This weekend my mother in law was visiting, so we met up downtown to witness the annual spectacle that is Christmas in Chicago. It's definitely magical and beautiful blahblahblah but let me tell you, Saturdays in December are craaaaaazy. Be prepared. We spent a few hours wandering the floors of the store formerly known as Marshall Field's, which I love visiting for the gorgeous architecture alone (see above and below). It also sells those delicious mint chocolates called Frangos, and I might have grabbed an impulse buy of Frango chocolate mint liqueur (best. find. ever).
And then we attempted the Christkindlmarket, which is an adorable little German-style open air market set up in Daley Plaza, featuring delicious food and booths selling gorgeous hand blown glass ornaments and other kitschy Christmas things. I had been there once in high school for a German class field trip on a weekday and it was awesome. However, this Saturday it was INSANE. There were so many people crammed into the plaza that it was almost impossible to even get to the booths, let alone move! We instantly became claustrophobic and had to get out. (But if you're visiting the city I still recommend checking it out! It's like the Christmas version of the Bean.)
MASS CHAOS
Apparently this weekend was also a huge Christmas themed all-day bar crawl in Wrigleyville called TBOX. The Addison red line station smelled like a frathouse and the streets were packed with a river of drunk people in elf and slutty Santa get-ups. Never a dull moment...
I was exhausted once we eventually made it home but I finally feel like Christmas is here!