A friend and I will be in St. Paul on December 6th and 7th for meetings. We live in FL. so we do not have the wardrobe for outside activities. Our meetings are not far from the airport. Any suggestions for our one night stay...restaurants/ shopping/etc...?

If you are staying close to the airport your probably at one of the major chain hotels in Bloomington, MN. In which case take a free shuttle from the hotel to the Mall of America. It's huge. You could spends days in there and still not see it all. It also has a lot of dining possibilities from low end to very high end. If you're going higher end my personal favorite is the California Cafe - try to get seated on the terrace overlooking the funfair. If you're looking for $$$$ expensive, try the Napa Valley Grille. Excellent wine list ! If you're in downtown St Paul the shopping isn't great. Some good restaraunts though - Kincaids and Pazza Luna spring to mind.

Truthfully, nothing is far from the airport when it comes to business. Even downtown is only about 15 minutes. And if my business was downtown, I would stay there because of the skyways where you don't have to walk outside. Key if you don't own the outerwear and need to walk any distance whatsoever.

But if you are truly by the airport, I'd do a mapquest with where the meeting address is and then ask for hotels. As was said, there are a ton of them because of the Mall of America. There is even a new Waterpark hotel boasting America's Largest Indoor Water Park!

The Holidazzle Parade goes right down the Nicollet Mall in Mpls. on winter nights. You can watch from the sidewalk or an indoor skyway. Great fun! Lots of dining options on or near Nicollet Mall.
The St. Paul Hotel is lovely and has excellent dining. It is on historic Rice Park; notice the Victorian Landmark Center across from the hotel.

I second staying in either downtown St. Paul or Minneapolis. I would only recommend the Mall of America if you were just looking for restaurants and stores (essentially a big mall). But if you really want to "see" anything -- local character, landmarks etc. -- you need to be downtown. Plus, the skyways in the downtown areas let you stay inside while you roam. Either St. Paul or Minneapolis is a great option.
Have a great trip!

Thanks for all of the great ideas. Looks like we have a couple of "indoor" options. I'm going to borrow a heavy coat and enjoy the sights!
ez

There are holiday decorations, sleigh rides, ice skating etc... in downtown St. Paul in Rice Park this year.