Illinois for Christmas

On December 23rd, we flew to Illinois to spend the Christmas holidays with Joe's family.  It was a bittersweet journey - exciting to spend time with family, but sad because it was the first Christmas without Paul.

We were able to see almost everyone while we were there.  I was a little surprised that we didn't have one, big family get together (not intended as criticism, just surprise).  On Christmas Eve, Nick and Mary came to Barb's with Sam and Emily.  On Christmas Day, Mike and Amy came over with Lilly.  And on the 26th, Matt brought Tristan, Alaina, and Jordan down to visit.  Joe's Aunt Barb made us breakfast one day and we went down and spent time with her and Uncle Keith, Christi, Travis, and their 3 boys - Cameron, Carson, and Caden.  We even met Al in Gardner for pizza one night.

On Thursday, we took Barb and ventured down to Springfield for a day all about Lincoln.  We started out with breakfast at Charlie Parker's Diner.  Then we headed over to the Lincoln Home for a tour.  The home is where the Lincoln's lived when "Honest Abe" was a lawyer in Springfield.

After seeing where Lincoln lived, we visited his final resting place.  The Lincoln Tomb is in Oak Ridge Cemetery.  Beside the President, his wife, Mary Todd and 3 of their sons are buried there.  Their only son who lived to adulthood is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.  Joe and I saw his grave several years ago when we stopped in DC on our way to Ireland.  The tomb is also filled with statues of Lincoln through the years and has a replica of the Daniel Chester French statue from the Lincoln Memorial as well as a sculpture by Gutzon Borglum who is most famous for his rendition of Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.

Our final stop on the Lincoln Parade was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  We got there only an hour before closing, so we didn't get to see the whole thing.  It was really great, though.  I would love to go back and have a re-do.  It's just so well done and interesting.

Joe with the Lincoln Family

We finished our week in Illinois with dinner at Hooter's.  It was a sad farewell.  I supposed as time passes, it will get easier, but we will always miss Paul.  The first Christmas without him was heartbreaking, but we made it through and managed to have some fun, too.