Our ‘I’ alphabet date happened smack in the middle of December, which means we had to combine our date with the inevitable shopping that must be done around the holidays—what with the giving and all. To some, that would be combining business with pleasure. We just saw it as a chance to go shopping together without the three tag-alongs. Or run-abouts. Or whatever we’re calling our trio of beautiful girls these days.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around Circle Center mall and—against all odds—I bought myself nothing the entire shopping trip. We wandered and shopped and laughed and probably spent entirely too long looking for Colts stuff. That’s just what we do. We did manage to finish buying all the gifts that were needed for the Christmas celebration we were having the next morning.

By this point we were famished.

Part of the reason we keep heading downtown (besides the sheer joy of saying “we’re going downtown“) is because there are so many wondrous dining establishments we have yet to enjoy. This time we went with Weber Grill. We weren’t disappointed. The Caesar salad was delicious. I’m not sure if I was craving a salad or what, but I simply devoured it. And now, I’m pretty sure it’s blocking my memory of the main course.

I do recall that Heather had some variation of meat and potatoes. That’s a pretty safe bet for any dinner of hers, though.

We finished dinner, tipped the wonderful wait staff generously and started to make our way to Monument Circle. The Christmas lights were out in full force. And since it started to sprinkle, we stopped by the South Bend Chocolate Company for two large hot chocolates to accompany us on the final stretch of our date.

There are always things in your town that natives never seem to get around to doing because they’re always there. For us, one of those things was taking a horse-drawn carriage ride around downtown. As we walked towards the carriages, Heather picked out a nice Clydesdale that happened to have the same name as our nephew, though he was probably not named after him.

We got in the carriage and took the quiet route around downtown. By this time it was well past midnight and the rain was coming down in a steadier rhythm. This didn’t bother us, as we were already tightly snuggled under the blanket we were given.

Too soon, we were back at the Circle and the date portion of our date was over after the drive home, where we had stay up later to wrap presents for the festivities that would happen just a few short hours later.

We were too tired to notice that we’re closing in on the ½-way point our alphabet dates. Someone put wings on my clock.