When I was a little girl, my mom started taking me to Marshall Field's at Christmas to see the Great Tree and have lunch at The Walnut Room. We would dress up and go "downtown" to the wonderful store on State Street in Chicago. The white tablecloths, dark paneling, it all felt so urban and grow-up. The servers were all older women, dressed in black. They would give you a slip of paper and a pencil. You would write down your own order and give it to them. We would often get Fields Special. A weird concoction. The bottom was a piece of pumpernickel bread, then turkey, bacon slices, a half a head of iceberg lettuce and then the whole thing was drenched in thousand island dressing. I've never had anything like it anywhere else. The ornaments on the great tree were all handmade. Marshall Field's had employees that whose sole occupation was to make the ornaments and decorate the tree. I'd get a kiddy cocktail - with a cherry! - and we'd order Frango mint pie for dessert.
Many details have changed - not necessarily better or worse, just different - but the memories created are the same. It's now Macy's instead of Marshall Fields. The servers are now a diverse group. You no longer write down your menu choices. And now it's me taking my daughter for lunch "under" the great tree. This year’s 45-foot-tall tree featured iconic ornaments from Great Trees of the past along with toys from Santa’s workshop, red bows and tinsel and thousands of lights. There is a fairy princess sprinkling fairy dust and asking for your holiday wish. We saw her but she didn't make her way to our table - which was okay, Maya was a bit overwhelmed by it all. Her favorite part of the meal - perhaps even the whole day - was the snowman ice cream dessert. He had a cherry for a hat, a marshallow for a head and twizler arms.
While we were eating dessert, my phone rang. It was Santa !! He wanted to know if Maya would come down to the 5th floor and see him so that he could give her something to take home for Daddy. Previous to this 30 second phone call, Maya wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. She would say, "Mommy, I don't want to see Santa, I'm a bit too shy." Well, the phone call changed everything! It was like magic. (Thanks, Mare!) Maya jumped up and down, "Let's go see Santa, let's go see Santa, NOW". So, off we went.
Unfortunately, there was only one Santa (wink, wink) so the wait to see Santa was horrid. I think it was about an hour an a half, even though there were only about a dozen people ahead of us. Maya lost a bit of her enthusiasm. Then when we got in the room with Santa, she did pretty well, she sat next to him (without me) and even told him she wanted toys for Christmas. The photographer snapped a picture - uh, oh - no memory card in his camera. By the time he came back, Maya was crying, hiding her head in my shoulder and refusing to have anything to do with Santa. So I sat next to him with her on my lap. Grandma promised Maya a lollipop if she'd look up and we got a picture. Not the best picture by a long shot, but we got a picture. Take a look - it's actually pretty funny when you know that Maya was just crying her eyes out, Grandma had almost fainted a few minutes earlier, I'm just trying to get one dang picture and Santa - well, Santa looks worse than all of us! I'm not sure what Santa's issues were, but the man is not photogenic! LOL! I've decided that the whole "picture with Santa" thing was invented by a cruel, cruel, greedy marketing guy with no kids.
In true Grandma-Mommy-Maya adventure tradition, we had lots of fun. As girls are supposed to do, we giggled at adversity. As girls are supposed to be, we were troopers! Even though Maya did say a few times, "I don't want to be a trooper." As girls are supposed to do, we didn't jump ahead of others in line, because we are good sports. Even though Maya did say a few times, "Waiting is hard. I don't want to be a good sport." LOL!
Back on the train and home to lamby, who Maya had wanted to leave in the car, but of course, decided later that might not have been the best plan.
All in all, as it always is with Grandma, we had a BIG fun "Girl's Vanenture Day" !
Waiting for the train at Dune Park station and looking for all the animals in the display.
Waiting for the train....it's coming! It's coming!
Looking at the zebra's in the FAO Schwarz toy department.
...and the unicorns.
Teasing Grandma with Charlotte, the spider.
Playing on the "Big Piano"
In the Walnut Room, in front of the Great Tree
Eating the Snowman dessert
Waiting and watching for Santa
Ahhh......THE picture. I feel like a Cubs fan - just wait until NEXT year.
Many details have changed - not necessarily better or worse, just different - but the memories created are the same. It's now Macy's instead of Marshall Fields. The servers are now a diverse group. You no longer write down your menu choices. And now it's me taking my daughter for lunch "under" the great tree. This year’s 45-foot-tall tree featured iconic ornaments from Great Trees of the past along with toys from Santa’s workshop, red bows and tinsel and thousands of lights. There is a fairy princess sprinkling fairy dust and asking for your holiday wish. We saw her but she didn't make her way to our table - which was okay, Maya was a bit overwhelmed by it all. Her favorite part of the meal - perhaps even the whole day - was the snowman ice cream dessert. He had a cherry for a hat, a marshallow for a head and twizler arms.
While we were eating dessert, my phone rang. It was Santa !! He wanted to know if Maya would come down to the 5th floor and see him so that he could give her something to take home for Daddy. Previous to this 30 second phone call, Maya wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. She would say, "Mommy, I don't want to see Santa, I'm a bit too shy." Well, the phone call changed everything! It was like magic. (Thanks, Mare!) Maya jumped up and down, "Let's go see Santa, let's go see Santa, NOW". So, off we went.
Unfortunately, there was only one Santa (wink, wink) so the wait to see Santa was horrid. I think it was about an hour an a half, even though there were only about a dozen people ahead of us. Maya lost a bit of her enthusiasm. Then when we got in the room with Santa, she did pretty well, she sat next to him (without me) and even told him she wanted toys for Christmas. The photographer snapped a picture - uh, oh - no memory card in his camera. By the time he came back, Maya was crying, hiding her head in my shoulder and refusing to have anything to do with Santa. So I sat next to him with her on my lap. Grandma promised Maya a lollipop if she'd look up and we got a picture. Not the best picture by a long shot, but we got a picture. Take a look - it's actually pretty funny when you know that Maya was just crying her eyes out, Grandma had almost fainted a few minutes earlier, I'm just trying to get one dang picture and Santa - well, Santa looks worse than all of us! I'm not sure what Santa's issues were, but the man is not photogenic! LOL! I've decided that the whole "picture with Santa" thing was invented by a cruel, cruel, greedy marketing guy with no kids.
In true Grandma-Mommy-Maya adventure tradition, we had lots of fun. As girls are supposed to do, we giggled at adversity. As girls are supposed to be, we were troopers! Even though Maya did say a few times, "I don't want to be a trooper." As girls are supposed to do, we didn't jump ahead of others in line, because we are good sports. Even though Maya did say a few times, "Waiting is hard. I don't want to be a good sport." LOL!
Back on the train and home to lamby, who Maya had wanted to leave in the car, but of course, decided later that might not have been the best plan.
All in all, as it always is with Grandma, we had a BIG fun "Girl's Vanenture Day" !
Waiting for the train at Dune Park station and looking for all the animals in the display.
Waiting for the train....it's coming! It's coming!
Looking at the zebra's in the FAO Schwarz toy department.
...and the unicorns.
Teasing Grandma with Charlotte, the spider.
Playing on the "Big Piano"
In the Walnut Room, in front of the Great Tree
Eating the Snowman dessert
Waiting and watching for Santa
Ahhh......THE picture. I feel like a Cubs fan - just wait until NEXT year.
