Well it's that time of year again: Holiday parties, lots of shopping and of course, all the festive food. But for some winter enthusiasts, the most exciting part is the winter activities. As YNN's Maria Valvanis explains, opening day of the Empire State Plaza ice rink drew quite a crowd.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- "Here you go guys. It's all yours, so go get it."

And they're off. Skaters hit the ice for opening day at the Empire Plaza Ice rink.

"The best part is the breeze and going really fast, it's so fun," said Emma Elman.

Tom Mooney said, "It's a great day the weather's perfect and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here."

And what better way to work off all that extra turkey than to take a few laps around the rink.

"Oh yeah, I think we'll need to do a lot more skating though," said Geoffrey Flynn.

The rink will be open daily, weather permitting, giving skaters of all levels the opportunity to lace up.

Delaney Williams said, "It's not that easy ice skating. We use these to helps us."

"We push them around to help us then when we get better we'll let go," said Meegan Sweet.

Skating is free of charge and Fridays will also offer free skate rentals, allowing everyone a chance to glide in on a Capital Region tradition.

"Always good to come here been coming here for years," said Flynn.

"Used to come here years ago. This is our first time this year and hopefully we’ll be back again," said Mooney.