Thursday, December 11, 2025. Ten more days until Winter officially starts, although it certainly felt like it officially started yesterday and the day before. Now the annual end-of-year holidays have moved into our daily schedule one way or another.
Adding to this, the temps now are in the 20s and 30s, (brrr!) — Mother Nature’s stark contrast to the temps which just a few days ago had been leading up to it in the 50s through 70s. Interestingly, the city’s streets and lanes were jammed although the sidewalk traffic, very sensitive to the temps, was fairly quiet.
It was one of those days which the NYSD duo DPC and JH had one of their rare in-person meetings of lunches and dinners. This is what ultimately this holiday dominates for many of us whether we’re sending gifts, cards, as well as gathering with the friends and family.
We had a fascinating lunch at Sette Mezzo with our friend Rachel Posner — which was jammed with customers — with business partners, children (little ones) with parents and grandparents, as well as Sette’s list of regulars.
I happened to meet Rachel when we were lunch partners at a (serious) “ladies” luncheon at Michael’s restaurant. Young and beautiful, as are many of Michael’s clients, I assumed she was one of their many clients who are very involved socially with fund-raising for their favorite charities: knowledgeable, best-dressed, and charming in conversation.
I was therefore surprised to learn that she is an important business executive at Kroll, based in New York and responsible for driving her firm’s go-to-market strategy. She manages all this while raising two sons, both in high school at Trinity. She holds a law degree, having earned her B.A. from Columbia University and her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
And what did we talk about? The Diary, which Rachel has been a longtime reader of. (This is our 25th year coming up.) And so there were lots of people and topics that came up in our conversation. Between Rachel, JH, and me, the conversation could have gone on into the evening, but we all had our work we had to get back to.
Three hours later, both JH and I hung up our desk work to begin the evening visiting our friend, social and fashion photographer Mary Hilliard, whose elegant and sophisticated work you’ve often seen on this site. Mary gives this party every year at this time and normally invites a great amount of guests to her Upper East Side apartment. The party is the kind here in New York where there’s a mass of friends that we all know through our work and social lives. But unlike the big “Puttin’ on the Grits” bashes Mary used to host, last night’s gathering was much smaller, just 20 or so old friends and a few new ones she was glad to finally catch up with.
Mary is currently being visited by her granddaughter, Frances Hilliard, who works by day as a chemistry analyst testing lead and metals and in her spare time trades her lab coat in for a smock to paint brilliant watercolors. JH couldn’t resist getting a sample of her watercolors right there on Mary’s mantel. Since both JH and I had been guests at a previous party, we both knew exactly what we were going to be missing.
The reason was that we had a long-time dinner date with Vincent Minuto and his friend Barbara Phillips. Vincent is another friend of the NYSD whose ads you may have seen (and maybe clicked on) on the NYSD.
One of his very successful ventures is a high-end placement agency called Hampton Domestics, although he’s always had more than one business, including real estate as well as (in the past) service businesses as a chef and club owner. There’s just so much professional life with him, it’s difficult to label it. We learned tonight he has even written three books!
Vincent’s life has been filled with so many adventures, meeting so many different kinds of people — many of whom are/were famous, celebrated, and even notorious.
Anyway, the whole city’s buzzing. On December 6th, for instance, the holiday spirit filled Madison Avenue during the 39th Annual Miracle on Madison Avenue.
The event, held on a beautiful, sunny day, was marked by a large and enthusiastic crowd of shoppers, strolling carolers, the aroma of hot chocolate served curbside at complimentary warm-up carts, and great holiday festivities along the sidewalks.
74 stores and businesses donated 20% of their sales on “Miracle Saturday” to benefit The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to support MSK Kids, the pediatric program at MSK.
Last year, the event raised over $200,000 for The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and they expect to exceed that amount this year.
Organized by the Madison Avenue B.I.D., Miracle on Madison Avenue has become a beloved New York holiday tradition, uniquely blending philanthropy for children in need with festive in-store programming and lively on-the-street activities. The event has proudly supported The Society of MSK as its beneficiary for the past 14 years.
