Christmas in Mitchell

We celebrated Christmas with Adam's family this year, and while we don't have many photos, we do have full stomachs and happy memories.

Winter appears to have skipped Mitchell so far this season, especially compared to the snowstorms we've had in Minnesota.

Sarah and Travis received bottling equipment for their homemade wines, so we can expect some great gifts next year.

I tried to hide a Kindle (Adam's most favorite gift) inside a sweater (Adam's least favorite gift), but he easily figured it out and quickly cast aside the sweater.

Here I am, wearing all of my gifts, in the only photo of me.

After sharing the morning with Tucker, Tux, and Isabel, poor TJ decided to call it a day and slept where he could.

Blizzard!

Last weekend's blizzard really put a damper on my planned Christmas shopping. So in the interest of saving money and avoiding travel headaches, please enjoy our gift of free photos.

Day One: Super Blizzard

TJ started his snowy Saturday full of smiles, but as the day wore on, those smiles turned serious.

It took Adam awhile to comprehend the situation. We have a long driveway, two old shovels, and nearly 20 inches of snow.

Our kind neighbors arrived from the heavens to help us out. Jeremy tackled our entire driveway during the blizzard on Saturday, and Alex plowed our sidewalks and street entrance on Sunday. I can't imagine how we would have dug ourselves out without their help.

Day Two: The Aftermath

Don't let the blue skies fool you. It was C-O-L-D. The snow swallowed our Adirondack chair right up to the arms, and that part of the yard was protected from drifts, too.

I did a little extra shoveling on Sunday for fun. Poor form, I know, but the snow was heavy.

Adam refilled the bird feeder and hung out some fresh suet cakes. Those chickadees aren't going to feed themselves!

By Sunday afternoon, we had cleared a nice path through the driveway. I don't know where we'll put the next snowstorm, but we'll worry about that later.

Pickles missed all the fun outdoors, but she kept vigil at the front door all afternoon.

TJ gave up and settled in for a nap under the evergreen.

The biggest downside is that we never finished hanging all of our Christmas lights. We did get the deer up, but the doe was almost completely covered. Hopefully she'll make an appearance before spring.

I'm still having problems uploading photos, so if you want to see many more and slightly better photos, feel free to access our photos online.

The Selby Holidays

This is old news now, but I wanted to share photos from our Thanksgiving/Christmas weekend in Selby, SD. We brought TJ along for the weekend, and he kept a respectable distance from Tasha, my parent's American Eskimo dog. Tasha is 15 or 16 years old now and much of her vision and hearing has been lost. Her sense of smell, however, is still excellent, and she never forgets to beg for just a bite of turkey dinner.

Tasha did not realize that she had plopped down directly in front of TJ, but TJ didn't seem to mind. You can do anything to him when he's tired.

TJ did wake up in time to help Adam prepare the fixings for dinner. Adam's contribution was green bean casserole prepared entirely from scratch. He's making a homemade fried onion topping in the old-school blender below. I made the marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole - WAY easier.

In case you can't tell, the temperatures were frigid, although that didn't prevent TJ and Kaci from tearing around the high school football field.

The post office was open for one hour - and one hour only - on Saturday morning, so we took TJ and Kaci downtown. This was easily the most action I'd seen on Main Street all weekend.

My dad got a Twins jersey from Tyler and Courtney, and I was so insanely jealous, especially because he really kept rubbing it in.

Then I got my own Mauer jersey, and all was well with the universe again.

Adam and I inherited a Kirby vacuum, which we've been told is just about the most fun cleaning you can have. I'm fairly certain it comes with attachments for painting your house.

Adam graciously shared his Christmas Vikings jersey with TJ. Although I can't guarantee how long we'll be able to wear Number 4 in public, at least it will get a second life at Halloween. Happy Holidays!

Omaha!

We recently took a trip to Omaha to visit my brother Christopher and his beautifully pregnant wife Amanda. But first, Iowa!

We took a detour to the Mormon Trail Museum in Omaha, which was simultaneously interesting, informative, entertaining, and free. So much so, in fact, that we bought two copies of Under the Banner of Heaven from a local used bookstore. Adam is currently rereading the hardcover edition and is chock-full of fun facts. Fun fact: the Mormons wintered near Omaha on their way to Utah. I'll bet that was fun.

After the history lesson, we headed for lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery, where Adam and I each had a beverage of equal alcohol content. Adam then ordered a growler for the road.

Our main attraction was the Saturday Night ROTC Banquet. Christopher is currently a student at Creighton's Law School, and his super-senior student status bestows upon him leadership qualities with the Army/Navy crowd. As best I can tell, he was a bouncer with his ROTC buddy Wyatt.

Adam served as a father figure, which made total sense as we were easily the oldest couple in attendance (not counting the generals).

Christopher and Amanda, 7+ months down, 1 or 2 to go. Go Twins!

Bouncer Wyatt and the gang.

Macy and her second favorite toy. We had to destroy her ultra-repetitive noisy favorite. Just kidding. We left the state instead.

Tourist Trappings

While Adam's parents were in town, we took a Sunday drive to the quaint and quirky town of Marine on St. Croix, just north of Stillwater. The St. Croix Chocolate Company had recently opened for business, which called for a celebratory treat.

After Marine, we detoured to the old Boom Site upstream of Stillwater, named for the logging booms that used to line the river. Now it's just a great place to rest and explore.

The late October dreary weather really added to the historical (i.e., "creepy") feel of the place. I'm sure it's a whole other experience in the summer.