As many of you may know, my mother was born and raised in Chicago, IL. Her mother and most of her family still live in the surrounding area. It only takes five hours to get there, but we don’t make it out there often enough. This year was the exception.

Christmas Eve, we were blessed with good weather and light traffic; we made good time. Ben and I had dinner with my Grandmother, Mother and sister. Mom and I went to church while sick Ben went to bed.

*Note: this is the first year EVER that Ben has not spent Christmas Eve at his mother’s house. They both handled it very well. :)

Christmas Day, we all drove out to my Aunt Sue’s house in Waterman, IL, about an hour outside of Chicago. We ate and drank and in Ben’s case, napped. (see above picture) There are no children in the family anymore; the two youngest cousins turned 18 last summer. Becca and Amy haven’t been “children” for at least a couple of years now, but this year seemed different somehow.

We had to get on the road early the next day, as Becca had to be back to work. I think they both slept all the way home; Ben was still on cold medicine. I waited until we got home to take some myself. I told him not to breathe on me! :)

The rest of the week has moved by in a blur. Ben had his annual high school reunion and was out later than I would have preferred. Maybe he got me sick on purpose so that I couldn’t join him on his outing. Those boys are crazy when they get together. Ben assured me there was no climbing on tables this time.

Next up: New Year’s Eve! Chili, Cincinnati style and probably some party games. See you all there!