Christmas Cheer

Inspired by this post by one of my favorite bloggers, I tried my hand at photographing our Christmas tree tonight. Harlow-dog was, as usual, a very excellent helper dog. She especially excelled at being the dark dog head-like mass in front of the camera.

Like Linda (the blog attached above), I like Christmas ornaments with stories. As such, when I give an ornament as a gift I try to link it to something I've experienced with the person.

This is from 2009, when I was working for Montana Gift Corral.

My parents have a long tradition of giving my sister and I an ornament every Christmas. They say its because in their first Christmas as a married couple, they had no ornaments. I received my ornaments as a wedding gift. I'm not entirely sure, but I think my dad is the ornament-buyer. He usually gives pretty sentimental gifts.

My dad gave me the doll-house ornament below when I was 15 or so. Its a reflection, or, almost an exact replica, of the doll house that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was two or three.

It even opens in the back like my childhood dollhouse did.

I try to buy an ornament for Dusty and I every time we travel. This one is from our Hawaii trip in the spring of 2009.

And, I think my mom gave us this one, a photo from our wedding.

This is another parent-gift ornament. My parents were trying to sell their house when I was three, but had mice in the kitchen. Apparently a would-be buyer arrived, and I was giving them a tour. I asked them to "come see my kitchen, where my mices live!"

This isn't really an ornament. But I'm making it one. My parents are hugely generous this year, which is humbling. After wanting a road bike for nearly a decade, my dad insisted on buying me one as a Christmas gift. I can't wait to ride it on the bike trail at the lake, and have promised my dad (a road biker for over 20 years now) that we'll go together.

It seems to me like the Holidays are mostly about channeling your inner child, aren't they? Kind of a time of nostalgia and looking forward. All of the ornaments on our tree make me smile.

Christmas at Home

We're staying here for the holidays. It'll be just the two of us, plus the doggie. We have some lovely friends coming over to share Christmas Eve Dinner tomorrow night and plan on a weekend of cross country skiing around beautiful Bozeman.

We're working through building what will be "our family tradition". Thus far, it includes traditions from DJ's family such as:

• Prime Rib dinner. Related, my husband has named our Christmas Eve Dinner "Optimus Prime Rib"; is this a Star Wars reference?
• Opening one gift on Christmas Eve, and the rest the morning of Christmas Day. (I'm not sure how I feel about this. My family opens them on Christmas Eve... but then again we also have like 4 Christmases spread throughout the weekend, so?)

Traditions from my family will include:

• Drinking whiskey
• Drinking wine
• Eating chocolate

Traditions I hope we can start this year:

• Doing something active and "Montana-ey" on Christmas Day. This year it's XC skiing. 
• Taking a dog for a walk to check out all of the Christmas decorations in a different part of town. We do the loop in our neighborhood at least three times a week. Maybe the historic district this year?
• Turning off Football, even just for a little, and watching a movie together. With buttery popcorn an wine. 

It's tricky for both of us to be away from family for the holidays; especially for me with aging grandmothers that I'm close to. At the same time, we're both really relieved to not be doing the 1600 mile road trip on shitty roads at Christmas. Everyone understands, everyone was invited, and it'll just be the two of us. I think that's okay, as long as I stay busy. 

More tomorrow!

(Sidenote: remind me to never work the day before Christmas break begins. Nothing happened at work today.)

Christmas 2009 Part III

Hey there! We’re back from the Washington Parent Pilgrimage that was Christmas, and whooo boy was it fun! 1,775 miles of driving over the course of 10 days, what’s not to love!!!

Ok, perhaps my enthusiasm is unfounded. For the driving part at least. Our last stretch from Clarkston, a stop in Colton, and onto Bozeman included my sister Gretchen, who is spending the next 10 days with us in Bozeman. And while DJ’s ’02 Tundra is totally sufficient for the two of us, it’s totally cramped for three people over an eight hour drive. The kicker is that the roads were fine the whole way and we could have taken my more comfortable Nissan Altima. Oh well.

Because 1,775 miles doesn't seem like a ridiculous amount to drive in 10 days.

It’s tough wanting to split time between three families (mine, DJ’s mom’s, DJ’s dad’s), especially at the holidays. Since both sets live in Washington State, well, it feels like we might as well do both. If DJ’s family lived in Minnesota, we’d go to one or the other, not schlep our stuff around to see everyone. But once you’re to my parents, you’re “only” six hours to DJ’s parents. You might as well go the whole way, right?

