I traveled to Woodstock, NY for my third Christmas upstate to see the Christmas Parade in downtown Woodstock and go to Christmas Eve services at the Dutch Reformed Church. After that, a quiet dinner out and then a drive by the town Christmas tree. It has been my Christmas tradition since my father passed away. I like the calm and the beauty of Upstate New York. I like to relax after the hustle of the holidays.
I love the trip up to the Hudson Valley region. After going to school up here for two years, (Alumnus of the Culinary Institute of America Class of ’98, Honors and Perfect Attendance) I have never gotten over how gorgeous this region can be in the early winter. The leaves have already fallen but the hills and streams are still so impressive. It is also not that far from home and the area is fun to explore. Woodstock is not exactly isolated, but it is further off the beaten path.
I love how the town is decorated for the holidays. The tree on the square is a classic every year with plain colorful lights with the backdrop of the lit Dutch Reformed Church, several well decorated businesses and the Village Green B & B behind it (where I stayed the year before). The whole square lit for the holidays can put any non-believer in the Christmas mood. It is classic New England Christmas.
The Green in Downtown Woodstock, NY
Woodstock, NY at Christmas on TripAdvisor:
The Parade in Woodstock is unusual in the way it is timed. It starts when the last bus leaves the square for New York City at 5:15pm and must be over at 6:30pm before the Dutch Reformed Church starts its 7:00pm services. It runs like a well-oiled machine. The second that bus leaves the square, I swear I saw the police and fire department had those roads fast.
I got up early around 4:00pm knowing from past history that you will never get into town if you don’t get arrive before 5:00pm. I stayed this year at the Woodstock Inn at the Millstream (See review on TripAdvisor). What a beautiful and unique little hotel. I was talking with the manager, Karen, when I arrived, and she said that it was an old motel that the owners found and fixed up. It is the most unassuming and beautiful place to stay.
Woodstock Inn at Millstream at 14 Tannery Brook Road
https://www.facebook.com/WoodstockInnNY/
It is just off the beaten path off the downtown and within walking distance of downtown. It has the picturesque location right by the Mill Stream. It must truly show itself in the summer months when you can sit under the shade trees and look at the stream.
There was a large size crowd this year for the parade but not as big as last year when the temperature was 70 degrees (the hottest in history of record keeping). The temperature was a balmy 42 degrees. Very seasonable. Still there was a lot of energy in the crowd as we all waited to see how Santa would arrive.
Santa did not disappoint and with the help of the Woodstock Fire Department, Santa made his appearance via a Partridge in a Pear tree. It is the most anticipated part of the parade to see how Santa will make his appearance. Last year it was via a magic hat with a snowman dancing around.
As Santa exited the fire truck and was greeted with Mrs. Claus who arrived on another float, the crowd stood in line for their turn to talk to Santa. The jazz band started to play outside the church. That was the one part of the parade I was disappointed with, in that every year that I have been up in Woodstock, Lindsay Webster and her band, had entertained everyone with her version of jazz Christmas carols. That the parade to me. It was Woodstock’s own stamp to the holidays (Ms. Webster and her band I found out later were touring in Europe for the holidays).
Here’s a clip from the parade in Downtown Woodstock, NY
For the next hour, people were milling around the square, listening to bands, eating snacks in the local restaurants (there is a place called ‘Shindig’ on the square that makes the most mind-blowing mac & cheese, (See my review on TripAdvisor) and meeting up with their neighbors and friends. It really does have the small town feel about it as unlike Sinterklaas in Rhinebeck a few weeks earlier that is attracting larger crowds. Woodstock attracts crowds but still keeps it small due to the restrictions of time.
I swear by 6:30pm, the crowds started to thin out and the band wrapped it up and were putting equipment away before the church doors opened by 6:45pm. I entered the church about ten to seven and most people including Santa were wrapping things up.
Christmas Eve service at the Dutch Reformed Church is always special to me. The church run such informal and welcoming service. It is so different from Catholic services, where we spend the whole service standing up and sitting down. The Church was decorated all over with garland and bows and candles. The Church was built in the 1800’s so it does have the old wooden pews that us modern folk have to squeeze into and there are two levels, so you look up and see more parishioners.
Dutch Reformed Church on the Green at 16 Tinker Street in Woodstock, NY
https://www.woodstockreformedchurch.org/
The service started with a combo playing all sorts of holiday music and then we were welcomed by members of the Church to the holiday mass. The service is lively with many Christmas songs that the audience participates in and the service I have always found very inspirational and enlighten. Reverend Josh has a real passion in making people feel comfortable in Church. His sermons actually say something, and he makes it more personable.
There are those little touches that I don’t see in my local Church such as the bell choir and lighting the candles during the last part of mass. If you really want to see something it’s a Church fully lit with candles in the pitch black. Does that make an effect inside a Church the way the light played off the woodwork and decorations.
After Church, it was the most uninspiring visit to Cucina, an Italian restaurant in Woodstock. After two disappointing years at Joshua’s on the Green, I decided to try something different. As much as the restaurant is beautifully decorated and appointed and the service friendly and accommodating, the food is dismal. It had no flavor, and its presentation was less than perfect (See review on TripAdvisor).
Cucina at 109 Mill Hill Road in Woodstock, NY
Home
I went back to my room to change and then I took a walk to the Green to look at the stars. I swear you can almost touch them up here. It is also nice to have the whole Green to yourself. It is fun to just sit and look at the tree and the well light store fronts. It is so quiet and peaceful it really gives you a chance to sit back and reflect on the year. I could not believe another Christmas had come again.
