The end is so close. I look at the desk calendar and I feel like Grover in the beloved children’s book, Monster at the End of the Book. But I cannot stop time. The only thing I can do is try to squeeze as much as possible in before we leave Friday morning. To that end, we made the most of the holiday week to continue indulging a bit.

Monday and Tuesday I cooked some of our favorite holiday foods for us to enjoy for the whole week. The place smelled of stuffing and warm, yummy foods. Wednesday I spent the morning at one of the local food pantries distributingThanksgiving meals for families. That afternoon, I went to Fotografiska to enjoy a couple photography exhibits (Best in Show was a super fun pet photography exhibit). Then I headed uptown to join the queue to see the Inflation Celebration, the annual blowing up of the giant Macy’s Day Parade balloons. It was really fun and impressive. But the lines were very long (like hours) and the crowds were pretty thick. I really felt like I got my fill of humanity on Wednesday, so on Thursday morning, I made the audible call to stay cozied up on the couch with Larry, and watch the parade in pjs, eating some delicious holiday treats, and text with family and friends. After the parade I watched my traditional two christmas movies: Mame and Miracle on 34th St. Thursday late evening we went out for a lovely late lunch/early dinner of Italian cuisine (my favorite) to cap off the holiday.

Friday Larry had off work so we spent the morning with coffee, calendars, and Google flights, starting to lock in some of the next nomading steps. Later in the afternoon, we made our way uptown, and wandered down from East Harlem to the Guggenheim Museum for some culture and art. Afterwards we headed to NR, a Japanese restaurant on our wish list, and we were not disappointed. On the way there we saw Pastrami Queen, and as we had heard so much about that place felt obliged to sample the wares. that, I’m sorry to report, was disappointing. Especially compared to Katz. But they can’t all be home runs, can they?

On Saturday, we headed to the 9/11 Memorial site. We visited Danny, paid our respects, wept copiously like it was yesterday. It was a very somber morning in a very beautiful memorial. We walked for a while afterwards, quiet, reflective, and so very grateful. The city was cold but beautiful in its own way. We made our way to our lunch reservation at yet another amazing Italian restaurant. It was filled with many families; the party next to us were California parents in visiting their two university sons over the holiday. After lunch we allowed serendipity to lead us through the city, wandering where we would, and delighting when we found something interesting. That evening we found an excellent cover band playing at the Red Lion. We found a speakeasy located through a Five Guys, we found Joe’s Pizza and pitied the many young folks who waited in line only to find out it was cash only (the incredulity!) We ended the evening at what may be the favorite sip and bite at Txikito. That Basque restaurant is really on to something.

That brings us to today, Sunday. We slept in, enjoyed coffee and conversation, and then headed down to the Tenement Museum, a really interesting spot, with great history, interesting relics, and an excellent gift shop. We followed our tour with sushi lunch at Zest. We enjoyed the McNally Jackson bookstore and we walked through all the holiday shoppers in Soho. We headed back to our neighborhood after that to make an appointment for Thai massages that Larry booked for us. Truly luxurious and relaxing. I’m almost ready to face the last few days. I’ll start packing tomorrow.