As some of you may remember I celebrated my birthday last year at a beautiful cabin in Mount Hood, surrounded by the mountains and good friends. I had such a good time that I wanted to keep the same tradition going this year but decided to switch up the location. The Tetons have been on my list of places to see so the day before my birthday we hopped a flight to Jackson Hole to meet a group of friends from college.
I wanted to do something special for my Mom for Christmas so my sister and I spent several lonnnngggggg nights organizing over twenty-five years of our family’s photos. I know that sounds like a big feat (and trust me, it was) but most nights we spent laughing until we cried from hilarious hair-do’s, facial expressions, hideous (but trendy at the time) clothing, school pictures, and things we thought were the absolute best as kids like turtles – both real and Ninja, lady bugs, Mavis Vanessa (my cabbage patch doll), baby chickens at the farm, Walter (my sisters ratty stuffed dog she used to carry around), 101 Dalmatian pajamas, twisty straws, John Deere tricycles, Barbies and the humongous Barbie doll house my Dad built for us, and the salamanders that lived in our window wells. These precious memories have been stashed away in old albums and shoe boxes for years just waiting for someone to come along, organize them, and put them into leather bound albums.
This year I am fortunate enough to be able to go home for Christmas for the second year in a row after starting my real, “big-person” job. This may not seem like a big feat to some but between my limited vacation days and the location of my hometown, it has proven to be a difficult task. You see, my hometown is located in the very northeastern corner of the state of Montana – 15 miles from the Canadian border and 25 miles from the North Dakota border.
