December 2025 Dispatch
So This Is Christmas...
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December 2025 Dispatch: So This Is Christmas…
So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun
—”Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” | John Lennon, Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band
Thanksgiving Break
Well, Thanksgiving break is over… Even though I was busy with work and life and the usual freelance hustle, I always welcome a short week due to a holiday, especially one with fewer emails, deadlines, and distractions.
I practiced my annual observance of Thanksgiving Eve (traditionally the busiest bar night across America), kicking it off a day early with last Tuesday’s fourth annual Wild Turkey Thanksgiving Eve celebration at Grand Army where I drank Whiskey Sours and came home with a pretty cool Wild Turkey gravy boat (which I put to good use on Thanksgiving).
On Thanksgiving Eve proper, after picking up my pies from Radio Bakery, chopping and preparing vegetables, and dry-brining my turkey to rest overnight in the refrigerator, I stopped by The Long Island Bar up the the block when the opened and, per tradition, ordered a Rick Dalton Whiskey Sour.
After a quick grab-and-go slice at My Little Pizzeria, I walked down Court Street to pay respects to Mike at Travel Bar, who, inspired by LAST CALL tradition, was serving a Four Walls Irish Whiskey highball with a ginger-agave syrup and soda. Any visit to Travel Bar usually turns into an impromptu tasting and that night it was a selection of bottled Negronis from various producers. If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by Travel Bar this weekend, Friday December 5th through Sunday, December 7th, to raise a glass to celebrate the bar’s 11th anniversary. There will be drink specials, a house punch, and Mike will be cracking open some bottles even he hasn’t tasted yet.
Then I hopped on the B61 bus for door-to-door service to The Long Island Bar for one more drink. The plan was to catch the first half of the Knicks game in the Lombardi Room but the bar was packed and Toby was occupied tending to guests so I had a quick beer at the bar and returned home to watch the game with Enzo. When I walked outside I noticed that Stubbs had fired up his vintage blow-mold Santa in its annual perch in the window above the Long Island Bar’s iconic neon sign, marking the unofficial kick-off of the Holiday Season in Cobble Hill.