Did anyone notice the new photo I put up in our template??? We're all Christmas-ey!

Every year in La Crosse, Wisconsin, there is a holiday lights display down at Riverside Park put on by the Rotary Club. Mike and I have been including this event in our holiday traditions for probably about 12 years. We only missed the event when Benjamin was too tiny to enjoy it or when our holiday season was too busy to have a spare weekend to drive down. La Crosse is also one of our favorite cities, so we make a point to spend the whole day doing the things we love there: visiting the Co-Op, eating at Buzzard Billy's, and going to the candy store. We had a fabulous time there this Saturday and though the drive through line for the holiday lights was too long to endure, the weather was nice enough for us to stroll among the lights by foot. It was magical.

I haven't exactly been feeling much like updating the blog lately, so two weekends have gone by without anything from me. Oops.

Mike and I spent a lovely weekend in downtown Minneapolis recently to see a concert of one of my favorite bands: The Swell Season. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova were in the movie Once, which won an Academy Award for Best Song in 2008. You may remember that Marketa was played off my the orchestra at the awards show and didn't get to give her thank you speech so the host, Jon Stewart, brought her back on later in the show so she could speak. Their music is just so beautiful and Glen Hansard is one of the best live performers I have ever seen. I got our tickets during a presale, so we were lucky enough to sit in the fifth row in center seats at the State Theatre for the concert. It was amazing.

Benjamin spent that weekend with my parents and they had many adventures, which you can read about here.

We had a snow day last week due to a blizzard that gave us about 12 inches overnight.

This past Friday I was able to spend the day holiday shopping with my Mom, which was a treat, since for so many years they lived too far away to just spend a day with her. We also hosted Mike's parents on Saturday and they brought along a few surprise guests: Andy, Jennifer, Dan and Katie. Mike made everyone some awesome Greek soup and we spent the evening hanging out and playing some games. It was very nice.

I am happy to report that my Christmas shopping is nearly done. I only have one more present to buy and wrap, it feels great. We are very much looking forward to our Christmas Eve traditions of holiday lights, church, a special meal and early bedtimes. Before we know it, the big day will be here!

A relaxing Thanksgiving was spent with Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed last week. The food was great and the company was wonderful. We even fit in a long walk after dinner - Mike was happy! On Friday we went to a Christmas parade/celebration in Excelsior, which was very quaint and cute.



On Wednesday night Mike and I acted like youngsters and went to a rock concert in Minneapolis. One of our new favorite bands, The Big Pink, played an AWESOME show! We had dinner together and then miraculously stayed awake long enough to see the performance. They ROCKED our favorite song, Dominos and even did a cover of a Beyonce song - it ruled!



The Christmas tree and decorations are up, the Christmas cards are ready to be mailed and we've started in on our shopping - the holiday is shaping up to be spectacular! Everyone at the Familie Schmitt Haus is EX-CI-TED!