We spent Thanksgiving in Chicago this year. We drove up a day early to "beat the crowds" - a total misnomer in my opinion, because Chicago is ALWAYS crowded. I went downtown on Wednesday to take Courtney to lunch. Her office is in a really neat older building that has been totally renovated and modernized (notice the exposed brick walls). She has a huge desk and 2 monitors just like her brother. The one on the right is showing some kind of architectural drawing program with plans for their latest project.
Rather than eat at a restaurant, we braved the cold and headed to the Christmas festival in Daley Plaza. I was freezing, since I'd been outdoors going from store to store all morning, so we started off with some hot, spiced wine. They served it in a cute ceramic mug, which will probably end up in our travel cabinet rather than being re-gifted next Christmas, especially since it says "Christmas in Chicago 2014".
We kept hearing people rave about the spicy German tomato soup they were serving in one booth, so Courtney bought a bowl. We both agreed that it was horrible and tasted a lot like watered-down ketchup from a bottle. I'm guessing the ravers were hitting the spiced wine pretty heavily before they tried the soup.
I meant to take a picture of our Thanksgiving day feast. Bruce and Courtney got up early and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then popped the turkey into the oven. While it was roasting, they put together a puzzle. I took a walk around the neighborhood, because the smells were driving me crazy. I was dumbfounded by all the people out at various restaurants eating non-traditional Thanksgiving meals. The McDonalds was packed with their "2 Big Macs for $5" special. I guess everyone was eating on the run, so they could head downtown to the Black Friday on Thursday sales. We stayed in and watched holiday movies while we enjoyed our dinner of turkey, dressing, green beans with almonds, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Scrumptious.