I had never seen a year come and go so fast. Time does have a way of passing by quickly without you noticing it. Even so, looking up at the stars and the moon, it really does make you want to catch a glimpse for Santa’s sleigh passing by. It was just one of those nights.
The next morning after an amazing night’s sleep with the sound of a stream passing by and a great breakfast of homemade granola (Karen makes this and it is excellent) and fresh fruit, I made my traditional phone calls to my family and friends and play catch up beyond all the Christmas cards that I sent out earlier in the month. Everyone was happy to hear from me and I had nice conversations with my cousins who lived in different states and friends that I had not heard from in a long time.
I had visited my friend, Lillian, who lives in Assisted Living out on Long Island earlier in the week and talked with other friends earlier in the month, so it was nice just to exchange well-wishes. After sending out about eight boxes of Christmas cards, the lines of communication between myself and my friends and family are excellent.
Then I took a long drive up into the Catskill Mountains. I know why the place is so inspirational to writers and painters, it is just so beautiful and graceful of a place. The mountains are just so picturesque even with no leaves on the ground.
It is sad that many of the small town on Route 28 have gotten so depressed. Even Phoenicia that had so many nice little restaurants and shops two years earlier, things have just closed down. The further I went up Route 28, the more depressed it got. Pine Hill is run down, Fleishman is the same, in Margaretville each of the buildings could have used a good paint job and it was not until I got to Andes did, I see a little spark of vibrancy. There were some nice little shops and places to eat.
I was taking this tour to visit Bovina Center, which is off Route 28 on Route 6 in the middle of a farming community to visit the Bushman Eating House, a restaurant I had read about in a magazine. I was hoping to have lunch there but unfortunately like most things on Christmas Day, it was closed. Maybe sometime in the Spring when the weather is nicer (See trip to Cornell University Day Seventy-Seven in MywalkinManhattan.com below:)
My trip to Bovina/Narrowsburg and Ithaca:
https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/5116
Brushland Eating House at 1927 Co Road 6 in Bovina Center
https://www.brushlandeatinghouse.com/
My review on TripAdvisor (later trip):
I made a turnaround and went down Route 10, past the SUNY campus in Delhi, which is located in the quaint little town of Delhi and through Stamford and other smaller towns and then to Tannersville to see some of the closed galleries and then back down Route 214 through Phoenicia again which really closed for the night.
I ate at Little Bear at 295 Tinker Street (see review on TripAdvisor) by 5:30pm and enjoyed another Chinese meal there before the crowds beseeched on the only restaurant open in a ten-mile radius. When I mean that this place gets packed for the evening, it gets packed. I finished my meal at 5:00pm and the line was already 20 deep with the phones ringing off the hook for to go orders. People can be so pushy especially here when they are hungry.
The Little Bear at 295 Tinker Street (Closed October 2021)
https://www.facebook.com/thelittlebearwoodstock/
The food at Little Bear is usually very good but on Christmas Day they just can’t handle the crowds and it suffered the year before. You have to get here before the first movie lets out at 6:30pm. After that it is ciaos until 9:00pm. I had delicious Shu Mai starter followed by Mu Shu pork and an order of Dragon & the Phoenix (shrimp and chicken combo), both which were good but tepid. They need more help during the holidays. They have a hard time just keeping up with the to go orders let alone seating people. Otherwise, the one time I ate here when it was quiet, the food was wonderful.
I thought about a movie after dinner but settled on another walk to the Green. It was just too beautiful of a night to sit in the movies when I could walk around town. With all the lights on at the downtown businesses and the tree lit in the Green, it just felt like Christmas Day night. Like Santa had just visited and people were just enjoying time with their families. A few people were walking their dogs or just looking at the tree in the Green with their children.
To me, Woodstock, New York is just such a nice place to come to celebrate Christmas. So quiet, so picturesque and serene and relaxing. It is a place that you can sit, think and reflect on the year.
Merry Christmas to you all & a Happy New Year!
If you like this blog, check out my other Christmas visits to Woodstock, NY on:
Day Thirty-Four: Christmas in Woodstock, NY 2015:
https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/662
Places to stay:
The Woodstock Inn at Mill Stream
48 Tannery Brook Road
Woodstock, NY 12498
(845) 679-8211
https://www.facebook.com/WoodstockInnNY/
My TripAdvisor review:
Places to eat:
Cucina
109 Mill Hill Road
Woodstock, NY 12498
(845) 679-9800
info@cucinawoodstock.com
Hours: Sunday 11:00am-9:30pm/Monday-Thursday 5:00pm-9:30pm/Saturday 11:00am-10:30pm
My Review on TripAdvisor:
Little Bear Chinese Restaurant (Closed October 2021)
295 Tinker Street, Street B
Bearsville, NY 12409
(845) 679-8849
http://littlebearchineserestaurant.com/
Open: Sunday-Thursday 12:00pm-10:00pm/Friday-Saturday 12:00pm-11:00pm
My TripAdvisor review:
Shindig
1 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY 12498
(845) 684-7091
Open: Sunday-9:00am-9:00pm/Tuesday-10:00am-9:00pm/Thursday 9:00am-9:00pm/Friday-Saturday 9:00am-10:00pm
shindig1Tinker@yahoo.com
My TripAdvisor review:
Places to Visit:
The Dutch Reformed Church
16 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY 12498
(845) 679-6610
https://www.woodstockreformedchurch.org/Home/who-we-are
Check their website for services
mywalkinmanhattan 
I have enjoyed my three Christmas’s in Woodstock, NY and would recommend it to anyone needing to get out of the city and have a traditional small town Christmas celebration. The parade is a lot of fun and worth the trip.
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