You Betcha!: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Alex, Cider and myself hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday season. We stayed in the Twin Cities this year due to the wedding. We were sad that we weren't able to make the trip home to be with our families, but tried to make the best of it.

This year we tried to watch the Target Holidazzle parade, but due to poor planning, we missed the majority of it. I had heard a lot about the downtown Macy's Santaland. I should have asked more questions. It was cute, but more for kids than adults.

Since Cider is the master escape artist, she made herself comfortable in front of the tree. I think she was snooping to see what she was getting for Christmas.

I bought tickets to see A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie theater on the Mississippi River. It was a tradition in my family to see that or the Nutcracker each Christmas. I thought I would introduce the tradition to Alex. It was a great show in a great venue. During intermission, we went outside to a bridge that stops abruptly over the river.

Alex had the great idea to decorate Christmas cookies. We (I) got a little into it with multiple colors for icing. I found a recipe for the cookies and icing and made it all from scratch. It was fun, but again, would be a fun project with kids.

We decided to introduce Cider to hockey by taking her up to the neighborhood ice rink. She did well, considering it was her first time.

On Christmas morning, we woke up and Alex read the birth of Jesus Christ, a tradition in his family.

Santa visited our house and stuffed our stockings with lots of goodies.

Thanks to technology, we were able video conference the opening of our gifts with my parents and Joe back in Dayton. It was fun to see them open our gifts for them. It was like we were sitting in a large circle.