A view from my kitchen window, overlooking South-West towards midtown Manhattan. The colder it gets, more beautiful the the view becomes. (It was15°F outside that day.)

Mike Nogami's annual Japanese style New Year's Party,  新年会 (shin nen kai)  was held at Shige's loft in Union Square. The tradition here includes eating Ozoni soup with grilled mochi rice cakes, drinking lots of Sake, 書き初め（kakizome, literally means "first writing" is to write a new year's resolution /personal messages in in calligraphy), かるた (karuta, card game), watching 紅白歌合戦 (Kouhaku, an annual music show on New year's eve, produced by NHK national broadcast), and etc. It's a fun and homey way to start an upcoming year.