I've been quite bad at taking photos during our trip to Illinois, but we were really busy visiting friends and family, so here's a little taste of our adventures.
Christmas Eve we celebrated, as per usual, with the Anderson side of the family at the legion in Elburn. We spent the day grazing appetizers before the evening meal, and opening the make-gifts. One of my most favorite holiday traditions comes from Derek's family- the make gift drawing. You guessed it- home made gifts. The tradition of making ones gift very last minute also seems to come along every year. This year we made camp stools, and thanks to Amber, we finished them with tooled leather seats. I found the idea here if you want to make one yourself. This year I received, from Aunt Deb, a gorgeous, intricately knit market sac.
We spent a day at my parent's house, where we were surprised by a visit from my aunt and two cousins, and later in the day, my godparents. It's hard to believe my little cousins are grown up! It was so much fun to spend the afternoon with them.
Okay, random collage of a few holiday highlights...my aunt from California sent flowers for my mom and my cookie baking day-so sweet. My mom researched and tried out some vegan recipes including veggie panini with home made bread and chocolate chip cookies. My brother-in-law invented a new way to eat, well actually drink, the lutefisk- blended with some half and half and lingon berries (bleck), and managed to drink the entire concoction...yes a big and horrifying holiday dare that had us all laughing and gagging. A few of the lovely ladies from Sigma Pi Delta pledge class 2000 gathered for a happy dinner reunion, celebrating big moves, babies, and engagement. I hung the cuckoo clock gift we brought back for my family. Used our gift cards for a few essentials. Not pictured, we saw the silent film The Artist in Chicago and shared a fantastic dinner at Karyn's vegan with good friends. We spent an evening laughing with old friends and eating home cooked Indian food. One of my favorite days was a train trip to Oak Park, a walk, a visit to a vintage camera shop (yea! photo booth), a vegan dinner at Munch (yum! chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream), and the evening topped with coffee in big mugs, sitting in big chairs at Grahm's in Geneva with fabulous VQs. (Thanks Kevin for the food pictures below).
We had so much fun visiting new places and favorite spots, and mostly sharing these experiences with good friends. With little down-time, we took advantage of every second we could spend with our adorable little niece.
