exhibit.

Once I was finished with the Michelangelo exhibit, I wandered to another traveling exhibit by David Hockney. I don’t want to sound pretentious, or like I am pretending to know what I’m talking about with art, but I found his use of color and shapes really compelling. It was an impressive exhibit as well.

When we were done, we all hopped on the subway and went to the Washington Square Arch to see the art installation exhibit of another artist, Ai Weiwei. From what I know about Weiwei, he is political activist and artist who has had a bit of a contentious relationship with the Chinese government and their treatment of their citizens, and their take on censorship. We saw the exhibit and stopped for some soul warming ramen at a local restaurant before calling it a night.

Shannon’s parents left that night, and we left the following morning. Our trip to New Jersey and New York was about 7 days in all, but was jam-packed with events, art, family time, meals, movies, parties, dinners, and presents. It was an amazing trip home and one that left us sad to depart again for the other side of the world. It was an amazing trip and one that we relish having had the opportunity to make this Christmas.