A brief recap of our Anniversary

So, the other night, we went to Chicago for the Christkindl market (which you already knew, you clever reader, you)- and it was fantastic! We also went to the Field Museum (which was fun) and Ice Skating-- it's actually been my goal to go to Chicago with Mikey in Decemeber and go ice skating outside for the past 3 years, but it hasn't happened until this year. This was the second best date we've ever been on, hands down (the first being when he proposed in Chicago) and it was just plain amazing. We drank (lots!), bought ornaments for our first Christmas tree together (after having chopped down the tree in the morning), tried a bunch of delicious food, and had a wonderful time just being able to spend time together.

The Christkindl market felt like a mini, German, Christmas-y version of the Taste of Chicago, and so it brought back memories of the proposal all the while cementing another part of our relationship. This year, we moved into a house, baked a turkey for Thanksgiving together, and now we've chopped down and decorated (or at least, have begun to) a tree of our own.

I've got a post on the way about Santa later, but I figured that I'd first share some pictures of our time there, first!


Here I am, drinking a special spiced German hot wine (which I'll have to ask Mikey for the name of, later-- I was a bit tipsy at this point) served in this adorable, *mini* boot! SO cute!


Next, we shared a brat with sauerkraut and mustard-- I normally don't like sauerkraut, but I really enjoyed it this time! Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was the couple boots I had knocked back- regardless, it was delicious.

Mikey, in his super warm hat, enjoying the brat.

Me, in my equally warm hat, enjoying the other half of the brat.
(The hat was part of Mikey's anniversary gift to me-- I love winter apparel!)

Mikey loves potato pancakes, and as you can tell, he was super excited to eat one!

*nom nom nom*

I don't think I put that boot down once, nor was it ever empty, the whole time we were there. :D

We didn't know that picture taking wasn't allowed in the individual stores, so here's one Mikey snapped of some miniature snow globes, before the shop keepers asked us (nicely) to put our camera away.

Here are some pictures of a few of the ornaments we purchased for our tree- they had mini ornaments, and so we got one for the three (human) members of the house.

For Sam:

For Mikey:

Aaand, for me:

Here's a picture of our tree so far- we've got red, blue and silver ornaments on it, with candy canes, a few assorted ornaments, and the owl Mikey got me from the Field Museum nestled snuggly on top.

How are your holiday plans coming along?