Merry Christmas!

We’ve had a busy week of holiday celebrations. Our friends Peg and John flew in from Ohio last Thursday. That night brought freezing rain which made the trees look pretty, but walking around Lake Geneva on Friday was treacherous. We took the train into Chicago on Saturday. After dropping Peg and John’s luggage at their hotel, we had lunch at the Berghoff. In past years, Terry and I have eaten at the christkindlmarket. The trouble with that is that the lines are long; one generally has to eat standing up, and the food gets cold quickly. Add to that the gray and drizzly day, and lunch at a table in the warm, dry Berghoff seemed vastly preferable.

Peg and Terry outside the Berghoff

I had a thought that there wouldn’t be as many people out because of the weather. I was so wrong. Christkindlmarket was PACKED. We soon tired of fighting our way up to the booths to see what was for sale and pressed on the State St. to see the windows and other decorations at the store formerly known as Marshall Fields.

The crowd at christkindlmarket

Peg, Terry, and John (foreground, left to right) at christkindlmarket with the Picasso sculpture in the background

Eternal flame veterans' memorial and pigeon warmer at Daley Plaza

The windows this year recapped the history of the Marshall Fields and highlighted some of the products, such as the traditional Frango mints. “A crummy commercial,” Terry muttered, quoting from A Christmas Story, “son of a bitch.”

Garland in the store formerly known as Marshall Fields

Part of the tree in the Walnut Room. The lights in the big stars sparkled.

Terry and me by the fountain inside the store

While we were admiring the Tiffany ceiling, I noticed dragonfly shapes hanging from the third floor. They looked like sculptures. Upon closer inspection, however, they were just cut from paper. A clerk standing nearby explained that they had one “wonderful lady” who cut them all out. The thing that made an interesting presentation was that they were hung at different angles by altering the placement of the string.

Dragonfly cut-outs

It was going on 4:00 when we were done at Marshall Fields/Macy. And raining. We walked down the Magnificent Mile to the Hancock building anyway. 

The Wrigley Building tower was lit up with red and green lights

The Signature Lounge was socked in with fog. We saw nothing out the windows. I ordered club soda with lime. The waitress delivered a glass bottle of Voss sparkling water from Norway. Who knew one had to specify “tap” when ordering water? The price? $5.50. As Peg put it, “A dollar for the water, and $4.50 for the view that we can’t see.” Norwegian water, by the way, doesn’t taste any different from any other bottled water.

The view from the 96th floor of the Hancock

After our drinks, Terry and I had to hoof it back to the train station to catch the 6:30. If we didn’t make that one, it would be two hours before the next. We left Peg and John at Crate and Barrel to do some shopping and trudged quickly through the pouring rain back to Ogilvie. I missed it by one block, thinking it was on Monroe instead of Madison. President’s name starting with M… Not the sort of night when going out of the way seems like a good idea. Jimmy John’s was closed, forcing us to go to Subway. But we made our train and eventually found an empty seat.

Sunday, we drove to Northbrook for Christmas Observed. My brother got us all tickets to Music of the Baroque’s annual Holiday Brass and Choral Concert at Divine Word Chapel.  “Chapel” was an understatement, as the inside of the church looked like a full-scale Gothic cathedral. The concert was absolutely spine-tingling. I have not been to such a high-quality performance in a long, long time. The acoustics were phenomenal. The chorus sang as one voice and brass players were spot-on. I tend to forget how moving a professional live performance can be. Recorded music just isn’t the same.

Front entrance to the Divine Word Chapel (Techny Towers)

We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, Prairie Grass. Doug and Pam went back to their apartment in Chicago. They both had to work the next day. The rest of us stayed in a hotel just down the street from the restaurant and drove home in the morning.

We are now enjoying a relaxing and low key day at home. Jane will join us this afternoon and stay for dinner.

I wish you all a happy holiday with people you love!