YES, (If you are 7)
Christmas 2021 in South Dakota! Brett and I took a vacation from our travels to spend 3 weeks in the frozen tundra of So Dak. It has been (we think) 8 years since we were in Dakota for the slightly over-rated holiday. Don't go all sideways and take this the wrong way, we love seeing our family. However, making a big hoop-la over holidays has never been our gig.
We loved Christmas morning with our niece and nephews. This is something we haven't experienced with them. Brett especially loved sharing it as he had lots of childhood memories. I also had fun reminiscing with my brother as we all enjoyed watching his kids anticipate and experience Christmas morning.
Even in a time when kids have so much already, the excitement of Santa is still a really big deal. Gideon and Pete were also both stoked and ready to see what their haul was. On Christmas Eve, Pete said he and Talia were staying upstairs and would probably just stare at the ceiling until after 1 am. It was awesome to be there, and we are grateful for the welcoming arms of our family.
Our FAVORITE (and only) niece Talia did not get her two front teeth, or the bottom two. She was however thrilled with baby Yoda and host of other generous gifts from Santa.
Some of you may or may not know what this white stuff is on the jet bridge. No, it isn't snow, it is salt so you don't slip. Welcome and Merry Christmas upper mid-west boys and girls.
Balmy day 10 degrees F. Thank you Mom and Dad for so generously picking us up at the Soo Foo airport with a warm car fully equipped with winter clothes.
Everyone did quickly remind us that it has "only been freezing ass cold" for the past couple weeks. Cold is all relative that is for sure. We know this cold and grew up with it so we knew exactly what we volunteered for.
Don't let this fool you, it was simply a photo op, he didn't dress up for Christmas morning or go to church. Brett was in a wedding in August and we never got a photo. We left the suit at my brother's house, I guess it still fits. (Thanks Lance for the excuse to get a nice suit)
We spent a week at what we consider our SD home base (my brothers). They have a comfy guest room that we are working to slowly convert into our own. We add pillows, night lights and decorative touches along with slowly taking more space in the closet with items we intentionally leave behind. We call it "our room" but Talia says that Papa and Grandmas use it sometimes too.
Our lucky pup Charlie who has been adopted by Brett's loving parents. The Pack Mules traveled with Charlie while we had our Roatan house, but quickly realized our lifestyle choice and a pup just didn't mix. He is super elderly and nearing the end of his life where he has been able to experience a lot of love and joy. Thank you Mike and Susan for being outstanding adoptive elderly dog caretakers.
We had a relaxing time ringing in the new year with Charlie and Brett's parents in Pierre. They are always open to us dropping in. We love spending time with them in their quiet and cozy Pierre home. There is always delicious food, great bathroom products to use, yoga classes, books to read, birds to watch and lots of conversation to catchup on. Brett grew up in neighboring Fort Pierre. We were married and lived there for the first 7 years of our married life so we were able to see a few old friends but didn't get to see everyone and missed catching up with Brett's sister.
We were lucky enough to get in on a New Year's Day party. Can you guess what the them was? Yup, THE PEOPLE OF WALMART. How did we do? Not good enough to win the dress up prize however our sister in law "Dilly Dilly" did come in runner-up.
It was a blast to catch up with all our hometown friends where I grew up and Brett and I also lived for 10 years. Robert's homemade cheeseball is always a hit and the white elephant gift exchange brought a lot of laughs. Thanks dear friends Russ and Jan for hosting and having us over.
Dress code in Dakota. Brett was assigned to run our nephew Gideon's forgotten lap top to the school. It was -10 F air temp (you have to always indicate actual temp and air temp in SD because it is quite confusing how f _ _ _ _ ' cold it really is.
We spent an afternoon with my Sister and her two darling boys Miles and Lincoln. We were able to play some games and catch up on the latest with their family. Lincoln picked "twister" as the afternoon game, little did he know we have been doing lots of yoga. We are lucky to see lots of them on a more regular basis when we are in Miller for the summer.
OK folks, that is a wrap.......three weeks of holiday bliss in So Dak! We love, love, love our families and our dear friends. South Dakota will always be our humble home. We look at our lifestyle as living our best life, seriously authentic without the crap we decided to leave behind. We don't value our family any less, we actually appreciate time with them even more. Everything needs balance and we are appreciative of having that understanding and the ability to make those choices. Now, back to warmer weather.
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