The children can count on getting three things in their stockings on Saint Nicholas Day every year…an orange, chocolate coins, and a new ornament to add to their collection. This year, I picked up ornaments from Germany when we visited the Christkindlmarket in Naperville, and Chickadee was very excited to hang her new snowman ornament on the tree this morning!
The Fab Five and I have become pretty accustomed to exploring Chicago when we’re in the area in May for Combo Breaker. Once I knew we were going to be staying at Pheasant Run in December, I planned a special Christmas-themed trip into the city, because I really wanted to show the children all of my favorite things about Christmas in the city.
We started at the Museum of Science and Industry, to see the Christmas Around the World exhibit (free for us, using the reciprocity that comes with our St. Louis Science Center membership!). The grand tree was quite a sight!
Speaking of big trees, we also stopped by Millennium Park to see the City of Chicago tree, a 60-foot Norway spruce, and the ice skating rink:
We are used to walking “mile after magnificent mile” in May. When the weather is nice. And my ankle isn’t broken. Imagine if you will, the seven of us parading down the streets of downtown, with me on my knee scooter, and all of us in our winter jackets, dodging raindrops, and occasionally getting caught in sudden downpours. It was definitely a different experience! But we still managed to see one of our favorites…the Art Institute lions, this time bedecked for Christmas!
There was one good thing about the rain…even before it started to get dark, we were able to see all the bright lights of the city:
The biggest thing I wanted to show the children was Chicago’s Christkindlmarket. Unfortunately, that was also the part of our trip downtown that involved the most rain. We still explored a bit, and had a bite to eat, but it wasn’t quite the experience I was hoping for.
The good news was that Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory (Macy’s, whatever), was just a few blocks away, so we headed there to warm up and dry off…and see the decorations (plus buy Frango mints). I was disappointed to learn that you apparently can no longer view the Walnut Room and its glorious Christmas tree from above on the eighth floor, but we still enjoyed seeing the Tiffany ceiling. Once the rain stopped, we walked around the building to explore the windows and see the iconic horns:
One last look at the lights of the city before it was time to head back to the hotel:
I love Chicago, and Christmas is an extra special time to visit. I’m so glad I finally got to share all of this with the Fab Five!
Our whole family loves staying at Pheasant Run every May for Combo Breaker, so when the resort offered to host us for two nights so we could experience Christmas at Pheasant Run, we were ecstatic. We made the drive up to St. Charles, IL, on Friday, and made the most of our Christmas getaway!
The first thing we noticed that there are beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere, inside…
…and out:
There is a light show on Bourbon Street every evening starting at 4:00 p.m. and running on the half hour until 9:30. We saw it several times, because it was so much fun! There was music playing, and people were dancing in the “street” and having a great time!
There are also fun activities for kids on Bourbon Street, including gingerbread house making, ornament creating, and cookie decorating. We weren’t available to take part in these activities, but they looked like a lot of fun!
The highlight of the weekend was the Santa breakfast in the New Orleans ballroom and on Bourbon Street on Sunday morning. We arrived a little early to enjoy the decorations (again).
Even before we were seated, the children were offered a sugar cookie to decorate. There were little cups of sprinkles and various colors of frosting to choose from…this was a great way to start our experience, and would come in really handy for keeping little hands busy before they get their food!
Bourbon Street had tables for smaller groups set up:
And the ballroom had large tables. For once, we were rewarded for having a large group, because we were close to both the food, and the hosts of the event (Santa and Mrs. Claus)!
Our table was festively decorated:
We were offered drinks by our server, a very attentive and kind woman named Lisa, right after we were seated. There were plenty of options, including coffee and tea, and several kinds of juice. The buffet lines opened up almost immediately, and the food choices were beyond amazing! There was an omelet station (almost all of us had one…mine included salmon, spinach, and mushrooms), a carving station with amazing ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, cornflake crusted French toast that Ryan said was amazing, red velvet waffles with all kinds of toppings, fresh fruit, and desserts that included cream puffs, eclairs, brownies, muffins, and chocolate-covered strawberries. It was an incredible (and very delicious!) meal!!!
