A Visit to St. Nick and his Two Sidekicks

When my out-of-town (Maine!) friend Carol came to Chicago this week for a visit, I knew we had to have an outing to the Marshall Field/Macy's Walnut Room for lunch near the famous tree. We arrived early - or so we thought - but upon signing in were given a pager and told to come back to line up in an hour and 15 minutes. What to do? We thought about going outside to look at the windows, but when we came upon the sign pointing to Santa, we headed there. We lined up with the other families (with their children, of course) and planned what our wishes would be to tell Santa...mine would have to do with a certain little one soon to enter our lives and Carol had a wish for one of her sons. This was all in fun, mind you, we know what we know. We made some new friends in the line and they were younger and older in age. As we neared Santa, we met a tall and handsome elf; I'll call him Sidekick #1. He was great with the kids! And he was great with us, too! He ushered us into the Throne Room of Santa with this introduction, "Santa, this is Carol and Deb. They have been VERY good girls this year!" Santa was a bit on the quiet side, but listened carefully to our wishes...we'll have to wait now to see if the man can deliver! But, we must dash away as our pager has gone off, and we are needed to get in line for the Walnut Room lunch experience. Once seated, we placed our menu order and the next vistor - I'll call her Sidekick #2 - visited our table. She was attired in a shimmering gown, held a long glittery stick and sprinkled silver on our heads as we told her our Christmas wishes. They were pretty much a repeat of what we had just shared with Santa. Here's to wishing you and yours some holiday cheer in this time of hustle and bustle...and don't forget to enjoy the magic of the season!