You don’t have to put your tree in the trash (see below). Instead, why not take it to get mulched at a local park. As the Botanical Garden site says “Give a gift to nature!”

Here is a bit of info:
Prospect Park and Greenwood cemetery will have mulching on Saturday January 7th.

And for those who don’t think they want to drag their tree up to Prospect Park - I know Carroll Park also usually has a day for tree mulching. Check back for more on that later.

Early this morning there was a really devastating fire on 2nd place near the corner of Clinton. There were easily 13 trucks on the scene. We walked by this morning and spoke briefly with the son of the owner. She lived in the basement apartment. Everybody got out ok and is fine, but the building (a really beautiful old building) seemed to have been totally comsumed. We are really thankful that everybody is safe and if anyone knows of ways to help post in the comments below.

The fire was started by space heater of one of the upstairs tenents. Here are some space heater safety tips.

Here is a quick look at our last few days.

Dec 23rd.
Took the car to Hollywood Car Wash (per suggestion of Cosmo at Frank’s place) and got a triple coat - mutlicolor wax! Nice.

Followed up on a lead from a previous post - and went to Defontes for a sandwich. Why haven’t I done that sooner? My cousin Ned and I ordered the Valentino - thinly sliced, breaded and fried eggplant with mozarella nd peppers. The perfect sandwich!

Dec 24th Christmas Eve:
Took the subway in, and bothered this guy for his picture. If you see him - give him a good couple of dollars (performing up in time square)

Did some walking around the city. Stopped by the ice rink at Bryant Park.

Stopped in for some Mandoo. (Best dumplings in the city outside of the Fried Dumpling shop on mosco street - china town)

Met up at Chumley’s

And sang some carol’s in Washington Square Park.

Dec 25th Christmas Day:
After opening some gifts and watching the cats chow down on some ribbons:

We went into Chinatown for some dim sum at Dim Sum Go Go. (photos to come)

We went time square to meet up with the rest of the city for an afternoon showing of King Kong. This was the most crowded I’d ever seen the theater….ever! The movie was a lot of fun, and with the exception of multiple babies crying in the audience very enjoyable. (poor kids, but really - who brings an infant to a 3 hour movie ?)

Dec 26th
We took the Yeti up to Rockefeller center.

FourFour discusses the classic He-Man and She-Ra’s A Christmas Special, in all its sparkly glory.

Jesus statues, real dolls, cuddle parties and jammies — of course! Below is a little link summary of just a few topics covered between friends at a holiday party this weekend…

catholicshopper.com/products/inspirational_sport_statues3.html
still-lovers.com
cuddleparty.com
bigfeetpjs.com
www.diamond-nights.com

Santa is certainly no clown but plenty of kids seem to be afraid of him.

(who’s this famous gal hanging out with her brother and Rocco, the scary Santa.)

Check out some more screaming mimis with Santa.

How’s Santa going to get to my house with the transit strike in effect?

Andrew took off this morning on his bicycle - headed for the city, hordes of people traffic and adventure. I’m just hoping his glasses don’t fog up and his ears stay warm. Here is a quick pic of our local stop - closed for the strike.

Last night we had a fun evening of running around the city.

We started off down in Dumbo at Jan Larsen Fine Art, (a.k.a., Gallerie at TheXpo) where our studio mate and blog partner in crime - Lj - has a series of lock paintings in the latest show.

Here are some pictures from the gallery:

We also went for a stroll and got some ice cream at the ice cream factory and looked at the pretty River Cafe and Brooklyn Bridge lights.

Then we hit the city for a late night screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Sunshine theater. We arrived early to get our tickets and then stopped into stopped at Katz Deli for a snack. I got the matzo ball soup, and managed to snap a picture of the sandwich/pickle delight of our neighbor. .

Tam always has a post about a sweet kitty so I thought I’d do a catty post mad style. I thought I’d share with you Gawker’s Blue States Lose.

I know it’s not nice to make fun of people (especially hipsters) but Gawker’s captions just crack me up. Enjoy!

Finally, my kind of Christmas display!

(photo from fishbowlNY)

The Krupnik family put up holiday decorations of bloody decapitated dolls and a knife-wielding Santa to protest the commercialism of Christmas. Guess it’s easier to hide the blood stains on that fancy red suit! According to the story, the inspiration came from the classic movie “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”

Ho Ho Ho - what’s Santa leaving under your tree?

So, cruising Petfinder for smooshed face cats I ran across this handsome devil, Ari. If I were “allowed” to have more cats I’d take him home in a minute. But he is available for adoption‘

A bit about him from Petfinder:

Persian,Tabby - Orange Mix

Size: Large
Age: Adult
Sex: Male
ID: HS

Notes: This sweet, calm Muppet of a cat was surrendered by his owner at the tender age of 6 years old. He’d be great for someone who loves to wield a hairbrush.

City Critters Inc.
New York, NY
(212) 252-3183
info@citycritters.org

Got a great Domo-Kun animated gif from Monica.

Our little buddy - filmed in kitten time.

I feel a bit guilty using this guy’s renderings as an ironic source of humor because they really seem sincere.

But come on: