Gooseberry Falls

Wednesday, December 21 was our Knife River Christmas Celebration Day.  We started the day with Mom, Dad and Jon prepping pigs in a blanket (polish style: beef, pork and rice meatballs wrapped in sauerkraut then cooked in cabbage and gravy) for dinner. Once that was done, our family, Jon's family, Joel, Analí and Dad headed out on a little adventure to Gooseberry Falls.  Mom and Silver (who had a bum foot) stayed back at the homestead. 

The Gooseberry crew hiked about, had several snowball fights and took a kazillion pictures. The waterfall was mostly frozen and beautiful, and we enjoyed a lovely snowfall with giant flakes of snow!

Amy, Jon, Benjamin, Steve, Marnie, Maddy, Anali, Dad, Gabi

One Happy Maddy!

Beautiful, big, magical snowflakes!

Faust Family at Gooseberry Falls

Sebastian Family (Benjamin, Amy, Jon, Gabi)

Anali and Joel

Cousins!!

Joel's Snowman

Sebastian/Johnson Christmas in Knife River

Maddy and GG

I arrived in Minneapolis on Thursday, December 15 (to work one day in Minneapolis on Friday) and Steve and Maddy arrived the next day. We headed north to Knife River Saturday morning and enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening with Mom and Dad (aka Grandmom and Granddad).

Joel, Silver and Analí arrived Sunday and we all headed to Fitger's in Duluth where we met up with Uncle John, Aunt Sharon, Jared, Anna and Jemma for the Christmas Express Train. It was bitter cold ( -12) but the train was warm and took us to the Depot where a children's chorus sang and the book "Christmas Express" was read by the author with illustrations on a screen. Santa also made an appearance AND we were all invited to explore the trains in the Depot.  We  travelled again by train back to Fitger's where hot cocoa and cookies were waiting for us.  We all went to Blackwoods for dinner where Janine met us as well. Fun night!

Later Sunday night Jon, Amy, Benjamin and Gabi arrived to round out this year's Christmas crew. Mila and family are staying in California for the holidays.

On Tuesday, Uncle John, Aunt Sharon, Jared, Jemma, Janine, Pat and Grama GG came to celebrate Christmas with us in Knife River. Mom (Grandmom) put together a fabulous late brunch spread including Scandinavian fruit soup, breakfast soufflé, Swedish meatballs, lingonberry sauce, cheesy potatoes, salad, cardamom bread and a Scandinavian drink called gløgg.  And for dessert, mom's fruitcake and Aunt Sharon's cake with homemade ice cream. What a feast!

The kids had a great time playing together and the grown ups enjoyed time together catching up. It was so wonderful to spend time with Grama GG and have her great grandchildren all around.

We opened some presents after our meal and soon thereafter the Johnson family made their way back to Bayfield.  

Mom and Aunt Sharon

Maddy and Grandmom

Uncle John, Joel and Jared

Our family - on the Train!

Jemma, Anna, Aunt Sharon, Anali and Silver

Grandmom, Anali and Granddad

Anali and Maddy peeking from a Train at the Depot

Santa's arrival during Christmas Express Train Storytime

Joel, Silver, Janine and Pat

Benjamin, Gabi, Anali, Jemma and Maddy

Grama and Marnie

Grama / GG

Maddy and GG catching up

Anali, Maddy, Benjamin and Gabi - The "Elves" distributing gifts!

 

Dinner Time! Steve, Pat, Janine and Joel

Marnie Serving the Fruit Soup

The Feast

Santa-land at Macy's

Santa and Maddy

This year we captured the obligatory Santa photo at Macy's on an icy Portland afternoon. 

An ice storm created slick conditions, so Steve, Maddy and I donned our winter gear and bussed downtown rather than drive. I strapped my "yak trax" to my boots (steel traction device- like chains for your feet!) and they worked very well on the ice, so Maddy walked with me. We made our way downtown where Maddy and I had haircuts, then we all walked to a comfort-food-filled restaurant called Mother's for dinner. Happily all the ice was cleared from downtown sidewalks which made the going much easier.

After that our family trekked to Macy's Santa-land where Maddy hesitantly told Santa she wanted Calico Critters for Christmas, and sat in front of the big guy for a quick photo. 

It was a successful outing and we made it home through the ice without a hitch.

Maddy's getting so tall!

Santa Land

Macy's Train

Our Poor Tree during the Ice Storm

After the Thaw - the Tree is Back Together!

Welcome Christmas Season!

