New Years Eve

It's been a whirlwind, the past couple weeks! 2 trips to Southern Illinois in Dec. so far. Christmas at mom's, last week was fun. I had asked mom to dig out my birth certificate so I could get my passport. (Scott had a surprise, which required a passport . . .) Anyway, my sister, bro-in-law and nieces came down, and we had our family Christmas on Wed. The girls were being angels, knowing how excited they were to open all their presents under the tree. They sat at the family room table with me all evening, while I worked on Scott's book, and we made a book for them to color, too! Then we all came back to Chicago on Thurs. (I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.)

An Arctic blast zapped the midwest that week. I was lucky and didn't get stranded. (The National Guard was called out to rescue people off the highway I take, a stretch, just East of where I travel on I 70.)


Scott and I met our friend Richard (aka "The mayor") at the Drake for High Tea, the Monday before Christmas week. It puts Marshall Fields to shame! A model train in a snowy Christmas village, in the upper lobby area, a huge Christmas tree decorated with gigantic ornaments, ceramic angels flying from the ceiling, giant wooden soldiers flanking the great staircase, carollers in authentic turn-of-the-century English clothing, a harpist - spectacular event! The "Mayor" brought me back some cigars from S. America - (he just returned from a trip where he hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu, then on up to Lake Titticaca - the "Lake in the Sky".) I brought a box of liqueur - filled chocolate for him. We opened gifts to the strains of live-carollers, beneath the bubbling fountain, center-stage, having tea and those little finger sandwiches and biscuits with clotted cream and marmelaide!


We said our goodbyes, and Scott and I walked over to Marshall Fields to see the Jackie "O" Christmas Tree from the 1962 White House. Walked down State Street to see the beautiful decorations, shopped for gifts at Carsons, had a really nice time!


Scott and I had our Christmas on Monday, when he got back from his folks (Carlinville - downstate Ill). He really loved his handmade book/art ablum I made, including original artwork of his new kitten, photos and an original story! I got him a silver cannister to put the kittens registry papers (Tonkanese) in, when they come, next month, a Parker Bros. game from back in the 70's (Ouija Board), a big box of Omaha Steaks, and a bottle of champagne to sip while we opened gifts!

I got a new Andrew Marc leather thermostat jacket, the latest from NY, a matching Mont Blanc pen to go with the mechanical pencil he got me last Christmas, a box of assorted and sinful Teuscher chocolates from Switzerland, 2 dozen WOODEN coat hangers (my wire hangers were driving him crazy! lol) - AND . . .

. . . Passport mystery solved! The surprise of my life! Scott handed me an envelope after we were done exchanging gifts, and said, "Oh, by the way, here is a little something, not much of a Christmas present, but just a little something . . ."

I opened the envelope, and it said "Merry Christmas from Scott" - a two-week European vacation to a destination of my choosing - with some suggestions, printed from an Internet travel board, like- biking the Chambord region in France, Vienna/ Salzburg, Italy, Scotland/Iceland - England, etc! Stay tuned for that. (It's leaning towards the Iceland biking adventure, right now!)

I got home that night, and was talking on the phone with my friend Ed (who was in on all the Christmas mischief) - and as I was unpacking the gifts, I came upon a small envelope . . .

Inside were 2 tickets to Lyric Opera's "Tosca" (which I've never seen) - on - of all days - VALENTINE'S DAY!) OK - we had tears. Sorry, I never do that - but they were just welling up inside, by the end of the day - and boom! Tears of joy - how often does THAT happen???

I've been on cloud 9, for obvious reasons! Well, the Sunday after Christmas, I got off work a couple hours, and went to Caribou for a couple hours to finish up Scott's Christmas book. (Backtracking just a little, here.) But, I met the most interesting guy, Martin - a rancher from Texas. We sat and talked for another hour. My friend Joel - one of Caribou's most fascinating clientelle - dropped by, and I introduced the two of them, and we had a wonderful time.


I was so wired on caffeine - that I stopped by the Jail House for a drink, on the way home, and met another really interesting guy - Jim (Jimmy) - in from the far-west suburbs. He was off all week for the holiday. We had a great time talking, and we ended up walking over to Sidetracks for a night cap! So, the whole evening was one of those where everybody just clicked and jived. Not often, that happens!


So, the next week . . . Monday, Scott and I did our Christmas . . . Tuesday, I met our friend Ed for more coffee, at the new Caribou. Talked about his trip to Minneapolis - where it got down to 30 below and were hit by that blizzard. He counted 96 trucks off the road on the Interstate! I walked him to his house, and went grocery shopping and spent the night in.


Wednesday, we had a coffee outing with one of my groups. Ed met me and we had a nice time learning what a 'small world' it is. They knew "Our Doug" and we had a good time comparing notes. I left after an hour . . . I had previously made dinner plans with Nina to have our Christmas dinner. Even tho she is Jewish and Buddhist! We dined at Cornelia's and had a great evening.


Well, that pretty much brings us up to NY Eve, today. Our plans kinda fell through for tonight. Scott ended up having to work till late, and has to go in early tomorrow, so we decided to skip it, this year. We can't top last year seeing the B52s at Navy Pier, champagne, and fireworks across the Chicago skyline!


Monday, we plan on going ice skating down at the Garfield Park Conservatory, then a nice dinner somewhere and a movie. He is invited to the Golden Globes, on Jan 16, so he wants to try to catch up on some of his movies. . . Happy New Year, to you, may it be the BEST YET!