Santaland has always been high on my New York City Christmas TO DO list. I couldn’t talk Blake into it last year, but this year I had a great excuse. My friend Jill was in town- and planned to meet us there with her family at lunchtime. It made perfect sense to do this—even though we would have to brave the obscene crowds on Black Friday. I guess I thought to myself, “hey, it’s Manhattan, even worse--Herald Square! ALWAYS insanely crowded! Could it possibly be any worse?” Well, the answer to that question was an undeniable “YES!”
It was so crowded that there was a line to enter the department store! It was so crowded that the line to go to the bathroom- was as long as the line to see Santa. So crowded that I didn’t dare take my eyes off of the floor as I pushed the stroller- for fear I would ram into the person smack dab in front of me. Heck, there was a even line just to get into another line at the McDonalds located on the 7th floor of Macys. It was a crazy, crazy scene.
That being said, I’ve come to realize something about all of the amazing “must-do’s” around the city, the actual event is typically worth the hassle and crowd. It’s Manhattan at Christmas time, after all. So, we had a wonderful day- visiting Santaland, wondering through the toy department, eating gingerbread cookies, and sitting on Santa’s lap (although some were not as thrilled over that part, which helps explain the fearful faces and my presence in the Santa picture).
Evelyn found a “Fancy Nancy” display that brought her great joy. Dane could hardly pull himself away from the Christmas tree complete with a track and train as garland. We even attended the puppet show “Miracle on 34th Street” which was really cute and definitely captured the kids’ attention. Then, of course, it was wonderful to see Jill, Kevin and Joey. So, you see… there are some instances in which it’s not all that bad to venture out on Black Friday.
