Had a Very Shiny Nose

Technically it wasn't kidnapping, but with temps in the low teens, I managed to coerce my nephew to go to the annual Rudolph Country Christmas today.

Rudolph's nose may be red and shiny, but our were red and runny! Thankfully, the sun was out and the wind was down so it had the illusion of being a nice winter's day.

First stop was the post office where we could "hand cancel" our Christmas cards with a special Rudolph, Wisconsin, reindeer stamp pad at our disposal. I didn't take a picture but if you are lucky enough to receive a card from us, know that each was canceled with care.

After that, it was off to see Santa and the reindeer. Found out they weren't going to be downtown until 1 p.m. We were not hanging around 3 hours for that. When I saw a sign about "Breakfast with St. Nick" we decided to test our luck.

Found him! He was very gracious about letting big kids like Tony and me sit on his lap. One at a time, of course, since there wasn't a lot of room!

When he saw my hat, I almost didn't get a turn. But then he admitted he is powerless to help either the Vikings or the Packers this year. Hey, if Santa can't help, you know they're bad.

From there, we checked out some of the nativity scene animals. Can't you hear this camel asking, "Mike, guess what day it is?" from that commercial?

We were worried the camel would spit, but instead he was snuggly like a dog or cat.

And liked to give kisses!

Both Tony and I got kisses and snuggles. (And definitely washed our hands after that!)

"Does this cookie make my ass look big?" (Ha. One for the pun-sters.)

They also offered horse and carriage rides but we bypassed that. Stopped in at the craft show, bought some Amish cashew crunch and we were on our way. Ran some errands in Stevens Point and had to figure out what we don't want to get out and have to buy tomorrow when we may be snowed in!

Tonight, we enjoyed a food, friends and fun evening at our friends Joe and Michelle's. Got to see some of our "Assumption family" we haven't seen in awhile, plus start the holidays holi-GRAZE.

Been snowing lightly all evening and apparently there is much more to come in the next 12 hours. They're still staying 6 or 7 inches here.

We might need Rudolph and his shiny nose to get us to church in the morning!