Home for the Holidays :)

Ho ho ho, Merry Midwest Christmas! We hadn't been back for Christmas in the four years we've lived in the Czech Republic, so a trip home this winter was long overdue. Also, with our pending adoption, we weren't sure when we could next leave the EU. Thus, in December we packed the pup in her little red carrier and flew to the US with suitcases full of presents.

The highlight of the trip was meeting our 6-mo-old baby nephew and baptizing him as Godparents in our parents' church in North Dakota. He lives in Washington, so it was monumental for us to all be together!

We had planned to split our time between Minnesota and North Dakota... but if you've ever been to the American Midwest, you know that blizzard season makes travel unpredictable. So Minnesota kept us a bit longer than we'd planned on. Part of that time was spent in a sketchy hotel room off the interstate, eating Walmart fried chicken when we nearly got blown off the road driving toward the North Dakota border.

In Minnesota, we ate and ate and ate, as evidenced by the many photos I have of us sitting around large dining tables. An extra-special event was visiting BW's grandparents at their Jordan, MN, farm; aside from being marvelous people, they've got a stuffed bobcat, a pole barn full of antique cars, and a collection of photos from relatives through the generations. We also saw friends, renewed our drivers' licenses, celebrated Christmas #1 and bought American things we can't get in Prague, like Crystal Light drink mix and proper Chapstick.

We only had a measly four full days in North Dakota. Nonetheless, we celebrated Christmas #2, had the baptism, saw dear friends and family, and journeyed through the snowdrifts to a cabin that my dad built waaaaaay out on the prairie. It's been extraordinary watching him build it by hand bit by bit these last few years, and it reminds me of Czech chata (cottage) culture. Oh, and we ate more,

It was difficult saying goodbye, but we've been assured by loved ones that they'll visit this Spring, Summer and Fall, so that makes us feel a touch better. So does not having to deal with blizzard conditions and ice-coated roads. Ha.