Puzzle and a chocolate Santa . . .
Arianna can't bear the approach of 2015 . . .
Sharon works to get Arianna to lighten up . . .
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Arianna's Picture Day
Arianna walked around the house today with the camera.
Arianna's holiday candles . . .
Nativity given to us by my Mom. This used to be setup on Craft.
Grandpa's new figurine, which we bought for him this Summer in Wisconsin.
A new lamp shade for a very old lamp. Sharon and I bought this for each other earlier today.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Christkindlmarkt Chicago
Although I am still coughing, I felt much better today. Well enough to follow-through with our plan to meet up with our long-time friend, Kristi, in Chicago. Another dreary day - this December ranks one of the least sun-filled December's in decades - we were fortunate that the temperature was above average. Nevertheless, we all dressed appropriately . . . long underwear, woolen socks, and so forth.
Originally, we'd planned to ride the train to Chicago. As it turned out, I'd read the schedule incorrectly. The train doesn't stop at our local train station on the weekend. So, we drove downtown.
Parking was easy to find and weekend rates were actually cheaper than three round trip tickets to Union Station.
Today was a wonderful day. Seldom are outings as relaxed and enjoyable.
The evergreen tree was offered (again) by a family in Elgin - not too far from where we live. We'd read about their having offered their tree to Chicago for the past couple of years in the Tribune. It's a tall tree, but not especially well formed.
The drive into town was unusually light. Of course, we left around 10 o'clock. The Market is supposed to open at 11 AM, but as we approached - around 10:45 AM - people were already in abundance and many of the shops were open for business.
Lines were the order of the day. But people were cheerful and they moved quickly. Here, we were waiting to get into one of the Christmas ornament shops. Although we have been trying to catch up with Kristi for months, today's destination had as much to do with helping Arianna complete her Christmas shopping than anything else.
Strudel from Austria. We stopped a little later and Kristi bought something sweet.
Inside the ornament shop . . .
Happy Christmas shoppers . . .
Our friend, Kristi . . .
Even more ornaments . . .
An impromptu puppet show . . .
After we'd had a bite and gotten Arianna squared away, we walked over to State Street, which as you might imagine was teeming with holiday shoppers. Our aim was to have a look at the Marshall Field . . . er, Macy's windows.
I'd always wanted to take Arianna downtown when she was a little girl, but we never made the time . . .
Sharon liked this one a lot . . .
Miracle on 34th Street was playing on the television, from which the balloons are floating.
After a short break at the old Chicago Public Library on Randolph, we crossed Michigan Avenue to watch the skaters at Millennium Park. The line was long to rent skates. Doubtless because school is out and the weather was bearable.
Arianna, Sharon, and Kristi . . .
Reflection in the Bean . . . I had to get in there too, didn't I?
We drove Kristi home. A fun drive through Chicago, reminiscing about our time in the city . . . decades ago. And then the reason why we drove . . . . Since we were in Chicago, we thought: why not try to find pierogi. Sharon couldn't find any plum pierogi at the store we frequent in Algonquin, so . . . . Surprisingly, all but one of the store's we telephoned while sitting in the car in front of Kristi's place were all out. But, all we needed was one store.
This was a factory store on Central. Everybody in the shop spoke Polish. In fact, when we reached the counter to place our order, the gal just assumed Sharon spoke Polish! When Sharon didn't answer her question, she referred to us as "English".
Kinda funny.
Sharon and I think we've had Alexandra's pierogi before, but we can't be certain. They sure had a lot of varieties. People were carrying cases out of there!
A nice conclusion to a fine day.
Originally, we'd planned to ride the train to Chicago. As it turned out, I'd read the schedule incorrectly. The train doesn't stop at our local train station on the weekend. So, we drove downtown.
Parking was easy to find and weekend rates were actually cheaper than three round trip tickets to Union Station.
Today was a wonderful day. Seldom are outings as relaxed and enjoyable.
The evergreen tree was offered (again) by a family in Elgin - not too far from where we live. We'd read about their having offered their tree to Chicago for the past couple of years in the Tribune. It's a tall tree, but not especially well formed.
The drive into town was unusually light. Of course, we left around 10 o'clock. The Market is supposed to open at 11 AM, but as we approached - around 10:45 AM - people were already in abundance and many of the shops were open for business.
Lines were the order of the day. But people were cheerful and they moved quickly. Here, we were waiting to get into one of the Christmas ornament shops. Although we have been trying to catch up with Kristi for months, today's destination had as much to do with helping Arianna complete her Christmas shopping than anything else.
Strudel from Austria. We stopped a little later and Kristi bought something sweet.
Inside the ornament shop . . .
Happy Christmas shoppers . . .
Our friend, Kristi . . .
Even more ornaments . . .
An impromptu puppet show . . .
After we'd had a bite and gotten Arianna squared away, we walked over to State Street, which as you might imagine was teeming with holiday shoppers. Our aim was to have a look at the Marshall Field . . . er, Macy's windows.
I'd always wanted to take Arianna downtown when she was a little girl, but we never made the time . . .
Sharon liked this one a lot . . .
Miracle on 34th Street was playing on the television, from which the balloons are floating.
After a short break at the old Chicago Public Library on Randolph, we crossed Michigan Avenue to watch the skaters at Millennium Park. The line was long to rent skates. Doubtless because school is out and the weather was bearable.
Arianna, Sharon, and Kristi . . .
Reflection in the Bean . . . I had to get in there too, didn't I?
We drove Kristi home. A fun drive through Chicago, reminiscing about our time in the city . . . decades ago. And then the reason why we drove . . . . Since we were in Chicago, we thought: why not try to find pierogi. Sharon couldn't find any plum pierogi at the store we frequent in Algonquin, so . . . . Surprisingly, all but one of the store's we telephoned while sitting in the car in front of Kristi's place were all out. But, all we needed was one store.
This was a factory store on Central. Everybody in the shop spoke Polish. In fact, when we reached the counter to place our order, the gal just assumed Sharon spoke Polish! When Sharon didn't answer her question, she referred to us as "English".
Kinda funny.
Sharon and I think we've had Alexandra's pierogi before, but we can't be certain. They sure had a lot of varieties. People were carrying cases out of there!
A nice conclusion to a fine day.