Another year, another Christmas spent in Minnesota. We did the typical Minnesota Christmas trip this year, it as just a little shorter than usual. We headed to Minnesota on Sunday morning (Christmas Eve). We got to my parent's house around 11:00 am, and got our meat and cheese tray all ready to go, and then enjoyed a little lunch, wine, and conversation.
At around 2:30pm we all got changed and headed over to church. John, Rachel, and I joined the choir for the program, so we had to head over early to practice with them. At 4:00pm the Christmas Program started. It went pretty well for such a small group of kids. The choir sounded okay, we definitely could have been a little more polished. But, overall, it was good and enjoyable.
After the program, we headed back to Mom and Dad's for more food and then present opening. Once again. the kids made a good haul and really enjoyed all their gifts. We had some things double up, but everyone still loved their gifts. We also did white elephant gifts again, and we had a lot of fun with that.
We got another 365 day dad joke calendar, so those will be continuing for another year. Sorry to all my coworkers and friends.
We spent most of the evening visiting in the kitchen and having some beverages while the kids watched a movie and relaxed. Overall the cousins did pretty well, but the age gap is starting to show a little more. Emma and Elliott were both annoyed with Elena more this Christmas than in years past. They don't enjoy the jumping, yelling, and just crazy things Elena does as much as they used to. They will be better again in a couple years when the age gap isn't such a big deal anymore. It also teaches my kids some patience and understanding as well.
On Sunday, we went to Christmas Day service at 10:00am. After church, we had a nice Christmas Ham and potato dinner. It was nice to eat real food again and cool it with the snacking and munchies. After dinner, we played some games, and then we had to get packed up. There was some ice and snow hitting the Sioux Falls area, so we had to leave a little earlier than expected. We made it back just fine, and enjoyed having a little time to unpack and settle in before getting ready for the next week.
On Tuesday, I had to go to work, but John and the kids were off. They played with toys, ate lunch at Dairy Queen, and then I met them at the Bethel Gym in the afternoon to shoot hoops and get a little exercise. After that, John drove the kids to Jim and Barb's house for the rest of the week, and I went to the gym.
John and I missed the kids, but we had a good week of suppers that the kids wouldn't like, went out for a date night, and just enjoyed some quiet evenings. The kids had a blast out at Jim and Barb's house for the week. They did a lot of sledding behind the Honda, went to a movie, went to a Pokemon card event, and more. I think they are always going to remember these weeks at their grandparent's house, such good memories!
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