I love Christmas traditions, and we have quite a few special ones that we have continued with throughout the years. When we moved away from Illinois, we wanted to make sure and keep our tradition of seeing Santa in Chicago and lunching at the Walnut Room. I am so glad we did. Though it was hectic and a lot of work to schedule, etc, it was well worth the hustle and bustle. It was truly magical and beautiful and I am already looking forward to going back next year!
We stayed at the Hotel Allegro and everything there was wonderful. I loved it!
Check out Blakesley’s pose! Ha, so cute!
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| Hotels with 5 people are always interesting to say the least. Luckily, we had a king suite and it was really big. Sonoma and Cora always argue and have a hard time falling asleep together. |
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| We walked around the Christmas Kindlemart and it was sooo cute. I loved going there! Sonoma got a really cool wooden nutcracker. |
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| When the girls woke up, they discovered that Pizza had come to Chicago and was watching them! |
We have pulled the girls out of school and gone to the city on a Monday the past two years. It is definitely worth skipping the weekend chaos at Marshall Fields ( Macy’s ). We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked down to State Street to look at all the beautiful Christmas windows!
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| State Street. |
We realized that this year, Macy’s doors were already open when we were there a little after 9:30 AM ( even though their website said 10 AM! ) So, Marcus sprinted up the escalators to get up to the 7th floor Santaland. When we met him up there, he had secured a spot in line and we were 5th. Marcus also ran up to the Walnut Room to get our pager for lunch, and there was already a wait until 11:30-12:00 time slot. We were done with Santaland by 10:15 AM and then had an hour and a half to shop around and kill.
We love Santaland!
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| Poor little Blakesley!! She reminded me exactly how Cora was her 2nd Christmas. |
The Walnut Room is just gorgeous!! We love having lunch there.
The girls couldn’t wait to see the fairies and make wishes on the wishing stones.
After a yummy lunch and dessert of “build your own snowman ice cream sundaes,” we went back to our hotel to pack up and leave.
What a memorable Christmas celebration in Chicago. A huge piece of my heart will always be with Chicago and I am so happy to keep a special tradition there for the girls.
