I have a HUGE surprise for the kids tomorrow!!! (Kellie, I'm sorry you're not here to be one of my kiddos yet!) I learned that for Olivia's sake I need to keep big events to myself for as long as possible, hopefully the day of if I can. Otherwise, she tends to not sleep due to excitement and then is quite tired which does crazy things to her emotions. SO, the kids still have NO CLUE that we are going to a hotel in downtown Chicago tomorrow, 3 blocks over from the main stage area, of the Magnificent Mile's lights festival!!! I am elated!

I actually never really paid much attention to this before. BUT, a friend of mine was going to go with her two kiddos and had booked a hotel room for themselves. It was a prepay, and she ended up not able to go. Since she couldn't cancel without losing the money, she asked if we might like to go, and the room could be our Christmas gift. So I read up on it.

Here is the hotel: AMALFI

And here is the link about the festival: MAG MILE

I grew more and more excited as I read about the wonderful hotel, saw how close it was, and read about all the great activities and entertainment. Ummm... I can just imagine Olivia's face when she sees THE CHEETAH GIRLS! Hello!!! :) And there are tons of vendors and activities set up in a large area, including free Eli's cheesecake decorating! And Mickey and all his friends from DisneyWorld are going to be there to lead off the parade. Then fireworks at night! Oh how exciting!!!

God has really blessed us with so many things recently just like this. And our Mary Poppins tickets, paid by a couple wonderful family members! And... I could go on, but a couple have asked to remain anonymous and not mention them. OK, fine. :) But God knows, and He will be blessing you magnanimously!

I think since we're doing this tomorrow, we're probably going to bypass the parade on Thanksgiving, but that's just fine by me. That's quite a bit for one week! And the kids will miss a week of performing in church, but they will be performing on Dec 7 as well. Oh, I hope to have great pictures and memories to share come Sunday night! Take care!