Fun in the Twin Cities: And so this is Christmas...

Every year, Mark and I have an extended Christmas holiday due to having two families in two different cities. We always celebrate with both families, but for obvious travel reasons can only celebrate with one family on Christmas Day. This year, we celebrated with Mark's fam on the 17th, spent Christmas weekend and day with my fam, and then had our own Christmas celebration on the 26th.

Christmas Mark's parent's house was great. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening hanging out, eating a fantastic meal, and opening gifts.

Mark playing Santa

Mark and Carol

John and Lucy opening gifts

Mark opening his big gift of a case of wine, which lead to...

An overwhelming collection!

Spending Christmas weekend with my family was great, as always. We spent Saturday night celebrating Mark's birthday with dinner at B.J. Wentker's in Burlington. We had fabulous food - I had a Drunken Ribeye that I'm sure to dream about for weeks to come.

Christmas Eve was spent with extended family. We started the night by attending a live nativity scene with Nikki and her family. It was really cute - little kids played all the parts of the nativity, and it was held in a barn with live animals. The audience was encouraged to join in at times of song. It was a great alternative to Christmas Mass. Later that night, we took part in a round robin with mom's family. We started the night at my parent's house, where my mom served light appetizers of stuffed mushrooms and cheese, sausage and crackers. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim hosted us for dinner, and it was amazing - prime rib cooked to perfection, with twice baked potatoes and salad. We nearly had to be rolled out of the place. After a few games of darts and foosball, we headed over to Aunt Bonnie's for a dessert of Banana Split Torte. It was a very relaxing, low-key way to see family and enjoy Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning at my parent's house is always so much fun - but also a little crazy! Nikki, Pete and the kids came over at 10:00, and after a breakfast of baked-apple french toast and breakfast pizza, we dove into gift opening. Mark was in charge of photos for the morning, and he got some great shots.

Mark and Max, displaying the wooden turtle that Max made and painted for Mark

Me and Lexi, displaying the beautiful scarf that she crocheted for me

Eric opening his gift from the family

Mom opening her red iPod

Mark displaying the amazing cribbage board that Pete handmade for him

My Favre jersey

As always, we also took family pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

Nikki's family

My parents

The whole family

After the long drive back to MN on Tuesday, we settled in for a great new Christmas tradition. Mark and I have decided that because Christmas Eve and Day are always taken by extended family, we would find a day close to Christmas to have our own celebration, by fixing a fabulous meal, having a great bottle of wine, opening gifts, and just relaxing. This was the first year we did it, and it was wonderful to have our own time during this crazy holiday season.

Mark cooking our fabulous meal

We dined like kings on bacon-wrapped filet over a bed of julien carrots, with Death Row Potatoes. (They are called Death Row Potatoes because if I were on death row, I would request these potatoes for my last meal. They are THAT GOOD.)