The Best—and Worst—Things About Brooklyn During the Holidays
Winnie Au, photographer
Hot mulled wine at Spuyten Duyvil. It smells amazing and tastes delicious, and nothing cuts that awful cold New York wind like hot soothing spiced wine.
Walking through the sea of Christmas trees on my way home and smelling the pine and almost buying a tree I don’t need—I grew up in a family that always bought artificial trees (which year by year became increasingly sophisticated – foldable, already with lights on them, flocked, etc), and I never had the pleasure of having a real Christmas tree in my home. I still haven’t actually bought a real Christmas
tree now that I’m an adult since I’m usually not around for the holidays, but the next best thing is to be able to walk through the line of pine trees that are set up for the month of December right near my house. I like inhaling the pine smell, and I like seeing the glow of the Christmas lights (especially those larger bulb kinds) strung across the top of the walkway. Strings of lit up bulbs are very romantic to me—they make everything look better! When I smell those trees, it’s almost as good as having the real thing. And I usually do end up buying a wreath, which is almost as a good as a Christmas tree.