Santacon!

Yesterday was an annual celebration where Christmas comes a little bit early in Manhattan.  New York City’s Santacon is a day where thousands of Santas from all over swarm the city to celebrate the holiday season.  According to the website, the event is described as, “a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason.”  Other cities have their knock-offs, but Santacon is a tradition in New York that cannot be missed.

So, we caught up with friends and began the day-long festivities with mimosas and bagels, and headed to the city via ferry.  Of course, with transportation in and out of the city still limited, you can imagine the sea of Santas crossing the river into the city.

But since there were more Santas than there were ferries, we had time for a skyline photo op before boarding the boat to belligerence, courtesy of the kind-but-miserable ferry worker.

When we docked, we actually got to check out many of the bars on my NYC to-do list, including a very crowded Hudson Terrance, Brother Jimmy’s, a few bars in midtown called “Bar”, Mono Mono, and another visit to Little Muenster and No Fun.  We worked our way through the city stopping in more drinking establishments than I can count and running into friends in the most random of places.  We tried to get ahead of the crowds but there were hundred of Santas EVERYWHERE we went.  Poor tourists didn’t know what hit the city….

After that busy day, I think I’m starting to feel myself aging away from my college days, but one thing I’m sure of is I love this city. And Christmas.  And I really love Christmas in New York.