...sigh...My vacation is over. I had a great time in Chicago with my mom and wish I could have stayed a little longer. We went downtown and did some shopping on the Mag Mile and looked at the holiday window displays at Marshall Field's and had lunch at the restaurant where my brother works. It's a really snazzy place and I had a yummy pot roast sandwich with horseradish and a baked to order strawberry shortcake that we shared. I wanted to go to Navy Pier but they didn't have anything interesting at this time of year and it's too cold to run the big ferris wheel. Daley's big freakin' money pit, I mean Milleneum Park, looked like it was just about finished. They had this big snowglobe thing that I think you could walk thru...hm...still not sure what I think about that. Even X-mas day with the family was normal and relatively non-dysfunctional. All in all, a very nice holiday and a nice weekend spent with friends when I returned. I loved that we *smudged* the fast approaching New Year! I hope it helps;>