My hometown Santa was so incredibly amazingly awesome! I was just awestruck when I opened my gift. Joe is the best, guys!

The first thing I cam across was the Red Eye newspapers. It is apparently the little brother of the Chicago Tribune marketed to people who are not mature enough to read real news on the way to work. Naturally, my Santa reads it every day.

Then I came across two bags of CANDY! Dude, I was so excited to see all of it! He got me candies from China Town and a shop in an Hispanic part of town. I was a little worried because I couldn't read any of the ones from China Town so I had no idea what to expect and the Hispanic treats were in combinations I'm not sure I'd seen together and I'm not sure that I would have tried them unless they were given to me. I'm so glad I tried all of them! They were all sooooo good! Like really, really delicious and amazing! Check out the video to watch me trying them.

The next layer contained a gift card to Lou Malnati's so that I could go down to Chicago when I visit my parents (in SE Wisconsin) and have some real Chicago deep dish pizza (which, I am ashamed to say that while I grew up a little less than a 2 hour drive from Chicago, I have never had) with enough on it for me and a friend to enjoy pizza! How awesome is that?! Isn't Joe the best?!?! He also recommended his favorite bar to me which is right near the restaurant. It is apparently filled with pinball machines and old archade games (which you can play for free), and they play classic movies on the TVs. I will definitely be checking that place out! Sounds awesome! He also recommended a few places in one of the Hispanic parts of town that I'd like to check out as well (including Let's Eat Hotties which is an Asian wing place, Cafe Jumping Bean which apparently has great Mexican Hot Chocolate, and a bar called Simone's which he claims is one of the most underrated bars in the city).

At the very bottom of the box I found a T-shirt and a hat from the Vienna Beef factory store. They're known for their classic Chicago style hot dogs (aka, the best syle of hot dog). It's suck a fun shirt, I love it!

Thank you so, so, so much, Joe! You are actually the best!