Festive (part IV)

We were in Minneapolis for the holidays as I had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas night. I came home Christmas morning at 7:45 am and Gabe was dressed for church and had made us an amazing breakfast to feast on while we opened a few presents.

He had the TV set to the Yule log channel. How great! We went for the ever traditional christmas ficus. Who needs a gorgeous Christmas fur tree? Not us!

My Dad and Beth brought me a beautiful wooden jewelry box from Italy. It's so pretty.

Then Gabe had me open his present to me, my dutch oven! Yah so exciting! I also got another piece that I opened that morning from mom and linny, a baking dish. Yah for more cooking in 2012!

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Gabe later told me that in order to keep the dutch oven a secret he was hiding it at our friends, the Malone's home. I thought he was asleep Christmas eve when I left for work but he actually drove to their place that night to pick it up. What a trickster. Hope everyone had a great holiday! I think that's the last of my christmas posts. :)

The Wild

We were fortunate to recieve tickets to a Minnesota Wild hockey game a few weeks before Christmas. It was at the Excel energy center in St. Paul.

Someone was excited!

I was extremely excited to get a bag of mini donuts for $5. It was a fun game, though!

The wild lost in an overtime shootout. Talk about nail biter. Fun game, even better company.

Festive (part III)

One of the most enjoyable parts of living downtown is walking through the skyway and admiring all the awesome Christmas decorations. The trees below were in the Target financial building.

This is my favorite tree, in the IDS building. It just came down yesterday and I was so sad. They even had performances during the day in front of the tree from different musical groups around town.

Here is another view from the IDS building at night right before the Holidazzle parade.

The holidazzle parade runs downtown on Nicollet Thurs-Sunday for several weeks in December. We actually saw it twice and we were impressed. We took these pictures on the last night and everyone else showed up too. So crowded!

Fun times downtown!

Festive (part II)

While I was home for my aunt's wedding we did an early holiday with my family. I got some great clothes and cute jewelery. I also got this...

Just a subtle hint for a prosperous 2012. :)

Then we visited the Stetson mansion in Deland, which is the home built by the stetson hat creator. The couple that owns it now decorates it for Christmas and offer tours of the home. So Beautiful. I learned with Christmas decorations, more really is more.

a lovely wedding

My Aunt Carol married her sweetheart, Dennis on December 10th at Holy Family Catholic church with a reception held at the Keene's point country club. What a special day. Everything was white and gold and lovely. Congratulations Ca and Dennis!!

So much fun!!

Festive (part I)

I'm a little behind on blogging. It's been a bit crazy around here. I feel like I work all the time and when I'm not I want to spend as much time with Gabe as possible and blogging ends up getting put to the wayside. Here are a few Christmas related activities we took part in before the holidays :)

The Macys downtown is 12 stories. 12. Not all of them are retail but the shear magnitude is impressive. The top floor even has a cafeteria style eating area and also a really nice restaurant called The Oak Room. We soon found out that there was an amazing Christmas display on the 8th floor. It's called Santaland and walks you through a day in the life of an elf. It was awesome! We were in shock the first time we went through. We went several times since it was free and this last time when I got all the pics it was Christmas Eve.

How fitting.

Then at the end you can wait in a cue line to see Santa. Fun, right? I wish now I would have gotten some video, since most of the elves moved. It was darling. A very special surprise at the top of Macys. If you're ever in Minneapolis over the holidays, we highly recommend!

santa came...

...and left me this!!!!!!

In aubergine no less. I love saying that word now aubergine.

The very first thing I want to make is this Pioneer Woman chicken soup! I can't wait!