Live nativity at Edina church

I wanted the kiddos to really picture the Nativity, and so we hunted down a live nativity. Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina has a small one that was fun for us to drop by one Sunday morning.

The narrator read the story of Jesus' birth from scripture. We arrived in the middle of one reading and stayed through the reading of another. There was a break in the middle, so the whole thing took about 15 minutes. We loved the warm fire, and appreciated the hot drinks and cookies available under the tent.

Don't miss this Christmas light show

Nezt year, plan to head down to the University of Minnesota Campus to check out this great 15-minute light show.

Created by University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering students, the 2014 show was bigger and better than the year before with more than 100,000 LED lights, 400 individual controllable lights and 450 microcontrollers.

Lights surrounded the semi-circular Civil Engineering Plaza. The whole thing was synchronized to music composed and performed by University of Minnesota students for a 360-degree sensory outdoor experience. New features in 2014 were a giant 22-foot lighted tree, an 8-foot 3D snowman sign, and an 8-foot-by-6-foot lighted M. The light show was presented by the Tesla Works student group.

Shows were at 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7 p.m. on the Civil Engineering Building Plaza, 500 Pillsbury Dr. S.E., Minneapolis.

We loved it! The music selection was rocking, and the lights were magnificent. We rode the train down so we didn't have to worry about parking and enjoyed a nice walk. I brought hot cocoa in a thermos and some snacks. It was a great night out for the family.