Recovery

After feeling sick for a few days - just an upset stomach and some aches - I'm on the lovely, speedy road to recovery. Thankfully my mild illness didn't keep us from an incredibly fun whirlwind of Christmas. According to the song there are 12 Days of Christmas. According to our lineup, we had just 5 days of Christmas, followed by 1 Day of Bears. Here's the rundown:

1. B's Dad's Family Christmas Saturday - The furthest from our home, this celebration was a fun time with our nieces hopping around, dogs running around and a good time for all. After lots of food, lots of puppy/baby time and a long drive we rushed home, hopped into bed and rested up for...
   
2. Cousin's Party Sunday - This is a huge tradition in B's family. It's planning has been - somehow, sneakily - passed down to B's generation. As a planning type I took command of the food and Cousin's Party was a little work. We set up tables of food, a lineup of crockpots, dishes, napkins, etc... This year's fare was summertime eats so we at Vienna Beef hot dogs with fixings, pasta salads, fruit, sandwiches and more. It was terrific! We also had a crazy Junk Auction. This celebration is an event - and it's always fun. We had a few day's respite until the long and treacherous...
   
3. Princeton Trip - B and I drove out of the sunshine of Chicago into the rain-then-snow of Rockford. Then the whole family piled into the car to drive through the snow to Princeton to see my extended family in all their glory. The trip was snowy and slow, but we had a wonderful time seeing everyone, drinking a few beers at the Princeton Inn, singing carols with family, and all that fun stuff. We snuck away a little early to get back on the road. We made it home in good time and dozed off as Santa stopped by for...
   
4. Criner Christmas Morning was quite laid back. Fancy breakfast casserole, orange rolls, toast with jams, bacon, juice, coffee - fantastic! Everything my mom cooks is amazing to me, even with a stomach bug. We opened presents in traditional Criner fashion and a good time was had by all. Then we were on the (well-cleared) road again. To...
   
5. B's Mom's House for turkey dinner and family congregation. Turkey dinner was super laid-back, delicious and calm. We sipped a little wine, relaxed by the tree and chatted with family. Before too long we rushed out the door to meet my brother at our house for Bear's Game Eve.

The Bears Game isn't a Christmas Event, but it was the day after Christmas. We got ourselves bundled up and stomped through the snow to O'Donovan's - a bar we love that has a brunch special and a shuttle bus to Soldier Field. We hopped the shuttle (Eric manned the keg on the ride there - a school bus with a keg!) and cheered ourselves silly at the best Bears game of the season. Bear Down! Now we are truly relaxing - an easy pasta dinner, a bottle of wine, a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother, lots of lounging... Christmas can wipe you out.