Cameron and a group of her friends from her youth group decided to go to Macy's to see Santa. My dear friend, Charlene, said that she was going to accompany the kids since her 12 year old son wanted to go and she didn't want to saddle the older kids with keeping track of the younger youth. Since I had the rare Saturday off from "un-named retailer", I decided to join the merry band. I was shocked by the line. The North Pole is on the 8th floor of Macy's. The line begins in an area of the store that is decorated for Santa's Workshop, but you quickly wind out of the workshop and start making you way back through the human resources and accounting departments. Of course I thought of the offices in "A Miracle on 34th Street" and it looked very much the same as the 60 year old movie. Much to my surprise the line moved very fast, but there was a reason for that. Unlike mall Santa's where there is just one Santa.... at Macy's there a at least ten. Once your are ushered into the Winter Wonderland you follow a path that is filled with absolutely breathtaking decorations and murals and at a certain point an elf directs you into a certain line artery. All of the sudden you are in a cozy room in the presence of the jolly old elf himself. The elf helper asked if we wanted a photo taken by Macy's or if we wanted to use our own cameras. We opted for both. The kids handed Charlene and I their phones and asked that we snap a quick pic. OK, I don't know how to take a picture with these new fangled touch screen phones. I tried but I think I handed back most phones with blurry pictures, 10 pictures in an instant, or no photo at all. Our Santa was a little lacking in gurth and Cameron later noted from the photo that he had a bit of a comb over in his bangs, but all in all he was a jolly fellow and he took the time to ask each person what they wanted for Christmas. It was a more sophisticaed list of wishes as the kids are primarily in high school, including wishes for college acceptance letters, IPads, clothes, and world peace. After spending the later part of the Santa experience in the North Pole I had to laugh when after you exit the room with Santa you are ushered back into an unadorned hallway and ultimately spit out into a room filled with screeens to view your photos with the elves hurrying people to the counters to buy the photo packages.
Jeff and Jordan met me after the Santa experience and we headed off to Christmas shop as the youth group headed back uptown to the Christmas pageant play rehearsal and ultimately to a youth group lock-in at the church.
Before we began our midtown madness we stopped at a Mexican Restaurant and ordered spciey tacos and margaritas to prepare ourselves for the crowds that we were about to encounter.
We stopeed at K-Mart first. Let me explain that in NYC, unlike there rest of the country, big box discount stores are rare. Since I've lived here I have only been to Target twice, K-Mart once, and never to a Wal-Mart. Although we ventured in looking for Christmas tree lights and decorations I couldn't resist socks and underwear, which took us through shoes and accessories. So many little affordable things to buy, but... I stayed focused. Downstairs we found endless strings of lights, decorations, and holiday sweetes (Queen Anne's Chocolate Covered Cherries, Archway Cashew Nougets, and Little Debbie's - dont' take these things for granted my midwestern friends). One of the apartments across the street from our apartment has a string of lights blinking in their windows and the girls and I have been looking for something to compete, but were weren't able to find anything interesting or worthy of the competition. We live in a re-gentrified neighborhood, but their is still a strong Dominican presence so we have to make a statement with our window decorations. $160 later, we left with apartment deocrations, Christmas dvd's, secret Santa gifts, and socks.
After K-Mart, which does not have a bathroom (really? a three story store with no restroom?) we headed back to Macy's to use the bathroom. We made our way through the crowd of shoppers to the 2nd floor. The line for the women's restroom was out of the bathroom through the shoe department and into junior clothing. Insane. Forget it.
Jordan had a gift idea for Cameron at the Disney Store in Time Square so we began to make our way uptown via Broadway. The night was cold but the streets were filled with shoppers and the windows were decorated with Christmas scenes. We made our way to the Disney Store. The sidewalks were so crowded in Time Square that when we stood in front of the store I took Jeff and Jordan's hands and said, "Alright, lets make a break for it" and we pressed our way to the door through the throngs of shoppers heading uptown/downtown. A mall can be exasperating, but these masses are an element to be reckoned with. Once you are in the store you have to stay on the course of the crowd. You can stop and look, but don't try going against that tide to revisit an item or you will be slammed.
I still had to use the bathroom. There is a Doubletree Hotel on 49th Street and Broadway. The entrance is a non-descript elevator entrance and the lobby is on the 2nd floor. When you live in New York you have scouted out the best public bathrooms in the city. You have a few catagories; quickest access, cleanest, and most secretive. The Doubletree scores high marks for cleanest and most secretive. When we sat down in the plush cocktail lounge I felt the blood rushing from my feet up into my legs and when I stood again it sent pins and needles into my feet. While I was in the restroom Jordan went up to the front desk and asked for cookies. Doubletree offers free chocolate chip cookies to their guests. The front desk agent did not ask for a room number or i.d., but instead asked how many cookies she wanted. We sat in the peace and quiet of the lobby for a good 30 minutes enjoying the seating, the quiet, and the cookies. We thought about buying a cocktail, but decided that we would leave the $15 glasses of wine to the tourists. Jordan stole my camera out of my bag and took this most unflatettering picture of Jeff and me, but since it's out there I decided to post it so that you could feel our exhaustion at 4:55 in the afternoon.
Ultimately we headed back uptown on the B Train with other weary shoppers heading home after a day in the heat of the holiday season. Choral groups hopped subway cars singing holiday tunes and shaking their hats for change keeping the day lively and exhausting from being to end.
Such bravery! I cannot imagine fighting crowds like that. Even now, I prefer letting my fingers do the pointing and clicking.
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