Holiday Visits to New York City and Chicago

Our December was a whirlwind. We started out in New York for a week. What a great time to be in the Big Apple. With a quintessential visit to Rockefeller Plaza and the Tree, we spent the weekend exploring all the holiday glitz. Our gift? A seasonal snowfall. While Kathleen worked hard during the week, Todd was able to take off and spend time with his family in Georgia. The treat at the end of the week was a night of dinner and theater -- a local Italian restaurant and "Sweet Charity" (which was surprisingly good -- I have to confess it was hard to imagine Christina Applegate in any other role than the one she had in "Married With Children"). Our next stop was the windy city of Chicago. What a great and much needed trip. Our stay was short but so sweet. Thanks to all our friends who made it so very good to be home. A big thanks to Emily and Jason as well as Amy and Sean for hosting us. And a huge congratulations to recent new parents, Rhonda and Craig who have a new daughter, Sophie Marie, and Jodi and Dave who also have a new daughter, Ava Marie. Congratulations! Keep us posted. Seriously, the only negatives about our trip were: (1) it was way too short and we didn't have a chance to see everyone we wanted to (2) it was cold :) and (3) we found out that Marshall Field's will soon be Macy's -- did news of this upset anyone as much as me? what will happen to Frango mints? the Walnut Room?