Nelson Family Blog: A Minnesota Christmas

After all the hype, and hoopla, Christmas has come and gone. It's sad how quickly it's all over. This month has been a total blur of activity, but it's sure been fun.

Last week, on a week night, the kids, John, and I hopped in the car in our jammies with some hot cocoa and drove around to see some Christmas lights. We found some really good ones, and even found the Candy lane lanes and Penguin lanes. We all really enjoyed the trip.

The kids enjoyed their Advent calendars this year. Elliott had a lego one and enjoyed building new legos every day, and Emma had a fidget Advent calendar. They were a big hit again this year.

Two Sundays ago, December 19th, was the Children's Christmas program. My parents came to town for the weekend, and Jim and Barb made it to the program again. The kids did really well with their parts and songs, and seemed to really enjoy it. I always love watching the Children's program, and they always put on a really good show with a really good message.

After the Children's program, we went to Dairy Queen for supper and an ice cream treat. Emma even got to sit with some of her friends at Dairy Queen, which she thought was awesome.

Last week, the kids only had school on Monday and Tuesday, so they went out to Grandma and Grandpa house for the rest of the week while John and I worked. In the evenings, John and I got all the gifts wrapped and enjoyed a nice supper out at 41 Taphouse. It was really nice to have some quiet evenings before all the Christmas crazy.

On Thursday, I worked, and then when I got home, we got all the gifts ready, went and got the kids, and then had our Christmas celebration at home with the kids. The big gift of the year was a Nintendo Switch, which has been a big hit with the kids. They have loved Mario Kart and Minecraft. I think we are creating monsters, but they sure love playing their games. They also got some huge Swishmallow animals, candy, art supplies, and some other odds and ends. They had a great Christmas, and got very spoiled.

On Friday, which was Christmas Eve, we headed to Minnesota after lunch. In the morning, the kids played Nintendo Switch, and then we packed up, ate some Tacos, and then headed out. We got to my parent's house at around 3:00pm. We unpacked, changed clothes, and then headed to church at 4:00pm to see the Emanuel Children's Christmas Program. After church, we went back to mom and dad for snacks and apps, and eventually some games and drinks. It was a really nice evening. Rachel and Elena eventually showed up as well, and the kids had a lot of fun playing together.

On Christmas Day, we went to church at 10:15am, and then came back for a Christmas Day dinner of Ham balls, potatoes, and lots of good sides. Carlos joined us during the day, as well as Ryan and Emily. We had a nice day of opening gifts (including white elephant which are always fun) and then of course games, and too much food and drink. It was a really nice Christmas Celebration, and everyone stayed until around 10:00pm, then it was time to put some very tired kids to bed. The kids got spoiled once again and had a great day.

On Sunday, John and I went to the Vikings game at US Bank Stadium. We had a really good time. The Vikings didn't play great (big surprise) and they lost, but we really enjoyed our experience and we would go again in the future. We parked at the Mall of America, and then rode the light rail, and we had seats up in the nose bleed area. But we could still see the field pretty well, and we enjoyed the atmosphere. After the game, we had to stand in line quite a while before riding the light rail back to the mall. We ate at Bumps in Glencoe on the way home, and then ran into a snowstorm for the last 30 miles home.

The kids had a great day with my mom and dad while we were in the cities. They went over to the shop for a while and played some games and had some good bonding time.

On Monday, we came back to Sioux Falls. The roads were a little icy and kinda crappy in some spots, but we made it home by 2:00pm. We spent most of the day unpacking, taking down Christmas decor, and then finally relaxing.

I have this entire week off with the kids. Today, we have done some cleaning, and blogging, and the kids are playing a little Nintendo Switch. Then we have big plans to go clean church, maybe some lunch at Fizoli's, and then maybe some swimming or Air Madness or something. We are going to have a crazy week that is all over the place, but that's ok. Then on Friday, we will have Christmas with the Nelsons.