Holiday 2025

Carrying on with tradition, this year's gifts come from hyper-local favorites here in Logan Square.

More than a dozen years ago, a young woman named Katherine opened a storefront in the Logan Square neighborhood to sell her sweets, which she'd started making as a kid growing up on her family's Wisconsin dairy farm. I had the pleasure of writing about Katherine Anne Confections when it opened, and was horrified to read this fall that Katherine's business was being trolled after she posted anti-ICE signs in its windows. In solidarity, tons of neighbors have stepped up to bolster her business. Resistance never tasted so sweet. :)

Four Letter Word Coffee
If we meet for coffee and I get to pick the spot, it's always going to be Four Letter Word. This little cafe is a favorite for so many reasons: the sweetest staff, a cozily unique aesthetic, and of course really, really good coffee. Fun facts: FLW has a bookshop of "rare, medium & well done books" that's open next door on fair-weather weekends, and there's a sister cafe on the tiny isle of Burgazada, off the coast of Istanbul.

Happy holiday season,