Midwest Christmas

Midwesterners have minds of their own. Very creative ones, I might add. Perhaps living a rural life lends one more time to dream of how to get out of the same old day-to-day. Well, whatever the reason, I do believe we see some different sights out here than Chicagoans or Londoners will be seeing. Here are some examples of creative Christmas decorations.

Farm equipment.

Yep, this one is made of tires.

Our local photographer's home, decked out like a tug boat, with the snowman at the helm.

And, my personal favorite..........

A bored implement dealer, to be sure.

Merry Christmas from the Midwest!

Lago's

It was wonderful to get back to the Quad Cities recently. Aside from seeing the folks, the highlight was eating lunch at Lagomarcino's. This confectionary/restaurant has been in business 100 years. In the early days of the business, Mr. Lagomarcino bought eggs from my grandfather Neumann. He came 20 miles out into the country with a horse and wagon to pick up farm fresh eggs to make his ice cream, hot fudge and chocolates. I wrote the story when I was there, to help them write their history for the anniversary.


My father always purchased a Lago's Easter egg for my mother that was solid chocolate, filled with individual mixed truffles. They use the same theme today for many of their fabulous creations.






I have to admit that I had forgotten how outstanding the food, service, atmosphere...experience was. They still use the original soda fountain. The store sports some original signage. The wood floor appears as I'm sure it did 100 years ago. Their hot fudge is something glorious. The story is that the family was appalled at how much Mr. Lagomarcino paid for the recipe that is still used today. However, when they saw its success, they backed down. It was tremendous as a finale to the reuben sandwich on their famous homemade rye bread. All in all, a glorious step back into our childhoods.

A perfect start to a perfect holiday season.