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I adore this new ornament that Santa left for me 🎅🎄

Wooden Christmas ornament shaped like a cookie sheet with four laser-cut gingerbread figures labeled Jamie, Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler, dated 2023.
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Mazie’s Gingerbread house is epic this year.

Elaborately decorated gingerbread house covered in white royal icing icicles, red and green candy dots, gumdrop trees, and a candy cane door arch.
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Lefse flower with delicious lefse from Freddy’s Lefse! 🌺 🎄

Rolled lefse arranged in a circular flower pattern on a glass plate, with tightly curled pieces standing upright in the center.
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Record warm Christmas Eve means traditional tenderloins on the Big Green Egg in shirt sleeves!

Four beef tenderloin filets on a cutting board beside a Big Green Egg kamado grill on a patio, with tongs, a meat thermometer, and salt nearby.
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Mazie and I took Lucky for a walk today. Vests. Open water. No snow. Unusual for December 23rd.

Man in orange vest and black beanie takes selfie with smiling teen girl in red vest holding a white fluffy dog near an icy creek in winter.
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612 Series — Cherry and Spoon

My favorite local NFT project has been 612 Series by Erik Halaas of StayNftyMpls. I’ve collected 35 of them, and am the only person to have one of every landmark in the series.

To celebrate collecting all of the unique landmarks Erik asked if I would like a block painting of one of my favorites. I leaped at the opportunity and suggested one of the most iconic Minneapolis landmarks in the collection — 612 Series #134 Cerry and Spoon

Here is the NFT image.

Pixel-art block painting of the Cherry and Spoon sculpture in Minneapolis, with green landscaping, a gray sky, and figures nearby.

And here is the amazing block painting!

Pixel-style block painting of the Cherry and Spoon sculpture on watercolor paper, signed and titled in pencil below the artwork, resting on a wooden desk.

I’m going to get this framed and likely have a print of the NFT alongside it. So very fun.

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Everything happens so much.

I won the auction for the “10 of 10” museum quality brass plaque that Jeff Atwood auctioned in his I Fight For The Users post. It arrived today and is even more awesome in person! 🤩

Description from the eBay listing:

Let’s celebrate the death of Twitter in style, with the best tweet of ALL TIME! This museum quality brass plaque features a famous tweet on June 28th, 2012 (which just so happens to be Elon Musk’s birthday) by @Horse_ebooks that reads, “Everything happens so much.” It’s almost 8 pounds, 14" wide by 8" tall, and will outlive all of us, regrettably. Includes brass bolts for mounting, too (not pictured). All proceeds are donated directly to The Trevor Project charity, which provides 24/7 crisis support to LGBTQ young people.

This is a unique item, 1 of 10 in the world, and it’s for a good cause, so bid appropriately :)

Black and gold brass plaque engraved with a Horse ebooks tweet dated Jun 28 2012, beside a handwritten note signed by Jeff Dark metal plaque signed in gold ink with a cursive signature, date 12/15/23, and numbered 10 of 10, resting on marble surface
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Wonka

We saw Wonka this evening and all thought the movie was great. Wonka tells the magical origin story of Willy Wonka. Timothée Chalamet plays the role of Wonka perfectly. I highly recommend going.

I wish we would have picked a different theater though. The seats were dirty, there was popcorn and debris all over, and the other people in the theater kept talking and making noise at various times.

Thinking about the experience had me thinking of the ideal. It would be incredible to see Wonka and get a box of chocolates to have during the movie, that are timed with the scenes in the movie, and matched with the flavors and story. There are several scenes where chocolate is a key character and having a taste to go with it would be incredible. 🤩

Movie poster for Wonka showing a young man in a red coat and top hat seated among giant candy and flowers, release date December 15
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I dig the simple and distinct look of the new Minnesota state flag. Certainly a more modern look.

Several years ago when I was still on the board of Minnestar we created a new branding system that looks almost like a precursor to the new flag.

Minnesota state flag with dark navy blue left section featuring a white 8-pointed star and light blue right chevron shape
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POAP just published the Year in POAP 2023 with highlights of the year. POAP is one of my favorite crypto projects! I’ve issued a bunch of them! It was great to see the POAP I made for 20 Years of Olson Family Vacations highlighted in the Year in POAP!