Maddy and Rosie in Christmas PJs

As everyone knows, the Christmas season is my favorite time of year, and sharing this love with Maddy makes me very happy!  Maddy and Rosie even have matching Christmas Jammies this year!!!  : )

When we returned from Thanksgiving with the DeCock family, we spent the rest of the weekend "putting up Christmas".  Maddy and I did a lot of the decorating together, and she's become quite skilled at putting up the window gel-clings.  She likes making stories with them, so they tend to all be grouped very close together.

Simi Newmi, our Christmas Elf, also has returned to our home, keeping an eye on Maddy and reporting back to Santa each night.  In the morning Maddy looks for him (or her, not sure which) and lets me and Steve know the new spot.  Simi Newmi is an Elf on a Shelf character, so there's one big rule - no one can touch him, or he may lose his Christmas magic.  Usually he's up pretty high which lessens temptation to touch.  He also sometimes gets into trouble or makes a mess.  Those mornings Maddy laughs a lot!

We celebrate St. Nick's day by Maddy putting out her shoes and St. Nick leaves one small gift.  This year it was a stuffed toy - a little puppy in a Christmas hat and scarf.  Maddy named her Brownie.

We also held our annual Christmas Cookie Party, scaled back a bit this year.  We only made the cut-out cookies for the kids to decorate, and Haystacks (we discovered this was a cookie type our friend Eric could enjoy even with his multiple allergies - yay!).  Our invitation invited our friends to bring their own cookies this year, or an appetizer, and we had plenty of cookies to enjoy! 

We also collected food and donations for the food shelf.  We collected a big bag of canned goods as well as $50.00!  Maddy herself contributed $7.00, really wanting to help other people too.  This year we donated the food and money to the Food Program that our friends Christy and Mandy work with at Gilbert School.

We will be spending Christmas in Minnesota this year, splitting time between the Sebastian Family in Knife River and the Faust Family in the Twin Cities area.  Looking forward to lots of fun and family time!  Maddy is so excited to see all her cousins!

Maddy looking for Simi Newmi

Simi Newmi getting into trouble - diving into potpourri!

St. Nick's Day Surprise

Happy St. Nick's Day!

Decorated for the holidays

Ready for the Cookie Party!

Cut-Out Decorating Station

Kieran-Santa

Malena and Deepti

Thanksgiving

Guarding the Turkey

Once again we had a lovely Thanksgiving with the DeCock Family in Redmond, WA this year.  With the increased flexibility I have in my new position with U.S. Bank, I was able to take off both Wednesday and Friday of Thanksgiving week, giving us more time to relax and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season.

We headed to Chris' home Tuesday after work and arrived pretty late - after 9:00 p.m.  Maddy, Steve and I shared the basement room as usual, but Chris had upgraded and Steve and I had an amazing queen size air mattress, and Maddy had a full size one too, all to herself.  Luxury!  We were happy to have arrived and ready to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Wednesday we headed to the market, walked about, then walked to an arcade where Maddy and Riley had fun playing games for an hour or so.  Maddy hit a "jackpot" and earned over 200 tickets, but even with her "big win" she ended up with a tiny stuffed animal and that was it.  But it was good enough for her, and she had a new "friend" to add to the normal mix.  We then headed back to Chris' neck of the woods and stopped for lunch, including the annual oyster appetizers.  Even I had one this year.  It was decent, but oysters are just not high on my favorites list.

Thanksgiving was a relaxing day, but I did take a lengthy walk with Kim during the mid-morning hours.  Lots of food was prepped and cooked, lefse was buttered, cake was made.   It was a lovely Thanksgiving with so much yummy food and treats.  No one stayed up too late Thanksgiving night.

Friday we went for a walk at a park and Chris flew his drone.  It takes photos and can even follow people (we used Riley as a test subject and it worked until it mistook a light pole for Riley and focused on that)!

Everyone left Saturday morning to head tome - Dave, Jane, Kim and Riley had a very early flight.  Maddy, Steve and I waited to Chris to return from dropping off his family at the airport, then it was our turn to say goodbye - at least until next year.

An all-around wonderful Thanksgiving, once again.

Making Lefse!

Marnie and the Redmond Turkey drink

Maddy meets Sasquatch

 

She loves the Carousel!

Riley sees no reason to act his age

Chris and Riley

Dave and Maddy's annual stair shot

Sensory overload - the Lion King

Game Time with Maddy

Prepping Thanksgiving Dinner

Dinner Time

Riley

Marnie and Maddy

Happy Maddy

Princesses at the Ice Rink - town center

My Maddy Rose

Maddy and Steve at the Gum Wall