Christmas in the northland, part 2

Then we drove west for a night at my father-in-law's and a night with R's full side of the family at a hotel in Bemidji. I'm really glad I managed to get this photo of the group (with everybody's eyes open)!

Opening gifts at Mike's:

These two guys with their long hair...

... and their love of video games.

She looks like she's at a resort in the Caribbean. Nope, that's frozen Lake Bemidji:

These two are so cute together!

 

And that's about all I have from the visit because it took a sharp turn when people started dropping like flies with a stomach bug and we had to rush home so we wouldn't get sick during the four-hour drive. It hit us that night :-(.

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Christmas in the northland, part 1

We went up to my parents' house on Christmas Eve. Katie and Elise couldn't make it due to illness, so this was the closest we could get to a shot of the full clan:

 

My brother's young kids kind of stole the show, ending up in many of my photos. I'm just including a few here.

More gifts!

Mason plays the cotton ball game:

Adelyn first Christmas, with her grandparents:

Omri took advantage of the lack of attention to fit in some extra game time:

Mason doing his best Macaulay Culkin impression?

I enjoyed seeing Veronica with her little cousins.

She is so good with them, and they seem drawn to her:

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Christmas morning 2023

We had a nice Christmas morning at home.

 

I mostly shot video, and that is where you would see the kids open most of their gifts, but I decided not to share the video this year. The blog already edges toward an invasion of privacy for my family, so I'm trying to be more judicious with what I put up here. Such a video seems too personal now that the kids are growing older. The previous years' videos will remain online (and, honestly, they are more entertaining when the kids were younger anyway), so you can go back and watch them, if you like.

Books from Drew and Karin:

Grandma got a digital photo frame:

Eye treatments:

Omri gifted his family some coupons... I am going to hold him to his offer to take a jog with me!

The rest of my haul... I did pretty well this year!

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Christmas Eve 2023

It was a somewhat odd Christmas this year due to a lack of snow and some illness encountered during our travels. We didn't make it out for our traditional walk to see Christmas lights, partially due to some drizzling rain. But we did attend a service at our church.

 

After our tamale dinner, Omri opened a bathrobe:

And Veronica got a Taylor Swift Folklore hoodie:

And that's just the start of the holiday, so stay tuned...

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Rudolph watch 2023

FYI: Going to be a pause here for a few days. Check back later in the week.

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Last day of the Lego Advent calendar

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Christmas cookies 2023

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Solstice Festival 2023

I remembered to bring my zoom lens... I only forgot to bring the adapter that would allow me to use it. This is a really bad video of some nice performing by the kids. It starts out with Omri reading a line to a room full of people, followed by some singing (by both kids) and flute playing (just V).

V also had a stand set up where she was selling jars of coffee to raise money for an upcoming trip to Washington D.C.

All of the coffee was generously donated by The Anchor Coffee House in White Bear Lake. Show them some support the next time you are in town!

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