People were free to see Santa and Mrs. Claus whenever they wished, so the line never got long, which was fantastic. As you would expect, they were very kind, and did a great job of talking to each of our children in turn:
This weekend was a dream experience for our family. We enjoyed great food (Pheasant Run also provided us with a delicious breakfast on Saturday, which we had at their Jambalaya restaurant). We reveled in the Christmas spirit that was everywhere at the resort. We had a wonderful time making memories together, and we were treated exceptionally well by all of the Pheasant Run staff. It was an unforgettable Christmas getaway!
I have waited so long to wear this amazing dress from Pinup Girl Clothing, and now that it’s Christmastime, I get to accessorize it with…a CAM boot. Sigh. But this dress is so gorgeous, it makes the boot look good!
This is a new style dress for me…the Genevieve. When this gorgeous Holiday Harlequin print was on sale over the summer, I immediately knew it had to be mine. And then I thought about it, and thought about it some more, because it was a final sale item, and I was nervous about trying out a new style of dress that wasn’t returnable. But I had a birthday gift certificate from the children burning a hole in my pocket, so I finally decided to take the plunge.
I’m so glad I did! The fit is great, the twirl factor is outstanding, and I feel like I just stepped out of my very favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas, which is pretty much the highest compliment I can give a piece of clothing. It’s the perfect dress for the holiday season!
In addition to the CAM boot, I paired it with some actual accessories, too, including Splendette Duchess Bangles in varying shades of red, green, and white, and my favorite Christmas tree brooch:
I love this dress so much, and I’m looking forward to wearing it to several special events over the course of the Christmas season…this truly is the most wonderful time of the year!
Since Thanksgiving week is never a full week of school for us, I combined last week’s wrap-up with our full week this week, starting with our annual hand-and-footprint turkeys and our completed Thankful Tree for the year:
Turkey and Bunny have been doing one of my favorite things in chemistry…balancing equations. Unfortunately, I don’t think they enjoy that activity as much as I do. They have also been completing the square in math. They finally made it to the fourth act of Romeo and Juliet. Their creative writing assignments have focused on poetry. In history, they learned about Gregory the Great, among other things.
Ladybug worked a lot with decimals in math. She continued to practice outlining in writing. In science, she learned about horses’ diets…both what is good for them to eat, and what is bad. Her history lessons have focused on the Crusades. She’s also enjoying reading Justin Morgan had a Horse for the first time!
Chickadee practiced counting different kinds of coins in math. She also learned more beginning blends in reading. There’s been a lot of overlap between the words she’s learning to read and her spelling words, which is nice. We’re getting close to finishing Treasure from Grandma, and she was worried that was the last book in the series…until I told her we have two more books at home, and should be able to get the rest from the library!
We had a Christmas-related field trip this week, and it tied into our medieval-focused history for the year, too! We went to the Boar’s Head Festival for the first time since Chickadee was a baby. It was a lot of fun to experience the production again, and it gave us a good approximation of a medieval celebration.
Before the Boar’s Head Festival tonight:
It’s Garden Glow time at the Missouri Botanical Garden! We attended the member preview night on Friday, and as always, we had a fantastic time.
Right off the bat, we were greeted by a new display in the fountain at Spoehrer Plaza. The lights in the center of the tree changed colors…I liked this particular combination best. I think it was a great addition to the decorations!
As always, some things were the same, and some were different. The biggest difference, though, was the snow that was still on the ground following our November snowstorm. We’ve never seen the lights of the Garden Glow reflecting off of snow before, and it looked amazing!
They had a 12 Days of Christmas display again this year, but they changed a few of the decorations, and I really like the updates…some of them show the Garden staffs’ great sense of humor!
There was even fake snow at the end, which just enhanced the Christmas-y atmosphere:
As always, I can’t recommend this event enough. It’s such a pleasant way to spend an evening, and see the Garden in a whole new light!
It’s Christmastime at the Missouri Botanical Garden! The Linnean House, in addition to being lit up, is located next to several of the 12 Days of Christmas displays. It’s always so much fun to see Garden landmarks all dressed up for the holidays!
This may be the most Maggie Smith quote ever!
“On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity.” Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I need to make sure we have some well-mannered frivolity on the schedule for Christmas this year!