Upon arrival at our airbnb on the west side, I was underwhelmed.  Later, the Virgos would both call it an "old hippie house" and I while I like to think I have hippie characteristics, I immediately wanted a fancy hotel room.  Andy quickly read my energy (and that of the house) and I'm pretty sure he began looking for the above mentioned room, as I pretended like it was the greatest house ever.  And, as soon as my favorite sister and favorite bestie arrived, it was just that - the greatest house ever.  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly situations can change, simply by changing the energy surrounding the situation.

With the arrival of my favorites, the fun also arrived (and likely some relief for AP, as he soon found out he didn't have to find a fancy hotel room).  The Eve Day began with presents

And as we all dressed for dinner, the first of many photo opps.  

 ummmm, they really are the cutest - and quite possibly - trouble.

As Eve Eve approached, and we were miraculously all dressed in time for our Ubers, we headed to Tempest for more pics,

and the promised fancy meal.  All day, Bennett had been talking about getting crab legs - which seemed like a very reasonable request, considering Tempest is a lovely seafood restaurant.  When the menu arrived, crab was definitely on the menu - King Crab, to be exact, and it was also the most expensive item listed.  The next 20 minutes a typical Prose scenario followed.  Andy tried to convince Bennett to just get the King Crab - who cares about the cost, it's new year's eve!!!  Bennett flip flopped, knowing it was excessive, got a bit teary, yet still wanted the white meat. I gave several - not only reasonable, BUT MUCH BETTER - options for smaller portions of crab.  In the end, Bennett got the king crab. (Dang, it. AP wins again.)

End scene.

Our NYE tradition would not be broken this year, just modified a bit.  Instead of meeting Nicole and the Jacobsons in MSP and staying in a fancy hotel, we decided to travel to Madison and stay somewhere...  The Prose family was super excited about the twists in our usual plan - change is so exciting!  We looked at a couple hotel options, but with 7 adults and four children the choices were too small and too expensive.  So, we got airbnb'd ourselves a house on the west side - but wait, I am getting ahead of myself...  First...

Andy and I decided to lengthen our mini-vacation and shorten time on the road by staying at one of his Stillwater hotels.  After shopping for a new mustache shirt (for AP this time), the best supper club dinner ever, a few hours in the pool, and an early bed time - we hit the road to WISCO.

Tie shoes were not top of her list.  In order for that item to be checked off, there was a requirement.  This was fulfilled immediately - and with practice, a standard has been met!!

Speaking of de-Christmasing...  It took all kinds of convincing, and litereally  over an hour of my best mom convincing, to get the Girl to dispose of this gingerbread house.  Finally, after promising to take "more than one" picture and "put it on the blog" did the gingerbread get into the garbage - with a fond farewell of "Good bye, gingerbread.  You were the best house I ever built, in my whole entire life."

Ok - it's time to de-Christmas and move on with winter break.  And while we get no sympathy from the Mister, our winter break is so short this year!!!  Only one week to cram in play dates and closet cleaning and a day of TV watching and NYE prepping!  So today, we took down both trees early in the morning, and all the decorations, so we could have playTiME!!  Bennett was whisked away to Andrew's for boot hockey and sledding and a movie, and and Harper's hosted her very first non-neighbor sleepover.  This momentous event included a girls day at the movies (SING!  might just be the best movie of the year) and loaded ice cream sundaes, and just a tear or two at bedtime.  Tears from K, as her bestie fell asleep before her (shocking, I know...).  Even with the tears shed, it was a success - and next time - Harper thinks she will stay at Keely's house.  Maybe... or maybe not...

Bennett and Andrew went to a different show at a different time, but probably had just as much sugar as the girls above.

Santa arrived and Rose Lake and the 1407 this year - and the Ninja and the Gnome were obviously on the NICE LIST!  We will be organizing our yearly donations prior to restocking the toy closet with all kinds of building blocks and craft sets and games and doll accessories and books and beads and pretend puppies...  AP and I did stick to the four present rule of Want, Wear, Need, Read - and H's ear muffs were her absolute fave.  B's favorite was the airplane LEGO set and BrainGames.  Andy loved his ice balls, and my fave was the Eddie the Eagle inspired sweatshirt (to match my read sweatpants, that have not magically disappeared...)

I have always loved Christmas so much.  I love the cheesy music, I love the decorations, and the gifts and the cookies.  I love the traditional food and making Grandma Safar's stuffing every single year.  I love being home - now home at Rose, with everyone in the same house.  I love the noise, and the games, and the laughter - and I love it even more with these kiddos in tow.  They swim in the magic of it all, very simply put - it makes me so happy each year to share that magic with the people I love the most.