2006: the first and last year I'll go anywhere near a shopping district/tourist area on the day after Thanksgiving. There were too, too many people on the streets. I must blame the huge turnout on the beautiful 60 degree weather we were having.





This is Meg, in town from Minneapolis, with a souvenir boot-shaped mug full of spiced wine. It looks difficult to clean properly, like those curly straws that harbor all sorts of diseases. Good thing you left it behind in Chicago, Meg.


This is a sign leftover from that day's Marshalls Fields/Macy's protest. OK people: I'm pissed off at Macy's, too. Unfortunately they've changed the name and there's not much we can do now. Time to protest, um, rampant commercialism during the holidays or something. Maybe go egg Hummers? I dunno. Whatever's necessary to support the cause.





When I think of Christmastime and the North Pole and Rudolph, these ladies don't particularly come to mind, but whatever floats your boat.



We stood around Daley Plaza to wait for the Tree-lighting ceremony. Two minutes of fireworks + enough decorations to cover a godzilla-sized-tree= roughly 2 million of our holiday shopping tax dollars. (This is my own personal estimate, of course)



This about sums it up for me....