Carter Christmas 2 | Christmas Day

To cap off our Christmas Eve we decorated the tree and mantle in preparation for the comings days' events. It was neat to go through all the ornaments, from the ones the kids made to the "baby's first Christmas" mementos and of course, the tin foil star Clyde and Jacque made their first Christmas together.






We opened the gifts from Aunt Leslie and the Burbanks, including the now traditional Christmas Story-related gifts...
[mac, the unofficial vacation photographer]

Christmas Day itself was pretty low-key since the California Carters were in flight most of the day. Let's be honest...Christmas festivities can't start in earnest with the nieces/grandbabies, so the grandparents, aunts and uncle spent the morning eating breakfast burritos, hitting the YMCA and then heading to Regal Cinemas to go see "Up in the Air."

In addition to the movie being quite good, we had the exhilaration of being the only 5 people in the entire theater for a good 30 minutes. Behold:


We went home for a quick bite and then headed to the airport to pick up the family. It was fun to see Maddie so excited to be on a big plane and then at Nana's house!


Before we all went to bed so that Santa could do his thing, Nana had some special treats for the girls. First, decorating their own special tree...


[bathtime for baby eva]

[reading a story about the birth of baby jesus]

[putting out cookies and milk for santa and carrots for the reindeer]

And, of course, we all had to get in our bonding time with the girls. They are both so cute and absolute treasures as nieces...






[weird stuff happens when family gets together...]



[laying out the filled up stockings — a.k.a. Santa came!]

Carter Christmas 1 | Caroling, etc.

Our time in the Boston area has been somewhat luxurious. We split the 14-hour drive up so that it didn't totally wreck us and were able to slide into the Christmas festivities instead of dive in head first.

Mackensey has been making all sorts of delicious (fattening!) goodies such as trifle and magic cookie bar. Yum, yum. If we could sit around the house and eat all day, we might, but Jacque and Clyde (hereafter referred to as Nana and Grandad) had a couple pre-Christmas activities up their sleeves to make sure we weren't total couch potatoes.

Our second night in town we went "caroling on the common," a Shrewsbury event just outside the First Congregational Church in the downtown area. It was biting cold but the carolers were committed and there was plenty of hot chocolate to help take the edge off...

[caroling on the common]







Following caroling, we did the next logical thing and stopped at Starbucks for additional hot beverages and conversation.

[starbucks run]



Our other major outing was to the Christmas Eve service at Chapel of the Cross, the church the Boston Carters attend. It was wonderful to be able to meet some of the people in their small group and just enjoy a beautiful candle-lit service.

I don't have pictures from the service, so pictures of our lovely doggies will have to suffice.
[wheaten love]

Larsen-Walker Wedding

This past weekend (before we took off for our Christmas adventure), we headed out to the area around Lake Geneva, WI for Nick and Becca's wedding, in which Heath was a groomsman.

It was a gorgeous weekend to be out on the Inspiration Ministries campground (where we stayed) and the church where they were married was quite lovely. The bride, of course, was gorgeous.



The low-key reception was at a nearby Christian high school, where I had the chance to hang with Res Cov-ers while Heath hung at the head table. It was very special to be among the friends and family celebrating with Nick and Becca.

[the Res Cov crowd]






[with the tree and the prominently posted 10 commandments]



[the elijah series...what a cutie!!]

In a word...

...stunning.

Yes, we have a lot of attractive friends (I think). But last night I looked at these pictures and thought to myself:

Jenny is stunning.

Missing you, Jenny!!

Lisa's Ragtime Birthday

One of the things that I love about Chicago is that places like The Green Mill still exist. The former speakeasy is recognized as the city’s oldest nightclub—it’s been offering continuous entertainment since 1907—and remains today as an authentic link to noted mobster, Al Capone. Gotta love it!




Anyway, this storied bar was the scene of Lisa A.'s Thursday-night birthday shin-dig. The best part about Thursdays? Swing dancing, live jazz and (unlike other more "serious" music nights) you can talk while the band plays. It was a blast. The birthday girl was adorably and era-appropriately dressed, the music was fantastic and it was a warm, lively place to spend a cold night.

[the birthday girl (center), her bf and heath]

Jeff's Visit

Originally in town for a medical residency interview, our friend Jeff—in the process of finishing medical school at VCU in Virginia—turned a 1-day visit into 5-day Chicago adventure that included dinner at Marie's (a true Chicago experience), deep dish, a concert at the House of Blues, coffee shops galore and (a special treat) Lisa's birthday celebration at The Green Mill. That party warrants a post of its own...coming next.



Since Heath was Mr. Forgetful when it came to carrying the camera around, we don't have a ton of pictures of all the aforementioned activities, but we do have pictures from Marie's, decked out in all its Christmas glory. Lucky you!

Christine turns another year older...

...and no, I won't say exactly how old. All the viewing audience really needs to know is that Christine's 40-something birthday very closely resembled my 21st birthday, except she was far more in need of a designated driver.

I, for the record, had just a drink and a half over the course of the evening. Please, keep that in mind.

Before I joined up with the group, they had dinner (and several margaritas) at a restaurant called the Mayan Palace. Around 9:30, I found them at Spin, a gay bar in Boystown. Say what you will about gay bars, but these two things matter most: The music was fantastic and we could dance without being accosted by any nasty individuals. Here is Christine, somewhat obscured by the contents of the smoke machine...

[smoke and mirrors]



From there, we headed to a bar called Wilde's (after Oscar Wilde) which was, by far, the most sophisticated establishment we were at all night. We picked up Christine's friend Mary D and her husband, Art, who was also celebrating his birthday. It was at this moment in the evening that we had enough personal space and presence of mind to take a group photo. You can see the top of my forehead in the back. :-)

[with santa at wilde's]


[group shot]


Our next location wasn't classy, but it was...memorable. Any place with the name Hogs & Honeys would have to be. We had two primary objectives at H&H: Christine wanted to dance on a bar and ride the mechanical bull. Check and check. [As you'll see below, I skipped the bar dancing and joined in the bull riding.] She also got a "bonus" experience of having the very lovely bartender pour a shot directly into her mouth. Gross! But for Christine, high on the adventure scale.

[bar beauties, christine and renee]


[a lot of bull]





[shot in the dark]


[buddy pics]



Thanks goodness we ended the night at Howl at the Moon. Not as "chill" as Wilde's, it was a good capstone to the night. The dueling piano bar had actual seats we could sit in, a thinning crowd and a closing time: 3am. That forced a curfew—thank goodness!—and I made it back to Downers Grove shortly before 4.

[our fellow howlers]


Needless to say, this isn't my typical Saturday night, but for Christine, it was worth schlepping around the city. I got to dance and definitely found our fellow club-hoppers more than entertaining.