More Chicago Christmas Trees

Christmas is only 4 days away...
This holiday season has flown by!

Here are your next 5 Chicago Christmas Trees:

Day 16 of Chicago Christmas Trees - The Peninsula Hotel

Do yourself a favor and DO NOT miss seeing these beautiful decorations in person!

Day 17 of Chicago Christmas Trees - The Drake Hotel

The Drake is beautiful & their decorations are classic Christmas. A great place for Christmas Tea.

Day 18 of Chicago Christmas Trees - Water Tower Place

Made of Legos!

Ok, honestly - Water Tower Place really got on my good side this year with their tag teaming advertising and decorations. What better place can you think of advertising to get children & parents, already in the Christmas spirit, to want to go and see the Museum of Science and Industry Charlie Brown Exhibit and Christmas Around the World? I mean, they're already at the Lego Store and/or American Girl Store - why not? A+ for creativity in my book!

Day 19 of Chicago Christmas Trees - Brookfield Zoo Lights
I had never been to Zoo Lights, always saying to myself, it's too cold... but I was invited to a party here and all I can say is the lights are just magical. No matter how old you are you just become awed by the lights. FUN!

Day 20 of Chicago Christmas Trees - The Hancock Building
Definately something spectacular to see at night, but it's still a fine tree during the day. It's just when it's all lit up - really pretty! Stop inside too to see their Train Village.

Well, only 5 more to go... I saved some of the best for last :)

Official Chicago Events Site

To make sure you don't miss one Chicago Christmas thing, visit the official website:
http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/events___special_events/special_events/mose/holiday_happenings.html

TREES!!!!!!

The hunt for the best Chicago Christmas Trees continues –

Please remember there is no rhyme or reason to the order of this list, in my hunt for the trees I am tracking the top ten places not to be missed and I will post that separately.

For now we will continue with the 25 days of Chicago Christmas Trees that we began earlier.

The eleventh day of Chicago Christmas trees comes from The Fairmont Hotel near Millennium Park. You’ll see there are two trees that balance their staircase beautifully. Quite an elegant sight.

The twelfth day of Chicago Christmas trees comes from The Swissotel. Fun and colorful.

The thirteenth day of Chicago Christmas trees comes from Pioneer Court in front of the Tribune Tower, across from The Wrigley Building. (day & night views) This is the first year they’ve placed a live tree here. Not too spectacular in the day, but at night we can see it from my office & it’s beautiful!

The fourteenth day of Chicago Christmas trees comes from The Four Seasons Hotel. The downstairs lobby, the upstairs lobby and a fun Gingerbread Hotel.

The fifteenth day of Chicago Christmas trees comes from Union Station, The Waldorf Astoria, The Hilton Suites, The Knickerbocker Hotel, The Allerton Hotel (with the iconic Tip Top Tap neon sign), The Aon Building, The Marriott on Michigan Avenue, and Millennium Station… (I had a few extra trees I needed to fit in)

Union Station Great Hall

 Waldorf Astoria Inside & Out

 The Knickbocker Hotel Lobby

 Knickerbocker Tree & Wreath

Hilton Suites Tree

The Allerton Hotel Tree

The Aon Building Tree

The Marriott Hotel on Michigan Avenue

Millennium Station Tree

This has been a great adventure! I feel like I’ve walked ½ the city. I do have my full quota for this year, I’ve only left a few stones unturned – you have to leave a few surprises for the future. I’m looking forward to revealing the next 10 spots… Merry Christmasing!

Christmas Movies

I LOVE Christmas! I know, I hardly show it…

I have quite a collection of Christmas movies and cartoons that I’ve gathered over the years.

People will ask about a favorite, that is a very difficult question. Some make you laugh, some make you cry, they all bring happy memories and feelings. These are the ones I own in no particular order:

1.       Elf
2.       How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Movie & Cartoon)
3.       It’s A Wonderful Life
4.       A Charlie Brown Christmas
5.       White Christmas
6.       Miracle on 34^th Street
7.       National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
8.       A Christmas Carol (2 versions)
9.       A Christmas Story
10.   Christmas in Conneticut
11.   A Year Without a Santa Claus
12.   Christmas with the Kranks
13.   Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
14.   Rudolph & the Island of Misfit Toys
15.   The Penguins Whacked Out Holiday DVD
16.   Christmas Snow
17.   It Happened on 5^th Avenue
18.   The Stingiest Man in Town
19.   Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
20.   Nestor, the Long Eared Christmas Donkey
21.   Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
22.   ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
23.   Rudolph & Frosty’s Christmas in July
24.   A 13 hour Christmas Collection
25.   Holiday Affair

