Christmas in Chicago

After a few Christmases where my parents flew to LA, we finally sucked it up and decided we'd pack up our clan and brave holiday travel to visit them in cold, windy Chicago. Other than an absurd amount of luggage in a towering mound on a luggage cart, we managed to tackle LAX and arrive at O'Hare without any major hiccups.

We spent the first 5 days with my Mom, Mark and my sister in McHenry. My Mom retired just a month ago and is thrilled to be back in her home with the fat, puffy squirrels and the assortment of winter birds in her backyard. The girls loved looking out the windows at the critters and playing with Gran and Auntie Jennifer. We were total homebodies where we ate, opened presents and ate again. Unfortunately my Bro wasn't didn't to make it, but it was great to hang with my sister and Mom. Santa visited us there and Addie played Santa's helper. She could read the tags on the gifts and distributed every last one of them from under the tree.

The second half of the week we spent with Dad and Nanci in their condo in Northfield. If our time with Mom was about being cozy inside, our time with Nana and Pop Pop was all action. They took Addie to her first nutcracker ballet which is adored. This is a tradition in our family as I went when I was five for the first time. Her favorite parts were the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mother Ginger. We also went to the children's museum, saw the Jellies exhibit at the Aquarium and visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was Go Go Go!

Xavier was great during the day but at night he thought it would be great fun to wake up every 2 hours. After several weeks of this, I was on the verge of collapse. I wasn't even sleepy as much as I was a bundle of raw nerves and emotions. This did not make me the most patient parent or the happiest person unfortunately. Nonetheless, I loved seeing the girls play with their grandparents and it was great to hang with my family.

Next Christmas, it's LA or Bust. Come one, come all!


Christmas Eve bubbly in my Grandmother's gorgeous flutes. Don't you love the studio portrait of me and my sibs from 1987?!


Santa's helper


Exhausted and we had only opened the stockings


Christmas baby with a holiday carrot from Santa


Gran and Addie playing


On a cold walk


Pop-Pop playing with the girls


At The Nutcracker


Jellies at the Shedd Aquarium


Playing at the Children's Museum. I really wish we had something like this in West LA.


After several kid-focused events, I picked our adventure - The Museum of Contemporary Art. Minimalist art and toddlers are not a good mix as it turns out. Eliza wanted to touch or step on everything in site. We survived though as did the art.

Check out more photos from our midwestern Christmas here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!