Christmas Fun!

We've been doing it enough years running that it seems like it's likely solidified into a full-fledged family tradition now, to catch the Holiday Train. The decorated full train of festive cheer! Whenever it makes its way to our bit of the line, we try to arrange to get on.

This year it was a chilly evening, and the train was running a bit behind schedule. This gave us time to study the system map. We learned that the red line has a new bit that goes express during rush period, which Townshend was excited about and immediately incorporated into his train play.

By the time the train pulled into the station, the platform had gotten quite crowded and everybody was fully chilled, so seeing the train pull up was a very welcome sight.

Still, for as cold as I felt after standing outside for a while, my sympathies go to the folks in the open-air, flatbed car holding Santa, the sleigh and helpers making sure nobody flies off during the ride. Hopefully they've all got thermals and warm jackets!

This train ride is one of those magical things that the kids get really excited about... that definitely takes the edge off the chill. Plus, the inside is so brightly decorated you can't help but smile. Then this time, inside it was quite full making it extra toasty warm.

It was mostly standing room only.. the kids got seats, but poor Hubby got stuffed in a corner on the other side of the car:

And bonus, since we ride the Holiday train away, we get to ride another train to get home again! All the fun.

Now, days later, Moon is still hopping about talking about the whole experience. Yeah, it's a keeper.

Taste of Chicago!

This has been a crazy few weeks and, in all the hullabaloo of coming back from vacation and a week with the boys being sick, we almost forgot about the Taste of Chicago! Crazy, I know. However, while we only went once this year, we squeezed it in just in time.

Remembering the wild and crazy crowds from last year's Saturday visit, we opted for a Friday evening. It was better, but still impressive:

It being an evening and wanting to get home at least mostly on time for bedtime, we went in with a plan and zipped through pretty quickly. Thus, I didn't get any pictures of our food, but there were ample opportunities for some scenery photos:

First, we headed downtown:

We met up with Hubby at the Flamingo statue (my favorite of all the downtown statues):

Of course, there's the gratuitous shot of the Buckingham Fountain:

It was another hot, hot day.. too hot for bike rides earlier, but never too hot for the Taste!

 

So, we made the most of the misty sprinklers they had around, and made a visit to the cooling bus:

It's always fun to see what artists take to the streets during the festivals:

live statue

I love this city!

Christmas Spirit

Nothing quite matches the excitement and magic from those childhood Christmases of long ago. After we first got married, Hubby and I implemented our own version of Advent. It helped give me focus for the holiday season, and that helps bring the whole Christmas-time a little more sparkle and fun. Still, all that being said, some years are easier to feel the excitement than others. 

For whatever reason, this year I'm having the worst time getting into the Christmas spirit. Generally, I get my shopping/gift making started once Halloween has passed; sometimes even earlier. However, not this year. 

Still, despite it all, I've been trying. We got the tree up the first Saturday of December. Townshend is really getting into Christmas this year, so that was extra fun. 

Once I finally got moving on my gifts, that helped too. I enjoy plotting and planning, even the wrapping is fun. However, there's something extra magic, for me as a crafty sort of person, in making a gift for someone. And getting started on the few that I'm making for people also really boosted my Christmas spirit. 

who can't help but be cheered by this amazing face!

And my most recent endeavor was to bake some cookies. I do like baking cookies. Though, in my quest for greater Christmas spirit, I may have gotten a bit carried away.....

First came some sugar cookies:

These are great 'cuz the kids enjoy decorating them (ok, Moon was all about it but Townshend, not so much).. Still, no matter who does the sprinkling, they come out looking pretty:

Then, can't not do the universal favorite - chocolate chip cookies:

And, from my grandma, chocolate surprise cookies:

Followed by these festive brown-sugar cookies (they're almost two types in one):

And finally, Koulouthia cookies in candy cane shapes, for Hubby's grandma:

 This year I called it quits at this point; enough is enough and though I love them, I didn't do any Snickerdoodles... I had to draw the line somewhere. Still... we may need to ship some of these out so to share the wealth. We'll see if I can get myself put-together enough to get it done before New Years.......

The Taste 2016

Our family has a few Chicago-centric traditions, and I think the Taste is one of my favorites! Crowds nothwithstanding, it's just a fun festival!

This year, rather than my taking the kids downtown to meet Hubby after work for the Taste, we all went together on a Saturday. Riding on the trains is always an exciting event for Townshend, however, Moon seemed unimpressed by all the rumblings and swaying.

In the last 10 years or so that I've lived in Chicago, the city's emphasis has moved away from solely focusing on developing the tourism for just downtown to more general taking care of *all* parts of the city. I support this trend 'cuz there are lots of areas that could use some attention, even if it does mean that the Taste gets a little smaller over time. Still, there's been some creativity with scheduling and they've invited the city's army of food trucks, so it's still worth a visit every year.

