Delayed

In Phoenix, on Christmas Eve, our plane encountered a fueling problem. The fuel trucks gauge was broken so it couldn't tell how much fuel it was putting into the plane. The back-up for a problem like this is that each tank on the plane has a dipstick that can be used as a measuring tool. The problem with our plane was that one of the dipsticks was broken.

It really is a wonder that flights ever leave, let alone on time. You would be shocked at the amount of things that can go wrong with planes. Like, really big things. Like fuel gauges.

It was a fairly minimal delay to Chicago (I think all the passengers were able to make their connections), but one that caused us to miss our Buffalo flight. They couldn't find any place else to send us, so they sent us home. I listed myself on the next flight to South Bend, got one of the last sets on the plane and was in the swing of Christmas in less than two hours after landing in Chicago from Phoenix. Merry Chrstmas to me, from United....

I missed dinner, but they had leftovers waiting for me. Then there was Christmas caroling courtesy of Julia. She planned ahead: There were printed lyric books and everything. I'm pretty sure I was never that productive on Christmas break.

  

Favorite picture #1 of Christmas eve. By the look on his face you would think the drills were for Jake. Look at the surprise, excitement, and pure giddiness in his eyes. They are not in fact his. He bought them for his Grandfather, so I don't know where the "look of surprise" comes from. But there it is. 

Boys and their toys.

After they come off the presents, Westfalls wear their bows.

Favorite picture #2 of Christmas Eve. If you are reading this and you are a girl, do not pretend that you didn't take pictures of yourself "modeling" your new faux fur scarf, or what have you. If they could be found, there are crazy embarrassing photos (in both quantity and content) of me and my friends hamming it up in our favorite outfit creations and serious model faces.

You go girl, and I'm glad you like your scarf.

While I wish that there was snow, it is Christmas in Michigan after all, you really can't beat the weather we had on Christmas. We enjoyed the relative warmth by burning the boxes and paper in the backyard (one is never too old for a little fire fun) and going for a stroll. 

What a gorgeous day!

"Hello my name is Jake. I grew up in the '90s and I kick ass at roller blading."

I was really spoiled. This sure beat a quick night in Buffalo, a midday Christmas flight back home, and then a solo drive up to Michigan after all the Christmas fun was had without me. All thanks to a broken dipstick.

A Wonderful Day

Since seeing the Nutcracker last year we have been talking about catching another holiday show this year. It was a bit of trial and error to find a good show at a reasonable price

 (A Christmas Story: The Musical, $180 on the low end. No thank you.)

Danielle found a little theater doing a production of It's a Wonderful Life. We were in. 

This was our day "Chicago Christmas Spectacular" day. (We didn't really call it that, I just made that up)

First, bundle up! Wool hat, ear muffs, wool coat, sweater, leggings, knee high wool socks, boots, scarf, gloves: check, check, check, check.

Then we went to the ChristKindl Market. It was pretty spot on with the Christmas markets I have been to in Germany, except this one was CRAZY busy. There were pretty booths selling traditional Santa figurines, ornaments, food/drinks, and home made goods from Germany and other countries.

A booth selling some pretty ornaments

Some traditional live music

SO many people

a peek into a shop window

 Jake and I got a little overwhelmed by all the craziness and took a walk around the perimeter for a bit. In a quiet corner of the market we found a crepe stand.

mmmmmm, tasty.

After that we took in some of the Christmas decor around downtown.
I'm sure other cities do to, but Chicago does Christmas pretty big. Every building and shop screams "Holiday", "Christmas", "Winter" at you as you walk past.

Planters outside an office building

Christmas trees and presents on the Wrigley Building

Planters on Michigan Avenue. They always have something pretty and creative all year round.

The water tower in Lego form!

Christmas tree at John Hancock building.

Us ladies all bundled up.

After a quick and snug cab ride, we went to dinner and then to the show.

I selfishly took a bucket seat, sorry boys and Danielle.

The show was so much fun! It was at a little theater in Lincoln Park called Victory Gardens on their Biograph stage. They performed It's a Wonderful Life as a live radio show set in the 1940's. They treated us like a live audience at their regular taping. They started the show by having us join in on some caroling (fun!).
The actors did a great job, all of them did multiple voices/characters. The sound effects guy was really awesome. He was always on cue, and since the show was set in the '40s, nothing was computer generated. During the "commercial breaks" they read shout out cards written by audience members before the show started. There were a lot of birthdays and anniversaries, awww. After the show the cast met us in the lobby holding trays of milk and cookies. It was just pure and sweet old-fashioned christmas  quaint. (Does that sentence make sense to you? I'm gonna go with it.) If you are looking to catch a Christmas show in chicago, go see It's a Wonderful life live at the Biograph (and invite me).

Jake's highlight of the day:
While sitting waiting for the show to start, Jake spotted a familiar face.
"Hey, it is one of the actors from Murder for Two!"
"Oh, yeah! Your right! Good eye."
"Talk to him."
"No, you do it." "You are closer." "What do I say?"
"Just say you saw the show and that he did a good job."
So I did that "Hi, I just wanted to say we all saw you in Murder for Two and loved it. You did a great job." Danielle and Brenda turned and said something similar. Jake talked about this for the rest of the night and into the next day.
After the show he tried to talk me into getting a picture with him for the sake of "your blog", but he really just wanted a picture of him. I refused, I had already talked to the guy for him and asking to take pictures with strangers is embarrassing (and I know embarrassing)!

Jake, said in dramatic tone, "Who would ever think we would ever see that guy again in our lives and we see him in the audience at another play!"

Merry Christmas!

In an unrelated note: Six followers! Thanks Mom! This blog is going places.

Halls: Decked

Yesterday we made our yearly trip to Menard's to pick out our Christmas tree.

I will spare you the dramatic saga that lead us to Menard's three years ago. I'll just say it involved tears after visiting a grocery parking lot tree store, several heated "We are spending $85 on a tree!"

"I'm just going to buy it when you are at work and then we won't be able to return it"

and then more tears. 

Then we discovered Menard's where you can buy a very fancy Noble Fir for $29 or a lowly Scotch pine for around $11. They are true to their moto!

"Save BIG money at Menard's!"

Jake does the manly things like carry it up the stairs, settle it in the stand, and cut the twine. 

How cute is he? I mean really?!

I do the lady things like put on the lights and ornaments.

It might seem like a cute coincidence that we are both wearing flannel shirts. It's not. It was Jake's idea. 

In fact, he made sure I took several pictures of "[him] with the tree in [his] flannel shirt and manly gloves." 

We both hate the star/snowflake tree topper, but it works until the day I find "the one". I don't know what it will look like, but I will know it when I see it. 

Merry Christmas!