The downside is that I don’t feel like we really got to spend enough time with everyone. I could have used two more days around my mom and dad, and I know DJ feels the same way. I’m not sure what we’ll do next year. We’ve kind of agreed to not make any decisions until after El Weddingo.

It’s especially hard for me to consider missing Christmas with my family when my grandparents are still alive and my extended family gets together. And if we hadn’t done the big roadtrip, we wouldn’t have gotten to stay in Harrison, and check out the restaurant that is the location for our wedding reception

The Landing Restaurant, Harrison, Idaho.

And peer through the windows to see that the bathrooms are ripped out and remodeling is, indeed, taking place.

It'll get done, right? RIGHT???

We couldn’t have gotten the last two cinnamon rolls from Harrison Traders, on Main Street in Harrison (YUM!).

Seriously, you WANT a cinnamon roll from HTC.

Or checked out the park in the middle of Harrison that overlooks the marina (somewhere in the fog) and the campground. We’ll host a Welcome BBQ here on the Friday before our wedding.

Foggy.

Or peeked into the One Shots building and giggled at how fun the after-party at One Shots will be.

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Joyce have been coming to One Shots since the mid 1940's.

And had we not gone to Castle Rock, we wouldn’t have gotten to see DJ’s brother get his year-long hair be cut, and donated to Locks of Love.

Locks of Love.

And had a fabulous dinner.

 Paul, Brian, Michelle and Christmas Dinner!

Or tried to take a nice family photo.

Look, a bird!

And had we not gone to Clarkston, we wouldn’t have gotten to open presents with my parents.

Opening gifts.

 Or tried to take another nice family photo.

Sandi, Mike, Gretchen, Courtney, Dusty.

Or sat through Christmas Mass in St. Boniface Church in Uniontown, Washington. Where although I wouldn’t say I’m a practicing Catholic, I do feel part of the community.

St. Boniface in Uniontown.

Especially when I walk out of church and grab my sister, grandmother and girl cousins for a quick Kramer Girl photo.

Hannah, Grandma Jan, Jessica, Whitney, Gretchen, me, Mollie

And then go out to my aunt and uncle’s, and watch my 76 year old grandmother talk to my cousin over Skype.

Joyce, Skypeing with my cousin Taylor.

And spend Christmas Day out at my Grandma Jan’s, with my extended, extensive family.

Kramer family on the farm.

Where I have a ton of girl cousins, who are all growing to be beautiful, accomplished young women.

Gretchen, Jessica, Mollie.

Whom DJ gets to meet.

Christmas Dinner: round FIVE.

And after dinner we all end up playing trivia games.

Who DID win the NCAA national title in 1987?

That sometimes get very heated.

Sports trivia questions. DJ only stayed around through the baseball round.

Because if we didn’t spend nearly 24 hours driving, when else would we get a chance to gather with family and celebrate just being together?

Kramer Cousins: Kyle, Zach, me, Tyler, Ryan, Whitney, Gretchen, Mollie, Jessica, Hannah

Christmas Roadtrip Part II

Today we’re leaving for the second round of the roadtrip. We’ll drive from Castle Rock to Clarkston, hopefully getting into town just in time to mix up some mulled wine, and have round two of Christmas dinner. Last night was Prime Rib, Twice Baked Potatoes, layered salad and pies at DJ’s mom’s house. YUM!

Leg two of the Washington Christmas Trip. 393 miles and seven and a half hours.

My immediate family (Dad, Mom, Gretchen) has always opened our gifts to each other on the 22nd or 23rd. It’s our tradition, driven by our annual road trip back to Colton for Christmas. The joy of having both of your parents be from the same small town is that both sets of grandparents only live six miles apart. So whether we lived in Helena, Bozeman, Federal Way or Bozeman again, the four of us would always pile in the car for the trip “Home” to Colton.

Then Christmas Eve is with my mom’s side of the family, the Heitstumans, and my dad’s side is visited on Christmas Day. It’s a lot of food, laughter, family and loudness. And I love it. I love that the holiday gets stretched out over four or five days.

My mom though, has always been bothered by the idea that the four of us don’t have any Christmas traditions. Since my parents now live only a half an hour from Colton, my mom tried to institute a new Christmas tradition of opening presents on Christmas day. Gretchen and I, however, are insistent that we continue our tradition of opening them earlier, at night, after a fun dinner. Apparently what we’ve been doing for the last 26 years doesn’t constitute a tradition. We’ll see who wins.