Some years it's hard to find weird foods that I've not tried before, but this year there were some new ones! From Chicago's Dog House, I had some rattlesnake and rabbit sausage. It was a wee bit gamey, but tasty!

Also, from a food truck - Chicago Lunchbox - I tried a Thai chicken taco with pickled daikon. Hubby tried alligator sausage (same place as the rattlesnake and rabbit) and also had some havarti mac-n-cheese from MAD Social.

This year Townshend actually was the most into it that he's ever been (meaning he actually ate stuff). He enjoyed a hot dog and a pulled pork slider, and everyone enjoyed some yummy funnel cake.

All in all, another successful gastronomic event. I'm excited to see what next year brings!

Traditions!

This year, we're trying something a little different. This year, for the first time since living with our parents (for both Hubby and me), we're going to do our own Christmas on December 25th. We'll go up later to visit family, but for the actual day of Christmas, we are all on our own.

So, with this fresh start, we're starting our own family traditions. Every family has their own traditions for the holidays and when a new family starts out, it gets to blend the ones they each like best and create their very own. We're not exactly starting out (we've been married 5yrs), but it's a beginning all the same.

For me, Christmas is all about cookies. I may or may not make 4 or 5 different types, just so that there'd be a happy variety. Of course there's my classic favorite: snickerdoodles, but there's generally a chocolate sort in the mix as well. This year, Hubby requested an old favorite from his family: koulouria, or as I've dubbed them: Yiayia Cookies.

I have to admit, there was a slight bit of pressure.. I was striking out on my own with these Greek cookies and I didn't have a Yaiyia to show me all the secrets, and who can make cookies as well as anyone's grandma??

But I had a little helper (and the handy-dandy internets) and I didn't burn any, so that was a start! They tasted pretty good to me, but the real test came when Hubby got home from work and tried them out himself. While the cinnamon sprinkled on top was a new addition, he said they definitely stirred up happy Christmas memories from his childhood, so I'd say it was a success!

Merry Christmas to all!

Advent Stuff

A few years ago, I decided my holiday season needed a little more focus on Christ and a little more buildup to Christmas day, so I put together an Advent. I've tweaked it a bit from the original draft; adding some scriptures from the Book of Mormon telling of Christ's birth along with those in the Bible. And in the last few years, this Advent has become one of our family Christmas traditions. I love it!

Last year, I decided that this Advent stuff seems to be a tradition that's sticking, so we ought to have some kind of sturdy and reusable calendar; something with pockets or doors from which we can pull the scriptures and songs each day which we could use, year after year (currently we're just reading from a Word table printed on a piece of paper). To make it a one-time purchase, it'd have to be something simple, timeless and sturdy.
So, I went questing.

sketched out, then inked over

Turns out, finding a simple, timeless, sturdy Advent calendar (that doesn't have Santa incorporated in the design or decorations somewhere), even looking on Etsy, is tough to find. I considered the type made of tins and magnets (like this), or ones made of fabric (like this), or ones made with boxes (like this), but none really seemed to be quite what I was looking for. In the end, I couldn't make a decision, so I decided to wait rather than get one I wouldn't really like; we have a lifetime of Christmases, after all.

So, this year (well, this past holiday season), I began my questing anew. Having had a year to consider my options and determine a little more specifically what I was looking for, I narrowed my search to wooden Advent calendars. Though a little challenging to find here in the States (uk.amazon had some gorgeous ones), I did stumble upon one that I absolutely loved. It was a little spendy, so I hemmed.. drooled a bit.. and hawed, but couldn't quite decide.
Then, Hubby got it for me as an early Christmas present and there was much joy.

just as awesome in person!

This box fits all the criteria: simple, timeless and sturdy. There are these little drawers for each day leading up to Christmas and it even came with a little Charlie Brown-esk tree. It's perfect!

Originally, the box came with a little ornament in each drawer, to be placed on the little tree each day. I think, with these ornaments, the look they were going for was "rustic"... but really, they are kind of grotesque; including, but limited to, decapitated snowmen in various hats and sparkly caterpillars all hung from wire hooks. We put it all together, over the course of December, just to see what it looked like all assembled, but the final verdict was: the ornaments had to go.

yeah... not so lovely.

I considered not keeping the tree either and just enjoying this sweet sweet wooden box and drawers, but then I came up with the idea to create my own, better looking, ornaments with the scriptures and songs for each day written on the back, and then we would be able to retire that Word printout. Win win!

muuuuuuch better.

And so it was. Next year our silly, little tree will look awesome!