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This weekend, you and your family are invited to First United Methodist Church in Lindstrom.  They are holding their annual Living Nativity.  Please believe me, if you are a fan of the true Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, this is one event you have to put on your to-do list.  It is held outside (yes, even if it is super cold) and features all of the characters from the scene in Bethlehem. It is such a moving experience and it doesn’t last very long.  There are shows every 30 minutes. You are invited to warm up with cookies and coffee inside the church after the shows.  I hope to see you there!

Speaking of First United Methodist Church, that is the place where you are invited on Christmas Day.  If you are going to be alone this Christmas, please come spend some quality time with friends and neighbors.  The meal is free, the only thing they ask is that you reserve a space by calling 651-257-4306.  Come have a great meal, stay warm and celebrate Christmas with some wonderful people.

This last week, my children had been taking part of something called “Nerf Wars”. It is where there are teams of seven whose main goal is to shoot other teams with their Nerf Guns.  I know, initially it sounds super-morbid.  But hear me out. The guns are not a gun that you would mistake for a handgun. Rather, they are huge and bright orange and look like a cartoon space age gun.  Still skeptical? I was too.  Remember, this is the same game where a student died last year while hanging out the window of a moving vehicle.  Believe me, we were not excited to hear they were taking part in these wars. But after sitting down with them and hearing about the rules (yes there are actual rules to this game) we gave permission.

Just so you know, there are some very important rules that everyone seems to be obeying very well including no guns on school grounds, absolutely no shooting in any moving vehicle whatsoever. There are more but those were the ones that helped ease our fears.  

So the last five days we have been listening about who got who on which team.  Sounds childish I know, but I have noticed one thing.  I have noticed that this mythical ‘war’ has brought so many different groups of kids having fun together. I have never seen so many kids laughing, hanging out, and most importantly - not on their phones. It is refreshing to see such excitement in something that a huge populous is involved in.  Is it a dumb game? Yes. Would I have played it when I was that age? Absolutely. Call it what you want, but all I know is our son and daughter haven’t spoken to each other this much since kindergarten.

Thank you to all of our readers and advertisers.  We would not exist without you!

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