Mark and I decided to take Ricky downtown to see the windows, decorations, and stop by the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza. It was 25 degrees F, but we just bundled him up and went down early - the morning of Christmas Eve. It wasn't too busy down there at all - probably because it was early, cold, and the windows weren't all that exciting.
I remember going Christmas shopping downtown at Marshall Fields as a kid, and loving the windows and eating lunch at the Walnut Room. The very last Christmas that Fields was still Fields and not Macy's (2005), we took Ricky down along with my mom and ate our last Walnut Room lunch. It was good - and they had Mister and Missus Santa Bear and a big Elf came to our table for a visit.
Although the Nutcracker windows were nice, I remember the windows being more exciting in years past, with Harry Potter and other exciting themes. The inside of Macy's was decorated nicely, but I suppose I won't ever be happy with Macy's in general. In fact, my mother was missing Marshall Fields also, commenting to me that she bought ALL her gifts there - clothes, food, trinkets. It was her one-stop-shopping place. And now, this year, she really had a hard time running around to find appropriate, quality presents that matched those she used to buy from Marshall Fields each Christmas.
This time, we just walked around and looked at the windows which had the theme of The Nutcracker. I regret not planning in advance, because we ended up having lunch at McDonalds - which Ricky was just fine with - but with all the scary people at the restaurant, I would have preferred something a little nicer. Then we headed to Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza.
This was actually my first visiting the Christkindlmarket. Even when I worked downtown, I never found the time to go take a look. They have a huge Christmas tree, and lots of little shops that have all kinds of gifts, yummy chocolate, and ornaments. I was hoping to have the spiced wine, but it was so cold I didn't feel like it anymore - I wanted to make a run for our car in the parking garage.
In all, I found it to be a fun family day. Wished my sister and brother in law could have made it with us, but they had last minute shopping to do also. Maybe next year.
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