The Holders were away on a travel vacation over Christmas proper, but flew back in to Chicago yesterday. And so we made plans to hang out, and to have a late birthday dinner/celebration for Kirt.
After showing folks around our house (and our newly updated floors)… we decided on something for our afternoon: mini-golf.
Post breakfast, everyone gathered in the new addition (a part of the house that I still refer to as “new,” despite it being over 30 years old). L to R, it’s Stacey, Shane, Liz, me, Nathaniel, Jasmine, Jahnu, and my mom (photo courtesy of dad).
The goal is to steal a jewel from the museum. To do so, you need to move the locks off the top of a jewel, relocating them onto other locks… and to move the jewel onto a pedestal in the middle of the board.
The catch: each player gets to use just one tiny hand. The crew gets 90 seconds to complete the task, without bumping any of the lasers.
A pretty slow day, today. I was working, but everyone else mostly lazed around the house. Towards the evening, we all gathered at my sister’s house.
Stacey and Shane treated the whole family to a nice dinner at Seasons 52, over at Keystone.
But Stacey proposed something new – going out to Topgolf. We did the math, and this excursion ended up being cheaper than an escape room (and for 2 hours, instead of just 1).
I’ll be honest – I wasn’t exactly sold on this, as I don’t really play golf. And I wasn’t sure how much fun it would be. But I was wrong! We had a blast!
We opened up some gifts that Katie and Tim sent along, for Hugo and Hazel. A bit of an early Christmas, for the two of them. The gifts from Katie/Time are always a hit (Hugo has a small blanket thing that he got last year, that he still absolutely loves). A small little holiday preview…
For a late Christmas get-together, Liz and I headed over to Merrillville, for a lovely evening/dinner at Katie and Tim’s house.
So this year, a bonus that neither Liz nor I got sick. Last year, we had the chance to make some rounds, but things got cut short due to Covid.
While I’m glad we got some extra time with my sister’s family this year, it was nice to have our own little Christmas, back home in Chicago.
Group photo! Another masterclass in how to balance a phone precariously, for 10 seconds.
Closer to midnight. We opted to stay in, instead of going out to midnight service at St. John’s. I miss the ritual and tradition of it (and the singing), but welcomed time with my family… just hanging out.
My parents had brought over some champagne a day or two ago, which may have been for mimosas. But we ended up opening the bottle tonight. My dad wanted a toast, and wanted a family photo… so with a slight bit of balancing on the fireplace mantle, he got his Christmas wish.
Another lazy day today, not much to show. Putzed around the house and mostly relaxed. I’m sure there was a lot of TV watching. Perhaps a nap or two.
We did have one big family activity, but it took place much later in the day. We had a late evening (7PM) escape room booked, at Escape Room USA.
It was cold out, but we all braved the temps to seek out mulled wine and raclettes.
Liz, looking out for hardware pieces that match what we have in our house. She’s been on the hunt for literally years now.
Forgot to post up some images of our Christmas tree, lights and all. To spruce things up, Liz found a few bunny images online… and traced them as makeshift ornaments.
Seriously contemplating the price tag.