Christmas in Champaign: Thursday

It’s been a crazy week without a post, but I figured everybody was still laughing at the Santa photo, so I imagine that my online presence wasn’t too missed.

Let’s backtrack and reminisce over the weekend we just spent in Champaign. We had planned to leave home on Thursday night at Henry and Eleanor’s bedtime. One winter weather advisory later, we had scurried and packed early and were on the road Thursday afternoon, hoping to beat the ice to Champaign.

Which worked out well, because Andy and I were able to go out Thursday night sans babies for a leisurely meal at Papa Del’s, which serves the best pizza EVER. Thanks to the long cooking time the pizza requires, and service that was a little slow, it ended up being a two-hour meal. We were delighted to discover they had Shiner Boch on tap, so ordered a pint to sip while waiting for our deep-dish. “Can I see some ID?” the waiter asked. “HELL YES!” I thought as I whipped out my license. I highly recommend drinking on a college campus if you need a quick ego boost.

It was just a quick “run out for pizza” evening, but I had the best time with Andy. We shared our pre-kids, living-in-Champaign memories, broke out in chants of “Glen Lake! Glen Lake!” as we laughed at our matching Glen Lake hoodies, discussed the babies only sparingly, and ate those last slices of pizza that we knew would make us feel stuffed. We left to discover the ice had arrived, which gave us a slippery ride home, but it was still a fun night out. We’re so busy chasing after toddlers these days that I can forget what a good friend Andy is and how fun he is to hang out with.