Catching Up

I haven't written in my blog for a while. Not because nothing is happening, but because I have been up to my ears in work and preparing to go home for the holidays (insert Carpenters medley here!)

So let's see, what has been going on?




Soon after I wrote last time Highland Park had their Halloween celebrations. The city had some special events going on, wagon rides, donkey rides, etc. We waited in line for 30 minutes only to find that AJ decided she didn't like donkeys! She and Lorraine went on a hayride instead and I minded the the stroller.The first picture above is AJ's skeleton Osk Kosh shirt, with the donkeys in back. The neighbourhood really seemed to get into Halloween, with lots of houses decorated, and lots of kids running around.

The week before Thanksgiving, Highland Park lit up their holiday lights. They had a high school band, Santa came in to town and there were sleigh rides. AJ really loved the drummers, especially when they got their trashcans out and started drumming on them!

Things were fairly quiet on the home front for most of November and the month seemed to fly by as we continued to prepare at work for the huge transition of my team. Thanksgiving came around quickly and we ended up with some good friends Amy & Kevin and their family (16 in total) eating, drinking and watching James Bond movies!

That weekend, I followed the annual tradition of putting up the Christmas lights. To say I was alone in that this year would be an understatement. I got lots of strange looks as people drove by, and to this day, only about 4 houses in the immediate vicinity have any form of decoration/lighting. For me this is great, as it means my paltry decorations stand out well.

We went to the sales on Thanksgiving Friday, apparently the busiest shopping day ever in the States each year. The bargains (because of the economy) were supposed to be fabulous, but quite honestly I don't think they were as good as last year.

Every year we get a real Christmas tree, cos I love the smell and the look. This year we had planned our usual trip to Home Depot (B&Q) to get ours. They actually have surprisingly good trees. Amy & Kevin told us about a place they usually get their tree; a tree farm in Wisconsin, and so seeing an opportunity to experience something new, we set off to cut down our own Christmas tree. It was all very Clark W Giswald (National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, for those not in the know). Unfortunately there was no snow and so the experience wasn't quite so cool, but the tree farm was fun.

We put the tree up that week and AJ helped. She had a lot of fun running around with the decorations and helping us. We had her pose in her pretty little Christmas dress for the Christmas picture this year, a very American tradition.

The first week in December was time to celebrate Lorraine's Christmas gift. I would have done it later, but Dirty Dancing stage show was only on for a limited time. We went down to the city, hung out at the Art Institute for the afternoon, and then went to The Signature Room for dinner. Lots of wine, cocktails and had a truly excellent dinner! We went on to the show, not something that I was super excited about, but I thought Lorraine would enjoy it and she did. We had front row seats, which on reflection were a little too close, but the show was actually pretty decent, and I know Lorraine loved it, so it's all good!

And so we find ourselves in Mid December almost ready to go back to the UK. We will be there for three weeks, and Reggie will be hanging out with Uncle (Godfather) Mike. I will update with anything interesting that happens whilst we are away.