Christmas in Chicagoland

It has finally started to feel like Christmas for us here in Chicago. In the last week or so we have had some very wintery weather, most of it has been tolerable. Except late last week, the temperature dropped suddenly and quite quickly, dumping us with a lot of snow, ice and very cold wind. Our walks to the public transport points have been incredibly difficult the colder it gets, because while the snow and wind is a nuisance, it is tolerable when the temperature is roughly 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, when the temperature drops to about 0 degrees, the wind (and snow) gets to be a little too much. Even with several layers of clothes and warm shoes, we still get chilled to the bone. But we still manage to survive in the freezing cold weather. It's sort of nice, because we know for sure that our groceries won't go bad in the half hour trip between store and house. It has been unusually icy and slushy, which makes a lot of problems when one has to cross the street and has no waders!

Tonight is Christmas Eve, and after a very busy few weeks at work, we are excited to be done with the insanity that a Chicago Christmas brings, especially working in retail. We want to go to a Midnight mass at our church and I hope there is a service we can go to. We are excited about sharing this Christmas together because it is our first "official" Christmas together. Our tree is all trimmed, our gifts are wrapped and stockings stuffed. We're meeting Tim's family for lunch tomorrow and while I'm excited, I'm also a bit nervous, because who knows what will happen when the five of us get together.

We have a lot to look forward to this month, because I (Christy) heard from our Operations Manager (OM) at work that he wants to keep me on after the holiday season. He said it in no uncertain terms, which is encouraging. Tim has been told that the OM wants to keep HIM on as well, and this is a way for us to (possibly) keep our jobs. This is a huge breakthrough for both of us, because while we might not be able to find "real" jobs (those that take place in offices and have health insurance, for example), we have jobs that we like, and that we are good at.

Christy's dad came to visit us for a few days earlier this month. We exchanged some Christmas gifts (and didn't open any!) and went out for dinner to catch up. It was the first time we had seen any family members since the wedding, and it was just a nice thing to do and it felt good to have some normalcy in our crazy and hectic work schedules. It was really good to see Tim and dad get together again. It was interesting because before the wedding they would only shake hands; now, my dad took the initiative and hugged him. I guess that means that Tim is really part of the family now.

Anyway, that's about all there is to say right now. Merry Christmas everybody!

Welcome to Chicagoland!

Hi everybody, and welcome to the "Adventures in Chicagoland" blog!

The reason I created this blog was to let our family follow our adventures here as we head out into the Big Wide World on our own.

Right now we are both working part time at a bookstore in downtown Chicago, which is a real blessing for us in this troubled economy. We enjoy the work but often wish we could work more shifts to feel more like a job and not just something to do in our spare time.

We have not been able to explore the city too much because we have been trying to find work, and we are still learning to balance our lives in a way that gives us time to both work and enjoy our playtime.

That is all for now, I have to start thinking about making dinner when Tim comes back from work. Take it easy, everyone.