Chicago Christmas Traditions

Last Friday we took the girls downtown to see the decorated windows at Macy's on State. This is my favorite department store ever (not Macy's, just the one on State). The building is huge and gorgeous inside and out. It is especially magical at Christmas time.



This year the windows were decorated to tell the story of the Nutcracker.

We went from window to window watching the animated scenes and reading the story of Clara and her Nutcracker prince. Alli was mesmerized.

Ruby was a vegetable... or maybe she was mesmerized too.

Ruby loved the FAO Schwarz section of the store. There were amazing stuffed animals at 3/4 scale of the real animals. It was like being at the zoo... an exotic petting zoo with very sedated runt animals.

Alli was a good helper with Ruby. She lifted her up to see a lion on a table.

The store was decked out. The tree in the Walnut Room was amazing! It was decorated by none other than Martha Stewart. Unfortunately, we arrived at the Walnut Room ten minutes after the last seating, so we didn't eat under the giant tree. Next time.

We did make it just in time to see Santa. They closed the line right behind us. Alli was anxious to tell Santa what she would like for Christmas. She got up on his lap and gave him a hug, and then he asked her what she wanted...

It was A Christmas Story moment. Alli went blank.

Uh. Ummm. Uh.

Finally she said, "I want a teddy bear." Up until that moment, a teddy bear had not been on her list.

Ruby was not excited about Santa. At all.

After all the Christmas excitement, we were starving, so we went to Wow Bao (a place that serves Asian dumplings...or hot Asian buns as they say). We were there just before closing, so we got a dozen dumplings for free.

I love the magic of Christmas time, especially in downtown Chicago.