merry merry!

This was my first year celebrating Christmas in Chicago, and boy did we ever celebrate.

I absolutely love Christmas - I love decorations; I love giving gifts, snow, surprises, fireplaces, and all those other idealistic seasonal pleasures.

I visited Chicago's Christkindlmarket twice this year - once for lunch with my friend Matt, and once again with my parents.

Both times there was weather so awful it was hilarious. It was a beautifully clear day when Matt and I went, but the high that day was something like 8 degrees. We silently ate our brats in record time, and after the 2 minutes it took me to stuff the whole thing down my gullet I thought I might never feel my fingers again. I spent my second visit (with Peter and my parents) with ice pellets flying into my eyes. And yet, I wouldn't miss the Christkindlmarket for anything.

Finally, Peter and I had the most amazing surprise when we happened upon the CTA's holiday train! The holiday train is one el train that is completely and utterly decked out with Christmas decorations (let's be honest here, it's really just a Christmas train, but I don't see any reason why every can't enjoy this ridiculous festive-ness) that runs on a limited schedule on a different line every day of the Christmas season. The CTA posts its schedule on their website, so people normally wait to catch it on purpose, so when we walked off the stairs of the Garfield red line station to see a train completely covered in Christmas lights flying into the station, I lost all control of myself and started screaming with glee right there on the platform. Yes, that really happened.

I hope you all, dear readers, had wonderful holiday seasons.

Coming soon - reports on handmade gifts!