Family Post: Holiday Greetings!

Holiday Greetings! I hope your holidays are going well. Ours have been great, if just a bit unusual.

On Christmas Eve morning we went to an annual pancake breakfast. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and fresh venison sausage from the October hunt. A delicious Christmas tradition.

During the day we packed, then went to our Christmas Eve Service at 11. By the time everyone said goodbye it was Christmas.

Everyone else went home to bed and visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. We hit the road, driving through the night to the Spokane airport. We were fortunate to have good roads all the way, though we hit many patches of heavy fog. At 6 AM Christmas morning we were airborne. We hopped to Seattle, then took a puddlejumper to Portland, and finally headed in the right direction for our destination.

And there we were, in Chicago. We spent seven years here before moving West, and Kim's brother and sister and their families are here. And it's a great city to visit. On Christmas night Kim and her brother and the boys went to the United Center to see the Bulls get trounced by the Rockets. There were only four tickets, so I watched it on TV during those moments when I could keep my eyes open.

The next day we caught up on our sleep, and then the whole family caught the Blue Line down to the Loop, something we enjoyed doing when we lived here.

Some of us enjoyed stopping at the Nike store on Michigan Avenue, four floors of sports glitz.

And we all liked ending up at "The Bean" in Millennium Park.

Isaiah complained about all the pictures I was taking, so I made the comment that we were "tourists just like everyone else." Isaiah said, "We aren't tourists!" And he's right.

Isaiah was born here--the Blue Line goes right past the hospital where he came into the world-- and this is where the boys formed their earliest memories and started school. Many times over those seven years we hopped the Blue Line and explored the Loop and the lakefront. So we aren't tourists, we're pilgrims, coming back to the scenes of our former life.

We'll be here until Saturday when we head south to see family in Indiana. Chicago certainly has its attractions--but, let's face it, nothing like the newest member of the family, Granddaughter Iris.