SD 1724–1760: Thanks to a late Thanksgiving started December in a hotel room in Minneapolis. It was a fancy boutique hotel but I am a little annoyed at them because they charged me $14 for internet I am positive I did not opt into. They are also the party responsible for the bikes from the incident in September.
~*~anyway~*~
I took off early to make sure I had time to hit up the new restaurant in the foyer of Union Depot for brunch.
It’s really good. I recommend hitting them up for any pre-Borealis boarding ritual.
I managed to snag a window seat for the return journey, which I was thankful for. Train was sold out so I had a seat mate for much of the ride but it was several hours of good drifting in and out of consciousness while listening to podcasts.
Sad to make the return trip solo, but such is life! Or something. One day I will finally drag someone with me for Christmas and/or Thanksgiving. Maybe. Maybe not. Who can never be sure.
I was thankful to make it back to beautiful Chicago.
Home, where I am safe to have brunch as often as possible.
Hmm, which reminds me, I mentioned the closing of Revolution but I did not recount that Andy, Barrett, Dane, Matt, and I went for one last brunch only to discover the brunch menu had already been discontinued. The servers seemed unprepared and the food was not… great. A sad end to… 15 years of brunches and dinners? I could look up the opening but… but I am not. I am a good documentarian.
The first Saturday I was back we’d planned to decorate the tree with Andy and Barrett but Dane was feeling under the weather so we ended up canceling the plans and decorating with just the three of us. Always happy to get things decorated, but sad to not have the semi-tradition of doing it with friends.
And then Derek and Jeremy returned from Japan!
And then it was time for the work holiday party!
I succeeded once again in pacing myself and preventing a repeat of 2021.
Then I rode the bus a lot and took a bunch of Ubers in a totally normal and responsible fashion.
Holiday card interlude! Wanted to give one last send off to Babycat. The back had a photo collage of us with her over the years.
I liked the colored line treatment I stumbled upon, though I think I end up liking the non-digital illustration versions better. Or maybe I just don’t love iPad drawings for this. There was a pixel art card and a vector art Chicago flag I liked.
We once again failed to bring back our Christkindlemarket and Walnut Room tradition, but I did sneak away again during lunch and after work with the devs for some glühwein from a boot.
Dad sent us supplies for a pulled pork meal from Sam’s Club so I cooked (by which I mean I used the oven to heat up prepared food) for all three of us for the first time since we moved into the condo… in 2014.
More brunch!!!
Matt’s mom came to stay for a couple days for Christmas, from Christmas Eve to the Friday after. Dane used this as an opportunity to take down Matt’s whiteboard to make more space in the office to setup an air mattress. She was a little cold but I think we did a decent job hosting her.
Matt likes to open all our presents on Christmas Eve and save Santa gifts and stockings for Christmas Day. I’d switch the ratio and save some more gifts for Christmas Day but marriage (we’re not married) is about compromise. A good blend of gifts from family and each other. The real game changer was a last minute request from me for a milk frother which lead Matt and Dane to both buy me one.
We had Derek and Jeremy join us for Christmas Day dinner which was lovely. And then we were able to surprise them with a milk frother which conveniently turned out to be the same model they had previously which had broke. Serendipity!
Then I went to brunch again and looked cute in a new sweater. Shockingly Derek takes nicer pics of me than I take of Matt and Dane while they’re making faces at brunch. He’s pretty cool guy who’s not afraid of anything anxious about the exact same things as me.
For New Year’s we decided to stay in the neighborhood to avoid having to travel during the chaos of the night and went down the street to Logan Arcade for their celebration. Matt and Dane made a valiant effort but clocked out around 10:45pm. I forced our friends to countdown so we could kiss before they left.
Then I stayed out with Derek and Jeremy who came to join along with several of their other friends who stopped by. Logan passed out tiny bottles of Malört for a midnight toast. There were no survivors.
Here’s to a blurry 2025! 2024 had some very low lows but there were also some very very positive developments. It was also the most challenging year for myself professionally (so far!). Not that 2023 was great. Or 2020. Hmm.
I am… very much not optimistic about 2025, but we have to make the best of it and be there for each other. So that’s what I will attempt to do.