Santacon, Shakespeare and Steamed Dumplings

Occasionally Drew visits a website that runs charitable auctions. You can bid on merchandise, theater tickets, sports tickets, whatever has been donated. Thursday night he told me he placed a bid on tickets for the Saturday matinee of "Something Rotten", a show we both wanted to see. And Friday night, we found out that his was the winning bid.

So Saturday morning we headed to our neighborhood Long Island Rail Road station to board a train into the city.

And immediately realized that it was no ordinary Saturday.

It was Santacon.

Santacon is a huge pub crawl. It has a charitable purpose, but tends to attract a very young, very loud crowd. Participants dress as Santa Claus, elves, etc. I wish I'd been able to take some decent photos, some of the costumes were outrageous. I saw people dressed as Christmas presents, Christmas trees, reindeer, even a snowman. The noise level on our train ... Drew and I wound up texting each other, it was easier than trying to talk.

We parted company with the Santas at Penn Station, and headed up to the Theater District. Along the way we passed a Salvation Army bell ringer singing "Build Me Up, Buttercup." Not exactly a Christmas Carol, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. What ever puts money in the bucket, right?

And then, the show. Pure comedic genius. It's the 1590's in England, and our protagonists, Nick and Nigel Bottom, are actors and writers, trying to compete with William Shakespeare. The Bard is portrayed as a rock star. The show pays homage to every iconic musical of the past 50-60 years. The show is funny even if you don't know a lot of Shakespeare, but those of us who love the Bard ...well, I laughed a lot. So did Drew. Great show.

Then it was a subway ride to Chinatown, and our favorite restaurant, Wo Hop. Soup, steamed dumplings, lo mein...the place is a hole in the wall, but the food is amazing.

And then it was back to Penn Station, and Santacon redux. We rode home with many who had participated in the day's events. Two young ladies gave us a rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" in the key of awful. And then they led a sing-along of '12 Days of Christmas".

This time of year we like to look at Christmas light displays as we drive around. Tonight we saw a few very nice displays.

We're headed back to the city next weekend for more holiday fun.

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