Christmas Holiday in Chicago?

Travel Info
I've been to Chicago many times (so please dont suggest the typical ie museums etc) but never before for Christmas. Are there any particular festive events one can go to? Any fireworks? Also, where would someone go for dinner, on Christmas eve/day specifically but also in general. Help!

Travel Tips

I would go to Greek town to eat prob the Athena go with some lamb. Greek food is great for the holidays. Then visit one of the greek bakeries for a wonderful treat. I'd check out Marshall Field's and Sak's Fifth women love those places during chistmas and they really decorate.

Other stuff would be the

Christkindel Market - daley plaza

A horticultural conservatory would be very decorated during christmas.

You said no museums..but a few go all out during christmas.

Down Town is great in itself during christmas..

The only fireworks will be new years.

The McCormick Tribune Ice Rink in Millennium Park will have some figure skating.

North Michigan Avenue will have millions of christmas lights

Its a great city for christmas..My latino wife is from chicago and we go every year.

Others
daly plaza has a german fair with food etc. window shopping is best.
www.christkindlmarket.com
Alnea . 312-867-0110 鈼? 1723 North Halsted, Chicago Illinois 60614
Being a Chicagoan who loves the social life, I check this stuff out online all the time. The best site is www.metromix.com, which lists all sorts of events and dinners and such taking place in and around Chicago on any given date. Type in the day you want, and it'll tell you what's going on that day.

As for dinner, there are literally thousands of restaurants in Chicago. Pick one that fits your tastes and budget at www.diningchicago.com.
http://www.metromix.com
http://www.diningchicago.com
Go up to Evanston. You can get there by CTA train (red line to Howard and then to the purple line). Get off at either Main or the downtown stop and just walk around. Lots of little non-chain shops, etc. I do a little bit of my shopping there every year because they have different stuff. I believe they do fireworks there on Christmas and New Year's Eve. In addition, you can take a bus from downtown Evanston to the Botanical Gardens in nearby Glencoe (http://www.chicago-botanic.org/).... they sometimes do some Christmas-y stuff.

If you want to stay within the Chicago city limits, check the Metromix website (www.metromix.com) and scroll through their calender of daily events. Not sure if it goes all the way as far as late December but you can check. And take a look at the City of Chicago website. I'm sure they're touting the city-sponsored holiday events, a lot of which take place in places of the beaten tourist trail, like the Garfield Park Conservatory (http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/),... etc. There's also a holiday Christmas village thing that the city sets up every season in the Daley Plaza. It's got a lot of little stalls selling handmade christmas ornaments, cheeses and sausage, christmas sweaters, scarves, hot toddys with a little shot of booze....
I'm suggesting a museum anyway - The Museum of Science & Industry has Christmas Around the World - I go every year - trees decorated from many nations. Very nice.