Rapp Strategies Rundown – December
What we did, read, watched and thought about this month.
Todd R.: Favorite old-time Christmas tradition: Stockings filled on Christmas morning. Favorite new Christmas tradition: Baked potato bar, Christmas movie and “Rapp Jeopardy” on Christmas Eve. Likely choice for viewing during the holidays: Bowl games, 1883 and Mayor of Kingstown. Current reading: Raise a Fist, Take a Knee by John Feinstein. Views on Get Back: really long, but the spectacular rooftop concert helped pay back for the massive investment in rehearsal takes of Don’t Let Me Down, one of my least favorite Fab Four songs.
Alyssa: It was nice to have everyone home for the holidays. Even though it was cold and snowy we managed to get out to see the new Spiderman movie in the theater (first in-theater experience since 2019!). I also read a really interesting book, The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku, which tracks the religious rituals of Ancient Greeks and early Christians and how the early sacraments may have involved psychedelic potions.
Rich: December was highlighted by several days back in the office. It was a great marker of further normality. Of course, the pandemic has been the main deterrent to getting to the office for all of us. My return was also limited by having knee replacement surgery on November 26. I now have both knees replaced and am busy rehabbing. My kids are now calling me the bionic man. I don’t feel that way right now, but I hope to by the beginning of the next golf season. We had a great Christmas holiday with our family and are looking forward to 2022.
Todd S.: Basically, the entire month was a holiday blur for me and my family – Elf on the Shelf mischief, shopping, wrapping, building gingerbread houses, and wondering how the heck we ended up with tornados in December. Meanwhile, we caught the new Spider-Man movie (lots of fun!) and went bowling for the first time since the pandemic. Finally, my Christmas gifts from my sons (ages 9 and 11) are always fascinating. This year, I received gifts for the office: a nice plant and a coffee mug with a very special message.
Sarah: December was chaotic, to say the least. On top of the normal holiday busyness, we got our first proper snowstorm (celebrated with this hotdish from Half Baked Harvest) and our area experienced the first three December tornados on record in Minnesota. My tiny new hometown made appearances on Good Morning America and countless local news station. During time off at Christmas I watched the second season of Emily in Paris, started Station Eleven and hate-watched the first five episodes of And Just Like That… (all with Millie on my lap, of course.) We cooked/baked some incredible things this month, too – a Luxembourgish Äppelkuch to celebrate my husband’s family’s new dual citizenship, classic oyster stew for Christmas Eve and Croissant Pain Perdu from Maman for Christmas morning.
Anna: December brought a flurry of travel and – delightfully – snow on Christmas! Isaac and I celebrated our one-year anniversary, then traveled back to Minnesota and had a marvelous trip spending time with family, visiting our church and seeing close friends. My parents treated us to a delectable meal at Biaggi’s and I enjoyed the shrimp and salmon risotto, though I confess I filled up too much on their house-made focaccia bread. At my in-laws, we relished cheesy potatoes and ham, played trivia, completed a Van Gogh puzzle and watched The Muppet Christmas Carol. Isaac and I stayed at the St. Paul Hotel for the last night of our trip, and I highly recommend breakfast in bed à la room service to wrap up a hectic visit home.
Cullen: For the second year in a row COVID ended up postponing family Christmas parties, so I spent the holiday weekend at home with my immediate family enjoying puzzles, plenty of Christmas movies, and second helpings of roast goose and stuffing. Soon after the holiday, Lauren and I celebrated three years together with an outstanding meal at Petite León that left us raving for several days afterwards.
Holidays aside, a big highlight of the month was catching the NCAA quarterfinal game between the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison en-route to the Badgers’ eventual national championship title. I also binge-watched my new obsession, The Witcher, and caught Tick, Tick…Boom (I’m a big Andrew Garfield fan) and Spider-Man: No Way Home. As for music, I thoroughly enjoyed a deep-dive into the two most recent albums from The Amazing Devil.
Kaylee: This December felt a bit more special than others in that our family's Christmas celebration seemed to last for days rather than just fly by. We had one day for a small gathering of extended family, the next for snacking and playing games like Sushi Go and Azul, and then one last lazy day together watching movies. I've also thoroughly enjoyed getting to sit down and catch Merry Christmas Charlie Brown or other classics like the 1957 version with of An Affair to Remember (with Cary Grant) playing on TV.
