Family Date Night

The past few years, Zach and I have been talking about how to "do" Christmas with our kids.  We want it to be meaningful and special, and we love to bless our children with gifts, but we also don't want it to be too much, either (for practical purposes and for philosophical purposes).  We do incorporate Santa into our family Christmas, but we hold it very loosely, and we mostly "play" Santa and let the kids make their own conclusions.  We enjoy the "magical" aspect of Santa, but, of course, we really work the hardest at making Jesus's birth the center of our Christmas celebrations.  We settled on us giving each of our kids an ornament each year that represents something they enjoyed from that season of their lives, and then on Christmas morning, Santa brings three gifts to each child.  We have told our kids that Jesus got three presents from the Wise Men, so they get three presents, too!  They seem to enjoy the connection.  I have loved the simplicity that this has brought to our Christmas shopping, wrapping, and opening.  Our kids know what to expect, and they love and appreciate the three things they get.  We also take them to the Dollar Spot at Target and have them each pick out one thing for each of their siblings.  I love the value of them learning to give gifts to each other, while also sticking within our budget.  

We decided that with this "simpler" way of doing Christmas, we wanted to have a family experience for a gift each year.  This was more special to us than one more present under the tree, so we have chosen to make it our annual tradition to do a Family Date Night downtown Chicago.  Last night was our night!  We had such a blast.  We love taking our kids to the city, exposing them to the sights, sounds, and smells all around us.  I love them getting to soak in all the people and places and activity happening all around.  At Christmastime, we love looking at the lights, listening to street musicians, explaining the Salvation Army bell ringers, and seeing all the hustle and bustle on the streets.  I also love the opportunity to teach our kids how to bless people less fortunate than us.  One thing my husband wisely remembered to do was to bring McDonalds gift cards to give to those who were homeless or begging.  It soon became a treat to observe Micah looking for "people to bless," as he said.  When we ran out of gift cards, he wanted to stop and buy more, and I loved getting to watch his joy in giving to others.  I also was happy we could teach our kids not to be scared of homeless people, but, rather, to hand them the gift card, talk to them and say Merry Christmas, and simply give them a smile.  It was truly a joy.  

Sammy went on an earlier train to "work" with Daddy, a huge privilege for him.  Then the two of them met us at the train station to start our Date!  Our first stop was Macy's, and since we had extra time, we ended up walking through the maze to Santa Land and got the kids' picture with Santa.  We found the huge tree in the Walnut Room, and then we took our time walking to each window display outside, soaking in every detail and talking about all our favorite parts.

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Sammy pretending to be Buddy the Elf on the escalator.

AND....this is the way we roll.  Yep, that IS indeed a double stroller on an escalator.  My ambitious hubby's idea...But, hey, it worked...

The HUGE tree in the Walnut Room

Our next stop was Italian Village, a "fancy," restaurant, as our kids call it.  It is SO special to go, once a year, to a fun restaurant like this and teach our kids about cloth napkins, quiet voices, not putting spoons in their water cups, sitting nicely, etc.  We all even shared two pasta entrees, so it was pretty reasonable, too.  We had SUCH a nice and yummy dinner, and we got to be tucked away in our own, secluded booth!  Loved it.

Our last stop was the Christkindlmarket, which was busy with activity and people!  But we weaved our stroller through and loved seeing all the unique, German food and crafts.  We tried a cup of hot cocoa and some spiced, cinnamon almonds.  Yum!  Sophia liked them most of all!  We also loved the huge, lit tree!

And lastly, a McDonalds ice cream cone to end the trip at the train station before dashing onto the train.  We cozied up for some reading time on the way home, and Micah was thrilled that he got to have some ipad time past his normal bedtime!  Big deal in his world.

 And, Sammy?  Well, he fell asleep at 6:15 tucked into the stroller at the outdoor market and slept the next three hours until we got home, where we changed him into jammies and tucked him into his bed.  What a trooper!

Hoping that you get some sweet time with your family this Christmas, too!  May you be blessed!

Merry Christmas!