Movies that are not part of my collection but that I enjoy are:

1 – 3) All 3 Santa Claus movies with Tim Allen
4) Holiday Inn
5) Arthur Christmas
6) Jack Frost
7) The Polar Express
8) Susie Snowflake
9) Hardrock, Coco & Joe
10) Little Drummer Boy

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Windows

When I was younger one of my family's holiday traditions was to drive into the city to look at the Christmas windows after eating Thanksgiving dinner. Back in the day, you could walk down State Street - which was closed to traffic, and look at the beautifully decorated windows at Marshall Field's, Carson Pirie Scott's and Sears. Today Macy's has taken over the Marshall Field's store and let's just say public opinion of their window decorations is less than favorable.

This year I have been on a hunt for the best Christmas decorations in Chicago and I have found new windows to admire.

Maybe these are just more fitting to my grown-up Christmas list...

Ralph Lauren had me at white peacocks, but the details in this window are exquisite! The ice on the fountain in the back, the flocked branches, all gorgeous. If you are trying to track this window down it is at the corner of Chicago & Michigan.

Proceeding a little further North on Michigan Avenue you run into Tiffany's - DO NOT miss these windows! My pictures do not do them justice. The fine attention to every detail is AMAZING!

And one more just for fun - these are my kind of reindeer!

Get out there and enjoy the season!

Christmas in Chicago

Special Warning - Goldie is a SUPER fan of Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, actually in Chicago it's been looking like Christmas since Halloween. I've been collecting pictures of Chicago Christmas Trees since November 6th, right after Macy's on State Street opened their Christmas windows. (Let's not discuss the Christmas windows in this blog.)

Chicago has SO many beautiful Christmas Trees. You can find them in hotel lobbies, shopping centers, office buildings, in front of buildings, just about everywhere.

This year I have made a point of finding at least 25 Chicago Trees for a friend who has been transplanted to another state for a while, they are a fellow lover of elf culture and I think it's been as fun finding the trees as it has been for them to receive a daily picture.

I've also been surprised at the number of places without even a politically correct Holiday Tree. I will leave that list for another blog also.

But tonight I figured I'd give you the first 10 Chicago Christmas Trees - this is by no means the top ten trees - these are just the first trees I've sent with a few bonus Gingerbread Displays thrown in for Hanukkah :)

This was the first pic sent, from the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue.

The second tree sent was from The Museum of Science and Industry - Christmas Around the World - a fun Charlie Brown theme this year.

And you can't have a Charlie Brown Christmas Exhibit without a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

The third Chicago Christmas Tree was from The Walnut Room inside Macy's on State Street - always beautiful. Great view from the 8th floor.

The forth Chicago Christmas Tree is from the inside of the Tribune Tower. LOVE this building!!! And the tree did not disappoint.

The fifth Chicago Christmas Tree is actually a grouping of trees that I spotted in the office building across from the Nordstrom. They looked great from the outside and even better inside. Kudos to this building for their Christmas spirit!

The sixth Chicago Christmas Tree is from outside my office building - day & night view. Bonus!

The seventh Chicago Christmas Tree is from Trump Tower - the one above is from the Residence Side and the one below is from the Hotel Side. Bonus!

The eighth Chicago Christmas Tree pictured below is from the Sheraton Hotel on the Chicago River. Beautiful decoration & impeccable placement in the room - but they need to borrow my light keeper pro, they have some serious patches of lights out.

The ninth grouping of Chicago Trees pictured below are from the lobby of the NBC Tower. I think they are particularly fun and festive.

Chicago Christmas Tree number ten comes from the office building next to mine - Snowmen! Adorable!!!

    A few bonus Gingerbread displays -

from the Marriott on Michigan Avenue, HUGE and SO cool!

from the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue

from The Wit Hotel on State Street

OK, that's 1 - 10, remember - these are in no particular order - feel free to check back - this elf is seriously on the hunt for the best trees in Chicago - before New Year's I plan to be able to name the top 10.