So Much Snow!

Snow from the morning of the 22nd, and bunny tracks!

Blowing and drifting snow from an all-day storm caused white-out conditions across the state on the 23rd.

Another five inches on Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve with Steve and Ron

For years, Steve and Ron co-organized a Christmas Eve dinner gathering at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. We try to go whenever we're in town on the 24th -- it's always a blast.

Here, we have to tease Lukas a bit. He took the initiative to order wine on his own -- shocking! -- because he didn't realize that ordering the wine is usually "assigned" to someone at the table. Sounds goofy, and it was, but we laughed really hard. This is the moment that the table behind us started shooting us dirty looks. :)

Mason can't believe that the waiter didn't pour him any wine! (Maybe we were racous enough, already?) The table behind us continues to have less fun than we are having.

Barb, Rob and Steve.

Steve finishes the last of the good wine, which Allen and I had previously succeeded in hiding from him.

Merry Christmas!

Dec. 22 Holiday Dinner

We had such a nice time hosting a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family that we decided to do it again for pre-Christmas. The meal was a bit more casual this time: with beef stew and salad instead of ham.

We'd hoped to have both Ds there, but LMS2* was really sick, so couldn't make it. :( But we had lots of good company with Sarah (whom we literally hadn't seen in years -- she's wonderful), ETC, Mr. Wohlwend, and Pat and Sam.

Present time!

And Sam finishes the stew. :)

* Here's how my FIL explained "LMS" to Sarah that night: "'LMS' is 'Lovely Mrs. Sorenson.' This one" -- he points to me -- "is number three, Dawn is number two and my mom is the first one."

B-Day Fun

For the first time in a few years (thank you, William Mitchell, for some less-than-lovely finals-week birthdays), I had an awesome birthday! We started out with brunch at Hell's Kitchen (Mom will remember another birthday brunch there from a few years back) with Cathy...

... and ETC ...
... followed by a little Christmas shopping downtown.

Then (odd timing, I know) we had the AwesomeNeighborsTM come over to take a few snapshots of us to use for our Christmas cards. (I looked through lots of photos from the last few years, and there are very few of M and I together -- mostly because either he's holding the camera or I am.) I think we're leaning toward using the photo below; now I just have to get around to ordering the cards.

Photo time was followed by nap time (how could a good birthday NOT include nap time?!?), and then present time. As you can see below, I was wayyyy excited to get another Bachman's GC this year. Thanks, Dad and Bunny!

Then we had a lovely dinner at Al Vento before meeting up with the AwesomeNeighborsTM for karaoke at the Cardinal. M's performances were the highlight, mostly because he didn't know the words to either of the songs he sang: "Nine to Five" with Sarah (during which he just mostly yelled "NINE TO FIVE!" a bunch of times)...

... or "Private Eyes" with Tim.
Good stuff!

Christmas Sweaters, Part 2

Arriving at Christmas Sweater Party Number 2, at the AwesomeNeighborsTM. It's always nice to attend parties so close to home or, as some of us prefer to say, "stumbling distance."

Poor Radar was so freaked out by all the people that he just ran around in a big circle the whole time. Granted, that is his standard M.O., but he's usually doing it in the backyard.

Like Zach and Becca's, Sarah and Tim's outfits were steaming hot cup of Christmas crazy.

Check out that sweater sleeve. Know how I know you're gay, Tim?

The daily carpool gang. :)