Christmas

We’ve been a little behind the times with this whole blog thing. Initially I was anti-blog because I found them narcissistic. Since then I’ve come to appreciate their ability to keep family and friends in-touch. The following posts are an attempt to make up for lost time…

The weekend before Christmas was spent in Chicago with the Bos family. Saturday afternoon Melissa, mom, and I went downtown to check out the window displays at Macy’s. They had a Mary Poppins theme. The windows themselves presented little entertainment value, however this year the window displays are surrounded by controversy as they represent a long-standing Marshall Field's tradition. Marshall Field & Co. has been a Chicago establishment since 1881. Their location on State Street and Washington is the second largest department store in the country and dates back to 1914. So when Federated Department Stores purchased Marshall Field in 2005, and declared in September of 2006 that the store was being renamed ‘Macy's on State Street,’ Chicago went into an uproar. As we viewed the window displays protesters roamed the sidewalks passing out anti-Macy’s bumper stickers and calling for a boycott. I always love a good controversy.
After the windows we checked out the city Christmas tree. It was located in a plaza among a few dozen kiosks where vendors from around the world sold their Christmas trinkets.
Following our trip downtown, Melissa, mom, dad, and I met Marilyn and Jack at Dionysus for authentic Greek cuisine. Our appetizer, Saganaki, was set ablaze in front of us...OPA! Melissa had leg of lamb and she found it tender and delicious. I had broiled tilapia which was great. We all had Galaktaboureko for dessert which is custard topped with phyllo dough. Delicious, but it definitely won’t help you achieve the physique of a Greek god.
On Christmas Eve I watched the 2-12 Lions host the 12-2 Bears. The Lions played tough all game long, and had the lead for much of the 4th quarter. The Bears benched their rookie starting quarterback, Grossman, which gave their offense enough of a spark to regain the lead. The game ended with the Lions down by 5 points with 7 seconds left and the ball at the Bear’s 20 yard line. Kitna scrambled out of the pocket to avoid a sack and found an open receiver in the end-zone. The pass was perfect, but the ball bounced out of his hands incomplete. Game over. It was not an easy game to watch while in suburban Chicago.

Melissa worked Christmas day, so I headed over to my parent’s house for some old-school Schaaf family time with mom, dad, and Darren. Dad spent the day laboring over his second annual batch of Uncle Ken’s Christmas Chili. It went great with a traditional Schaaf fresh-baked loaf of beer bread on the side.
I managed to come out on top of a close game of Settlers of Catan. Darren placed second, and dad took a very close third; which was quite impressive considering that for the most part he was more interested in the bowl of chili he was eating than in the game. Mom’s numbers just weren’t rolled enough for her to do anything, and she spent much of the game being plundered by black Pete.
After Settlers we all headed over to my place for some eggnog and hot coco. Mom brought a blueberry/blackberry pie that really hit the spot. When Melissa got home from work we had our little gift exchange and socialized around the fire-place.
To end the evening, Darren and I played the new game I received, Carcassonne. It’s kind of a combination of Settlers and Dominos. I’ve only been able to play it with two players at a time so far, but it has still been very fun.