The Friday before Christmas we met my parents and Jeff's family up in Duluth to walk through Bentleyville. It's a gigantic outdoor Christmas light display complete with free hot cocoa, cookies, popcorn, marshmallows, and fires to roast them. It was COLD! (around 10 degrees) but so much fun. It put us all in a festive mood to begin Christmas week.
We took a school bus shuttle to Bentleyville. Abby was ecstatic and sang "The Wheels on the Bus" the whole way (only a 5 minute drive, thankfully!)
My parents with Justin and Abby in the lovely glowing light tunnel entering the area
Dave, Justin, Abby, and Me
They had free strollers to borrow (yay!) and Abby stayed toasty. Dave was a bit cold. HA!
I loved the big #OnlyinMN lights! Crazy Minnesotans...set up an outdoor attraction in the coldest part of winter haha!
Justin, Kaitlyn, and Elissa
Christmas Eve morning, after church, we opened our family presents at the cabin (notice Abby's bare feet! You can take the girl out of California, but...)
Justin "helping" Abby open one of her gifts
She loved playing with the screw and ratchet set from Grandma and Grandpa S.
After opening our gifts, we headed in to my parents house, where candy cane making was on!
Dave is helping the mixture cool down after adding the root beer flavoring (Justin's choice).
Next, Justin gets in on the action by pulling the candy
It's turning a lovely, glossy amber
The finished canes! Aren't they pretty?
Justin playing chess with his cousin Carl Christmas Day
"Santa" came while Abby was napping!
The filled stockings, ready for the mayhem
Abby with her giant Mickey and Minnie dolls. She LOVES them!
Abby wrapped up in a "baby burrito" (or beebee beetoh as she calls it) with Micah
Feeding the birds with Papa and his brand new squirrel-proof (maybe?) bird feeder!
Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Mickey and Minnie haha!
We need to get this girl to Disney World!
Justin is turning into an expert shoveler!
Back to the cabin for New Year's and -15 degree high temperatures! Brrr!
But we got to experiment with freezing bubbles...lots of fun!
Abby and Justin also received packages from Grandpa John and Grandma Linda (Abby's biological grandparents). They know she loves Minnie Mouse!
Our first holiday season being "local" in almost 15 years! It was great to enjoy being with everyone and just hopping in our car and driving away instead of having to say good-bye for 6-12 months at a time and flying across the country! We are excited to see what God has in store for us in 2018.
It looks like your family had a wonderful Christmas. Love seeing pictures of all of you outside dressed for extreme temperatures.
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