Early Christmas in the Twin Cities

Just two practices in and Theo had grown so much on the rink. He also looks really cool with his long hair sticking out of his helmet.

We had to do a lot of bribing to get him to go to practice this morning. He had been dreading it all week. After practice he came out smiling and said today was much better and he actually enjoyed it.

To celebrate Theo now liking rec hockey, we treated ourselves to Isles Buns & Coffee's famous cinnamon rolls.

I spy mini Bundts.

We had been wanting to try their cinnamon rolls and since we drove by we thought we'd stop. After we put our order in we were waiting and waiting for them to call my name. Somehow the cashier wrote down my name as Claire.

Oh, heck yeah!

We did not realize how big these were going to be. We could have got 2 to share.

We let the kiddos open their parent and sibling presents a bit early. After all we wouldn't be home for quite a while once we went to Wisconsin for Christmas and New Year's Eve.

We used to have them open their gifts after we got back from New Years, but now we do a family Christmas day before we leave for the holidays.

Meadow got Theo a Dog Man book.

Theo got Meadow earrings that look like Nintendo Switch controllers.

A pretty good haul for Theo bub. Lots of building toys and Dog Man graphic novels.

Meadow scored on Lego sets too.

They spent all day putting together their new Lego sets.

We decided to skip making a big feast and went out to dinner at Yarusso Brothers in St Paul.

It hit the spot. Straight up Italian-American fare. No pretention.

A house in St. Paul acquired a lot of the old Daytons displays from their 8th Floor Holiday shows.

Pretty cool to see someone save these beloved department store Christmas decorations and share it with the masses.

I wish it was still a thing but it's nice to see a little bit of it again.

I'm not sure what this note Theo made was about. But it's fun to see him writing these days.

(Family meeting Sunday at 3:00. Papa is not invited)

My Christmas present is the same every year. A cute and wonderful wife.

Ha!

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