We made a tough decision to not go home to Minnesota for the holidays. It’s definitely not easy being alone as two humans and two dogs for Christmas, but I think we did everything we could to have the best possible Christmas.

We decided to use up some of our vacation time and take the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. I think most people consider it kind of a “bye” week. Christmas Eve, we made a reservation at one of the Kimpton Hotels in Manhattan. They are the best hotel chain of all time and they are super dog friendly, so we packed up the pups and headed into the heart of the city. Before this, of course, we finished our last minute Christmas Eve stocking shopping. We don’t get each other big gifts – instead we just stuff each other’s stocking and we always shop on Christmas Eve. It’s one of my favorite traditions. I finally went to the new Oculus and it was so clean and pretty.

Once checked in, we ordered Seamless delivery of some of the best mac & cheese in the city, watched the Empire State Building’s light show from the most amazing view ever, FaceTimed with the family and watched the kids open presents, took the dogs for a long walk to see the Christmas lights on the quiet streets and then we fell asleep watching Love Actually. If you are going to spend Christmas Eve away from family, I think we’ve cracked the code.

We woke up Christmas Day to the sunrise over the city. We took the dogs for an early morning walk and grabbed some coffee and spent the next few hours having a little champagne (thanks to the wonderful hotel) and a giant omelette. We read books and sat in the quiet.

We dropped the pups off at home and headed to Connecticut to have Christmas Dinner with our friend, Jen. We got to meet her new dog, Oliver, and stuff our faces. We even snuck in a little Bob Ross and pie.

On our way home, we stopped at the best Christmas house in all of New York City and then made it home in time to watch Christmas Vacation.

The rest of the week was spent going to sleep and waking up whenever it felt right. We drank slow cups of coffee and read lots of books. We drank at our local bar and sang George Michael songs with our neighbors. We went and saw Rogue One while Lola was at the Vet and made a trip to Costco that resulted in a huge box of almond milk and so much cheese.

On Friday morning, we headed north, but more about that next time. In summary, this was the best decision we made all year. We have a budget for January, we felt well rested, we didn’t leave Brooklyn (except for Lola’s appointment and Christmas) and I don’t know why we aren’t all required to take off this bye week.