Christmas at the Met

Every year I promise myself that I am going to go to Manhattan and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art at Christmas.

Yesterday I went into New York for the day and spent most of my time at the museum. When I lived on the upper East side of NYC, I went there all the time. Not only were the exhibits beautiful, but some of the galleries I once visited brought back some lovely memories.

When I reached the room that held the magnificent Christmas tree, I was moved.



The music a choir of angels played as hundreds of people gathered around the most magnificent nativity that I have ever seen.



The tree is covered with the most exquisite angels. The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche was my favorite display of all the museum galleries. The photographs in this post are from the brochure that is available on-line at the museum's web site. If you click HERE, you can read about the history of the collection and the collector.



When I left the museum for a walk through my old neighborhood, it had started to snow. The magic of the snow falling against the many Christmas lights and decorations was perfect. The entrances to apartment buildings and brownstones were decorated in magnificent wreaths and garland.



Shop windows held all the magic of the season, and I enjoyed the fashion that only New York boasts. Women were dressed in beautiful coats, as they walked their dogs wearing fashionable dog sweaters. Young women pushed beautiful prams iced with beautiful blankets to keep their babies warm. Couples snuggled closer to keep warm, as they walked down the streets peeking into shop windows and holding cups of hot chocolate.



I walked from 82nd Street down Madison Avenue until 52nd Street, just like I did when I was a young girl. Walking in NYC is so interesting that you hardly notice how far you are actually walking.

I continued walking down on Fifth Avenue to enjoy the store windows and to visit the tree at Rockefeller Center. This year's tree is lovely and it just seemed to suit the mood in our country this Christmas. If you would like to see some nice photographs of this year's tree, you can click HERE.



It was pretty and festive enough, but perhaps just a bit more simple.



As I watched the ice skaters skate to the music of Josh Groban, singing Thankful, on this perfect Christmas scene, I was thankful too.



Thankful for the lovely memories from many Christmas times spent in New York. Thankful for the memory making of this Christmas, and for abundance in my life. I looked up at the tree and thanked God for all the blessings of my life, and for painting such a lovely day.



I want to leave you with a special gift today. Nothing moves me more than a little child, and I had the good fortune of discovering a little artist named Jordan Cook. She is just eight years old and paints beautifully. She paints wonderful spiritual messages with paint and with words. Here are some words that Jordan painted to inspire us, click HERE and expect to cry, smile and have your heart warmed with her inspiring words. Jordan's gallery shows her paintings from age two until today.




The song for this post is Thankful by Josh Groban.