Last year Chris and I attended the Magnificent Mile Holiday Lights Parade for the first time.
And given the fact that the only parades I've ever been to involve horses carrying rodeo queens,
and seventy year old men driving small go carts through horse shit,
I thought the Mag Mile Parade was amazing.
Last year as we stood on the street struggling to see over dads holding kids on their shoulders,
I remember looking up into the Omni Hotel's restaurant and seeing all of the happy people enjoying
lovely dinners as they watched down on the parade.
I said to myself, that's gonna be us next year.
This is the restaurant, it's called 676.
So last June I made reservations for this year's parade- which was on Saturday.
Naturally, I imagined the night would go something like this:
Chris and I would have a table right against the window.
We'd both be dressed to the nines.
We'd sip on champagne while we waited for the parade to start.
Frank Sinatra Christmas music would be playing overhead.
We'd munch on light appetizers and talk about the new Santa Clause
at Macy's everyone was buzzing about,
or whether or not we should invite Uncle Frank to Christmas this year.
The parade would pass by just as our perfectly grilled steaks arrive.
We'd laugh and eat and feel so happy as the floats passed right by us.
What a magical night.
In reality this is what we actually walked into Saturday evening:
Kids running around the restaurant like wild animals.
"It's a Mickey Mouse Christmas" blaring overhead.
Parents screaming at their wild animals.
Toy trains circling the restaurant whistling "NEVER HAVE KIDS" at every turn.
And our table was nowhere near the window.
Which was okay, because the windows were covered in kids, slobber, and chocolate finger prints.
And here's the worst part, 676 was only offering a BUFFET on this "special night."
I like buffets. On Sunday afternoons. But on a Saturday night in my skinny jeans?
No thank you.
And so we left the reservation I'd had for over six months.
It's not that I don't like kids. It's just that when I have a pretend-non realistic-night planned,
I'd like it to go accordingly.
In hindsight, perhaps I should have known that when choosing the restaurant that has the
best view for a CHILDRENS parade, there will be a lot of CHILDREN
and CHILDREN themes.
Live and learn. Perhaps I'll return with Knox in a few years. Perhaps.
On another note, almost all of my Christmas decor is officially out.
And you can judge me, that's fine.
I know some people get all hot and bothered when it comes out before Thanksgiving,
but I don't care. It just had to be done.
And who likes Thanksgiving decorations, anyway?
One can only get so creative with the brown, orange, and yellow color scheme.
So like the old man from Field of Dreams said,
If you build it, it will come.
(Of course we all know IT is Christmas, obviously.)
So I built it all day yesterday.
And then I relished in my hard work last night by sitting in our living room with the lights off,
surrounded only by the glow of a Christmas tree.
It was quite lovely. The only thing missing was egg nog and Cousin Eddie in a dickey.
Compared to past years, I came away with very minimal injuries even.
Just a few hot glue gun burns and a bruised hand, nothing too severe.
I don't think I fell off a stool once, that's a record for me.
There was one close call, but nothing compared to the time
I almost fell off our apartment balcony in Kansas trying to compete with our neighbor's light show below... My lights won, obviously.
And I'm feeling very confident I won't burn the garland around my fireplace
this year.
I just have to remember to open that one thing before I start any fires.
And also stay away from the lighter fluid.
Needless to say, I am feeling quite accomplished today.
Now before I go make the seventy two different recipes I pinned yesterday,
(all involving apple cider sangria or cheese bread)
here's the winner from the November giveaway: congrats Stephanie Samuel!
Happy Thanksgiving week!
