My Christmas Vacation

I haven't been home to Chicago for this long since 1999. I'll admit, I was a little worried it would feel that way, too. I had grandiose plans to visit somewhere else right after Christmas...but those all epically failed and the plane ticket purchased as bookends the proposed adventure ended up being an odd decision.

Nonetheless (one of my favorite words), the time flew by leaving me with people I missed and chores not completed. Strep throat knocked out the first week, but I never felt that sick, so it wasn't so bad. 

Here's my Christmas vacation. In pictures. With my new camera.

The Nativity under the Christmas tree at my parents' house. It's been there for as long as I can remember. 

The Tree. It's been standing there since 1972. 

My Dad opening up his present from me. Some of his favorite treats.

Michael: Opening up the Egypt tour book. I made a scrapbook of our 2007 trip as a gift but needed him to look at it on my computer before ordering it, so wrapping up the tour book made sense.

My mom's Italy book. Same as above.

The next two pictures of my dad's brilliant Christmas wrapping idea. He had several gifts for my mom to wrap...and stacked them to make it simpler. Awesome, Dad.

BOCHOX: Chocolate. Yum. Make this picture bigger and read the text. It's funny. 

The angel was replaced by a different tree-topper this year, so my parents "hung"her near the top of the tree. She looks like she's taking a flying leap off of the tree in response to being demoted from the top position.

Christmas Morning Casserole: YUM.

The centerpiece.

Michael read the manual to my new camera much more intently than I did. I'm not so great at reading instructions but had to promise to read it. I will. I also signed up for a class to learn how to use it. 

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Riverside

Annette's Village

 The hutch all five of us nieces and nephew want to inherit.

 Thank you Valerie, now I have a dancing, singing Christmas Tree.

Me & My New Toy

 

Hello Mr. Turkey! You look delicious!

Hi Mom!

The Werles. My face is awkward here because I was laughing so ridiculously hard. It took about 17 takes to get everyone not talking when the camera went off. You'd think it wouldn't be so difficult with six adults? Apparently, it was.

Playing with my new toy outside the Riverside Werle House 

Riverside Werle's

Elmhurst Werle's

Lilly...the morning I hung out with Tracey.

Aunt Jackie...texting?!

 For my dad's January 8th birthday, I took him out to lunch at Braxton's.

 Amber. Where? Starbucks. Of course.

On New Year's Eve it was so warm outside that my dad grilled the steaks. He is a little bit of a pyro, using the leaf blower to get the coals hotter. 

No trip to Chicago is complete without Portillo's Italian Beef. This is what beef sandwiches will taste like in Heaven.

The puzzle Valerie sent to Jackie & Annette. We're taking it apart and sending it back to her to have all the fun herself.

Getting back to Atlanta turned into quite a fiasco. Saturday evening, the plane broke, so we were delayed in Chicago. A new part was flown in from Ohio to fix it, so we took off, about 4 hours late. Then when we were about to land, in what we thought would be Atlanta, the pilot announced that there was a fog problem...so he was taking us to Birmingham. Thank you to Delta for the hotel for the night...and for Laura's phone call the next morning. The glitch in the iPhone had me oversleep an hour, and I almost missed my flight getting back to Atlanta.