Brita wanted 2 meals for her birthday: Wendy’s and Noodles & Company. Tonight, while coming home from choir practice, we granted one of her wishes on the eve of her birthday. You can see she wasn’t the only happy kid at our house.

Today was National African American Parent Involvement Day at school. Because there aren’t many African Americans at our school, it’s morphed into a parent day where the kids sing songs nominally about African American themes. It also meant a breakfast with Brita before the show and a chance to show off school.

The show was great, but the snow was terrible for driving. Gretchen had to drive Lars to the upper campus, but she got stuck on the way out, which threw off the whole day.

Stefan and Tobias came over to watch the Superbowl with us. It was the rarest of great moments: good food, family, hot fire and blowing snow, and a good Superbowl game.

Tonight was the big Linden Hills Winter Festival. They had ice skating, a marshmallow roast (all gone in the first half-hour), a giant snow pile for sledding, and horse and carriage rides. This is the first winter I can remember as an adult that reminds me of when I was a kid - consistent cold and plenty of snow.

Creative wrapping is both a tradition and a talent at the Rickman house.

We were the last family to arrive in North Carolina for Gretchen’s family celebration. After checking out the rental house, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa’s to open presents. The house was filled with people and good cheer. And the families from Minnesota was grateful for the warm weather and temporary escape from the snow.

This year my parents hosted 3 families for Christmas, including 10 grandchildren.

I can remember the excitement I felt getting together with my cousins, and my kids felt it too, which made this gathering even better for everyone.

Unfortunately, we had to pack up and leave early, which meant sad goodbyes and a Christmas cut short. Before we left, we had one of the best Christmas celebrations I can remember, including excellent food, a huge Christmas tree, and some great laughs with my parents as we put presents under the tree.

One funny thing that happened was when I took this picture. I was discussing the raging snow storm outside with my dad and earlier in the day, I had shown him green and yellow weather maps on my iPhone. While talking to dad, I snapped this picture of the tree.

‘What do you think?’ I asked him, showing the picture.

‘That looks terrible!’ he said glancing down at the phone.

(Uncomfortable silence…) ‘Well…you’re pretty picky,’ I replied.

‘Oh - I thought that was a weather map!’ he said.

It was funny after a late night of wrapping and unpacking (honestly).

Carolling with friends just seems like something I wouldn’t enjoy. We were invited to sing with some neighbors and the kids were excited to try.

I had a lot of doubts. Was this a family tradition? Would we be outsiders intruding on a family gathering? Would I be embarrassed to sing with these people? Would it be too cold?

As soon as I got to the house, I could see it was good I came. Family was there, but the ‘tradition’ was three years old, and there were plenty of other non-family members there. My kids were excited and happy. And they had good drinks and tasty cookies.

The singing was not very good, but we had spirit and everyone who came to the door looked happy. It’s a small thing to carol for strangers for an hour on a random night before Christmas. But it’s one of those things that makes our neighborhood a good place to live. I’m glad I went and hope to get invited again next year.

There is a saying that life begins at forty.  I can’t really say if that is true or false, seeing as I am just starting out.  But it got me thinking about my parents…where were they when they were 40?  Could that shed any light on the situation?

My dad was 40 in 1986.  That meant that I was 16 and going into my junior year of high school.  Within 10 years of that date, all of his kids (4 of them) would have moved out and he would be an empty nester.  I left within 2 years.  Within 3 years, I didn’t even come back home for summers.

Contrast that to my life at 40.  My kids are 4, 6, and 8.   In 10 years, Lars will be ready to go to college.  Leif will just be entering high school.  I’ll still have 8 years of college to pay for before it’s all done.  That means I’m going to have to work a lot harder and longer if I hope to contribute to their education.

I think people used to equate life with the kids finally moving out.  I don’t look at life quite that way.  For me, life is about being with family.  It’s about exploring and seeing the world again through the eyes of my children.  It’s about spending quality time biking around the city, or seeing a baseball game, or travelling to a new destination.

So for me, life goes on at 40.  I hope it goes on this way for a while.

At the last minute, we decided to make our annual trip to the Minneapolis Holidazzle parade.  The parade lasts about 45 minutes and the city turns out the street lights and sends lighted floats down Nicollet mall.

It was exciting to watch with the kids, especially the anticipation Brita and Leif had for the next floats coming down the street.

After the parade, we try to go out for dinner somewhere fun and this year we went to the Hard Rock cafe.  The kids loved it, the atmosphere was great, and the burger was fantastic.

There’s a bright moon in Chicago tonight. Even as I was hurrying back to my hotel tonight, I was struck by the beauty of the buildings and the sky.

It’s Turkey day and I am spending it much like I did last year - too much food, a little work (on personal projects), and some football in my dad’s yard with Lars.

I hope everyone has as good a holiday as I do. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.