homebound

This time next week, Dave and I will be flying home for the holidays. Yay! A few days in Chicago, a few in Madison, and then a few more in Chicago. It's bound to be a whirlwind couple of weeks and I cannot wait. 

Truth be told, I am a feeling a little homesick these days. Christmas in California is weird; all of the telltale signs of the holidays are strikingly absent. You know, like winter. I mean, December without snow is just strange. And the big Christmas tree in Union Square is flanked by palm trees, people. That is just not right.

Plus, our usual Christmas shopping traditions (including a leisurely jaunt down Michigan Avenue) have been crushed by practicality. To avoid hauling packages on the plane, we have (reluctantly) decided to ship all of our Christmas presents instead. Turns out, placing an online order is not nearly as joyous and satisfying as walking out of a store with your purchase in hand. Without presents to wrap or a Christmas tree to decorate, and without nights cold enough for hot chocolate and ice skating, Christmas here is feeling a little empty thus far.

Of course, we can easily overcome the minor oddities associated with spending the holidays in a warm climate (there are worse things in life than palm trees, I know). But we are missing our hometowns and our homepeople terribly, and it's hard to get past. Really hard. Don't get me wrong, we know San Francisco is the right place for us and we look forward to spending many more years here. It does, however, lack a few things that are distinctly Chicago and uniquely Wisconsin, things that we are really looking forward to experiencing again:

*

snow

cheese curds

spotted cow/312

deep fried everything

ice skating in grant park

frozen custard from culver's

christmas lights on michigan avenue

the chicago skyline (the prettiest in the world)

midwest accents (californians make me feel like this)

ian's macaroni and cheese pizza (don't be afraid, it's so good!)

eleven city diner (i have yet to find decent matzo ball soup out here)

***

And of course, we cannot wait to hug our families and friends. We have missed them most of all...

P.S. Please note that I did not add Chicago style pizza to the list. No, no, no. We haven't been away for that long.