Life's Next Chapter: It's Christmastime in the City

Well, we got one looking at the camera...

...and two faces, but no eye contact.

This past Saturday we made our traditional trip (does three consecutive years count as tradition?) downtown to see the Macy's Christmas windows and enjoy the general hustle and bustle of the city. The windows were a little lackluster this year, but per usual, the kids were more fascinated by the street bucket drummers anyway. And because we moved through the windows so quickly, we had plenty of time to fit in our other annual tradition of shopping for Christmas ornaments at Macy's. Usually we do this at the Old Orchard location, because it's less crowded, but now that we are free of strollers and our kids have some semblance of how to behave in public, we decided to go for it. I'm so glad we did, because a) this now frees up a day next weekend and b) the selection was 10 times the size! The kids loved it and I only had two panic attacks as they jostled merrily around the dozens of trees adorned top to bottom with delicate glass ornaments. We did witness a breakage by a very careless woman, who completely ignored the situation, but Lainey helpfully drew her attention back by quite loudly saying, "What? Is she not going to even try to clean it up? What's wrong with people?" (I just don't know where the girl picks up these phrases! Hmmmm....)

We grabbed some quick lunch at Latinicity before heading back to Union Station to catch the train. The kids were really into the Latin music playing. Lainey popped up in the window sill at one point and started busting a move and raising her eyebrows up and down. Mark said, "Lainey you are making me very concerned for 15 years from now." (I just don't know where the girl picks up these behaviors! Hmmmm...)

Part of the tradition is the kids get to have cookies on the train ride home, so we popped into Au Bon Pain. While I was reaching the top shelf to grab two cookies, Nick was helping himself to the frosting on a cinnamon roll on the bottom shelf. Sooooo, we got that too.

A fun trip downtown for the kids earned Mark and I a grown-up dinner out. We traversed the snow to have dinner at Sink/Swim in our old stomping grounds, Logan Square. It was soooo good! We devoured everything (and we ordered A LOT). Simple seafood dishes, but done really well.

We capped off the weekend by rising early on Sunday and getting to the sledding hill before anyone else. It was awesome having the space all to ourselves! So much fun (although Mark and I were both sore today). Back at the house it was hot cocoa (and the accidental cinnamon roll) and a Christmas music dance party.

So fun! Let's keep the Christmas cheer going...