Chi Town Christmas

The snowy drive in the city.

My cutie pie.

Too much fun at Marshall Fields (MAcy's).

What she Found under the tree.

"Snow"-- Nick's Parents dog

We had a wonderful Christmas in Chicagoland. We went to the Christkindle Festival and partook in some delicious mulled wine and enjoyed all the German (and Peruvian?) wares. My mother-in-law bought Anastasia some lovely natural wooden blocks at a stand with a sign reading, "nothing at this booth was made in China." They sure know how to rope me in. :) Only bad thing was that it was FREEZING cold and WINDY!!! Knowing this, I am still willingly planning on moving there in the next month. We also went to Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields) and it was HUGE and just stupendous! It was decorated so nice and had its own floor of toys from FAO Schwartz. We loved the lifesize dragons and unicorns and I drooled over some of the wooden train sets and kitchenware.

We spent Christmas with Nick's family and Anastasia enjoyed her presents from Santa... especially the polar bear and some necklaces and maraccas with bells in them. Her favorite gift of all was a box of tissues (as I predicted) and a nalgene sippy cup I picked up. Christmas is way more fun with children. Nicks brother and sister and their families joined us for dinner. It was nice to see everyone. We were even surprised to get to see Nick's best friends Tim and Jason who were in town for a few days! What a treat.

We had a nice snow on Friday and drove into the city for a cup of coffee (which seems like a good reason to drive into town) at Intelligencia--a wonderfully tasty cafe. Their coffee was SO good, a definate highlight of our trip (as well as a ray of hope that there is good coffee SOMEWHERE in the midwest.) I know I am a total snob. :)

Those were the highlights... I wish everyone an AWESOME 2008!! I know we are excited for wherever God might take us this year!