Santa Clause is Coming to Town

There was no doubt that Duluth would have a white Christmas 2019 as Duluth's first snowfall is often in October. With over 33 inches of white fluffy snow since then, a white Christmas was practically a guarantee. However, spending Christmas week in Chicago was quite different. We flew down on Dec. 20th to spend time with the Benziger family and immediately noticed the grass was green, lakes and rivers were not frozen, and the daily highs were in the 50s! This refreshing "heat wave" was a welcome change from the sub-freezing temps in Duluth. We went to see the sold-out Chicago Botanic Garden's new holiday light display, Lightscape. The one-mile trail wound through various parts of the park and had innovative displays that were beautifully choreographed to holiday music. The next day, we enjoyed a day in downtown where the kids saw Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theater for the first time. Theo was quite scared of the ghosts and Marit loved them, especially "the flying one with pink hair." Scrooge was played by Larry Yando for over a dozen years and he does a spectacular job. Scrooge is not made to be a man set to dominate the world with his wealth, but as a man who has lost the lighthearted and fun side of himself as he's become jaded over time, especially around Christmas. It is a timeless story and a good reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and what this season is all about. This was followed by a delicious dinner and walk along the Chicago Riverwalk back to the condo. Christmas Eve is also Grandpa's birthday and we had a lovely family celebration. We tracked Santa and his reindeer on the NORAD site as he traveled the globe delivering billions of presents. Santa managed to track down Theo and Marit again this year. Theo left an honest note for the old man that said:

Dear S.C.,
This is from Theo and Marit. We have been good 3/4 of the year. Could you leave a note that says how old you and Mrs. Clause are? Hope you are hungry.
Thank you. <3 Theo <3 Marit.

The man himself replied that he and Mrs. Clause are very old and "stopping counting after 550 and that was a very looooong time ago." He was certainly hungry and ate all the sugar cookies and carrots and drank the milk. The children were pleased that they did not receive any coal but Theo wisely said "Coal is hard to find these days and so taconite would probably be a better alternative to coal if he needed." Spoken like a true Minnesota from the Northland. It was fun to spend time with the cousins and debate the question, "Would you rather make $10 every time you snapped, or $10,000,000 instantly?" All the adults over the age of 21 unanimously agreed to take the instant money and invest it in stocks, startups or other ways while the younger folks argued that snapping 1 million times would not be that difficult and were happy to waste their energy doing it. Given their age, it would be better in the long run as they would ultimately make way more money (as long as they don't lose any fingers) but then they would be known as the snapper forevermore. We flew home early on December 26th and had another Christmas present opening at home, where the kids were surprised to get their own snowshoes and a scavenger hunt that ended with 10 frisbee golf discs and a new basket! Theo tried cross country skiing for the first time at a day camp at Grand Avenue with his friends Leo and Eilev. He was a quick learner and can't wait to get his own skis to try out around the neighborhood. 

Then we headed "Up North" to the cabin (which is actually south in Wisconsin) to spend Christmas #4 with the Pastorius family. The cabin was finally back in order after a terrible wind storm in July badly damaged it this summer. Stockings were hung by the chimney with care (but Saint Nicholas had already been there). The kids tore through presents and enjoyed seeing "Santa." Sadly, the big snowstorm that was predicting over a foot of snow only brought cold rain and dangerous ice to the region so winter sports were limited. (However, some amazing videos of buses sliding sideways down roads and kids ice skating on streets and sidewalks flooded social media.) We had fun inside playing with blocks, coloring, watching movies, and did run around out on the ice for a little while. Grandma JoJo went snowshoeing for the first time 1.5 miles around the Polk County regional park with her daughters. Families that play together stay together they say and I agree. While 2019 was not the most memorable year (see decade in review post), we welcome the next decade and look forward to many more years together with family and friends.