Traditions

If you know me at all, you understand that I’m all about tradition. That is, in fact, part of why I love the holiday season so much. It’s usually just a replay of 12 months ago. 😉

This season has been nothing short of delightful. Bill and I kept busy during our time together in Minnesota. We spent one day over in Bemidji and headed to Brainerd the next morningto catch up with Mike and Amanda. It is always so nice to connect with friends back home.

I bought tickets to the Wild vs. Vancouver game for Bill’s Christmas present. We headed down to the cities on the 19th and caught the game. It was so much fun! We stayed at a hotel right across the street, so no need to worry about parking or driving out of that mad house after the game. Instead we ordered room service and bought a movie off our hotel room TV. Those are 2 things I’d never done, so it was a treat!

We also got to catch up with Josh and Melissa before Christmas arrived. We exchanged lots of stories of the past few months, and even some from further back. My favorite line of the evening? “I’ve got to go; we’re singing Ring of Fire.”

Then came Christmas…! My dad has three older brothers – all of whom are married and have children. Pair up each of those grandchildren with a significant other, add 11 more great grandchildren, and you’ve got that side of my family in a rather large nut shell. Well, most of these nuts were in attendance for our Christmas Eve celebration at my Great Aunt Lal’s. It was nice to catch up with everyone and watch how big all the little ones have gotten. Pretty hard to believe that the oldest great grandchild, Ashley, is already 13!

Christmas morning brought the tradition of Dad getting a new gun. You’d think the little elves who brought it would know better, as they are also the biggest complainers of the ever expanding gun collection. This one, however, was fun for all of us, as it’s a simple air rifle… great for knocking over pop bottles on the ice. Check out what an avid sportsman I am!

Christmas Day was spent up at Mom’s. We gorged on more delicious food and played several different games. The favorite… Laura’s pictionary drawing for “White Men Can’t Jump”. Bill, Jordan, and I left the other teams in the dust.

Probably the best time investment we made this break was the energy given to our skating rink. Ape, Dad, and I got it started, and Bill put a lot of work into flooding it. We’ve spent many hours skating already, and I have plans to use it until I head back north. We also have had a couple of bon fires and story time.

Finally, I’m flying solo for the rest of my time in Minnesota. Bill headed back to Valdez this past Wednesday. He is already having a great time with the Bryson crew… sounds like their is plenty of snow to go around… which means plenty of shoveling as well.

I realize that when I don’t blog consistently, these entries get awfully long. I need to update more often.

Happy Holidays, Everyone! Be safe!