12-25-08 If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere

First, let me say “Merry Christmas.” For a gnome, there is no more special holiday than Christmas. Well, maybe Boxing Day...but Christmas is a close second. Hmm, I forgot Arbor Day. OK, Christmas is definitely in the top five.

For Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. S took Mr. S's mother and father into New York City for the day. Mr. S's mother had been wanting to see lights and the decorations for years, so we all went on a field trip. As a special treat, they arranged to see a performance of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. After a few hours of begging, they agreed to take me with them. This was my first time in New York City and let me say it did not disappoint! I'm not used to cities with 7 million humans. The largest city in Gnomistan has a population of 3 million. And remember, we're gnomes. We don't take up that much space. In the space of a typical NYC studio apartment, we would would have housing for 1500 gnomes! After arriving in the city, we began taking in the sights. Everything in the city is big. The buildings...the subway...the pretzels. Even the Christmas ornaments were huge!


While I stood there in awe of the size of the city, Santa walked up to me and asked me for a picture. It seems that I am somewhat famous in the Santa community for my ability to control reindeer with only a glance. For some reason they are intimidated by me. Go figure.



After Santa and I parted ways, we made our way to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. The tree was breathtaking but I must admit it did look out of place. I can understand that during the Christmas season it looks beautiful when it is decorated, but what about the other eleven months? Do they decorate it with eggs for Easter? Do they hang pumpkins on it for Halloween? I guess it's already appropriately decorated for Arbor Day.


Not all was fun on this trip. A short distance from the tree, we witnessed a sad side of humanity. As thousands of onlookers gazed upon them, roughly one hundred poor souls ice skated endlessly in a circle. I can only image the crimes they must have committed to be forced into this ice spiral from hell. When I asked one of the onlookers what these people had done to deserve such a harsh punishment, she just stared at me with a vacant look in her eyes. She must have been as appalled as I was.


Finally, we made it to the show and my, oh my, was it spectacular! There was singing, dancing, comedy...you couldn't ask for more. And the dancers! Hubba Hubba! It was a treat for all the senses.