Christmas in Minnesota

For the first time ever, I spent Christmas away from my family. Luckily, no huge disaster occurred, I didn’t melt or anything. Anyway I was more likely to freeze in the Minnesota snow. Speaking of freezing, I learned that frogs freeze in the Minnesota winter and then come spring they thaw out and continue living their lives. Is it possible for me to do the same thing when Ben deploys?

We enjoyed our time in Minnesota. While we were there we went to the temple, which was really nice because instead of driving 3 hours we only had to drive about 15 minutes. I especially enjoyed Christmas Eve. The whole thing turned out to be quite a mystery. I kept asking people what sort of family traditions they had for Christmas Eve, and nobody seemed to remember what exactly they do every Christmas Eve.

It wasn’t until we got over to Ben’s brother’s place that the mystery was revealed. It was rather lovely. We had a nice Christmas dinner and gathered together for a spiritual devotional that they accented with illustrations of the story of Christ’s birth and Christmas hymns that we all sang together. Ben and I really enjoyed the wonderful spirit that we felt as we participated in this tradition and look forward to adding something similar to our own families repertoire of traditions.

Christmas day was certainly a completely different experience for me. The kids opened Santa’s gifts, and then we paused everything and ate breakfast. Breakfast was very good. We ate yummy breakfast burritos and sweet rolls.

After breakfast and phone calls to family, we opened the rest of our Christmas presents one at a time in order of birth. The rest of the day was very relaxed. Ben and I stayed in our pajamas all day as part of our own family tradition. We didn’t have a big dinner, but a lot of snacking on junk food throughout the day. The kids got to eat anything they wanted whenever they wanted on Christmas day including soda for breakfast. This most definitely has its ups and downs.
Down:
1.After eating so much junk food, I ended up very sick on the flight and trip back to TX.
2. I never felt fully satisfied even though it felt like I was constantly eating.
Up:
1. We got to eat stuff I wouldn't normally buy.
2. I don’t want to eat such fatty fried food for a very long time (maybe not until next Christmas). This is worth two on its own :)

Ben and I had a lot of fun spending time with the family in Minnesota. Both of us felt like the trip was way too short. This is by far my favorite visit to MN, and as a result I’m now fancifully considering living there after our stint in the Military.