Ahhhh, the holidays

Since returning from China I feel like my life has revolved around unpacking, packing, driving, eating and just when I thought I was done the cycle repeated itself.

It took me close to a week to get settled into my condo after returning from China. Unfortunately, as soon as I was settled it was off to MN for Christmas. Before getting to my sister’s house though Rick and I headed to North Dakota as I had to rent an apartment, get a new drivers license and buy a car. We fought some snow and wind during our drive but made it safely to ND. We only spent a day in ND which was fine by me as the temperature didn’t get above zero the whole time we were there.
Christmas was highlighted with a ton of traditional activities including: Christmas Eve service at Bethesda, swedish meatballs and sausage, Santa bringing gifts, white elephant gift exchange, spoiling my niece and nephew, etc...

During this time I was able to prove to my nephew that while I am a great lego builder (Thanks Tim for all the training!) I am a horrible video game player. Cooper received a Nintendo DS and repeatedly came to me saying “I’m stuck, how do I get through this door/wall/level/etc...” I’d try for a few minutes and then just give up.

I tried to explain to him that I was only good with video games prior to them becoming 3D. I mean who doesn’t like Pacman?! He didn’t quiet buy it though and usually opted to walk away from me and figure it out himself.

Another moment of Cooper being himself was when we were watching “Its A Wonderful Life.” Both Cooper and Cori weren’t paying much attention to it, but at times would stop and watch for a few minutes. Towards the end I could tell Cooper just wasn’t impressed with the show. This was confirmed when he leaned across my sisters lap and said “Mom, when can you get this grey and silver stuff off the TV -- I don’t like it!”

After 5 days in MN, I drove my new Ford Edge down to Chicago. I did stop in Madison for a belated Christmas lunch with Rick and his family.
Things didn’t settle down when I got to Chicago. I spent time meeting with realtors, moving stuff to storage, packing bags for my move to Fargo. See what I mean by the cycle repeating!