The Holidays Are Really Upon Us, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, remember looking forward to Advent Calendars, when we were children????? You bought one, oh, maybe a week in advance, and could hardly wait until December 1, when you could start opening one door at a time, leading one, on a day-by-day basis to Christmas, helping the time go faster for us, and giving us a nice ritual to look forward to, each morning.

Which fostered for many of those my age, that the Holiday Season began on December 1. Today, it seems like Thanksgiving is the starting point, and oftentimes, Halloween seems to mark it. But what I am about to report tops anything yet!!!!!!!!!!

Coming up on the first weekend in December this week, I figured it was about time for MY favorite New York City Christmas Tree, the Neapolitan Creche at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, to go up. Along with my birthday and the Mermaid Parade in June, this signals for me personally, the passing of another year. And, even more than New Years Eve, signals for me the end of the present year, and that I am grateful to have made it to seeing another tree.

In the Medieval Room, darlings, they mount an artificial tree, decorated with the most striking Victorian angels (just like what appears on the original dust jacket of "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice), with cherubs, a manger, Mary and Joseph, and a circular creche that tells the entire story of the Nativity. Forget Radio City, lambs, this is the real thing!!!!!

Beautiful, choral sounding Christmas hymns are piped into the room, giving the place a decidedly spiritual aura. If you are fortunate enough to be there on Friday afternoons, say between 4:30 and 5:00, there is a moving, magical ritual, where the lights go out, the music stops, and all is silence. Then, slowly, inexorably, the music slowly pipes up, and the tree is slowly lit from the ground up. Several years ago, I witnessed this by accident, and, girls, I am telling you, it was like experiencing a miracle at Lourdes!!!!!!!! Jennifer Jones, and everything!!!!!!

No other place in the City centers me more for Christmas than this. So I am telling all my girls now to make sure you get yourselves up here to witness this most beautiful sight, and to provide a memory which you will cherish!!!!!!!!!!!

Yule Tide Greetings, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!