Christmas in Chicago, 2010

The Christmas season in Chicago has come and gone, but not without a fair amount of excitement and activity.  As Rachel likes to say, "You're so much fun on vacation!!"  I am hoping that this is a compliment to the amount of fun I initiate on vacation, and not an indictment of my boring non-vacation life...

We got dressed up on Sunday to go downtown for Messiah at the Harris Theater.  It was a lovely performance - Rachel's first time to hear the whole thing.  We loved the quality of the music and the uplifting content (entirely Scripture refering to Christ).  Just the right message in time for Christmas - though it is interesting that tradition has shifted to have this performed at Christmas instead of Easter, since the content is more closely aligned to that holiday.  But I digress.

Since we were downtown, we walked over to State Street to see the Marshall Fields Macy's windows, which are traditionally decorated with some kind of fairy-tale, Christmas-themed story.  I wondered if there was some subtle advertisement embedded, because when the boy in the story who was trying to prove the existence of Santa asked his father, his father replied that if it is in the newspaper it must be true.  Phil, did your people have anything to do with this?

We also went to Chinatown to visit with Solomon, Rachel's co-teacher from China who has since enrolled at a Catholic university in Iowa.  He was in town for the day and it was a pleasure to see him.  He is off to do some work at a Chinese parish in Los Angeles for the holiday, and is thinking now about doing some work in Chicago during the summer.  However, some people are telling him that the south side of Chicago is too dangerous and he must stay away....so we will see.

 
The only problem?  The bitter cold.  But Rachel is well prepared for that these days.

On Monday night, we went to see Sarah and Dave and take part in the "Miller Family Christmas 2010."  We are not traveling this year to see Rachel's parents for Christmas, so this was the opportunity for there to be some Miller fun in Chicago before we went to Michigan. 

It was a lovely dinner - turkey with all the fixin's.  Their Dad would have been fat and happy to eat that food. 

We exchanged some gifts, and got some sweet PJs.  I do not think mine fit.

The night was not without some drama.  Shortly after arriving, the CO detector started chirping.  Sarah paced the apartment, confused as to whether she should be preparing to evacuate the building or get started on the green bean caserole.  Dave then called the city, and the fire department sent a truck over with its lights blaring.  The massive, stereotypical lieutenant barged in and assessed the situation while his sidekick trailed him with CO detector in hand.  They stayed for 10 minutes or so, but clearly were not overly concerned with the potential health risks.  They recommended opening a window, having the gas company check the oven, and left with some passing remarks about the dangers of new windows locking up a house too tightly not allowing fresh air to circulate. 

Merry Christmas!