Christmas in Montana....

We had a great Christmas. It was fun seeing family and old friends and being "home". I"m not really sure what home is anymore.....is it supposed to be St.Louis or where I grew up and spent the first 19 years of my existence? Sometimes I miss Montana but I like St. Louis too. I'm settled here so I guess this is home. The occasional visit to Montana is always fun too though!
I just wish we could have the good coffee that everyone's roasts in Montana here in St. Louis. People are pretty coffee stupid here.
Anyway....here's some pics:

This is Steve and I at Starbucks - this may not be special to any of you but this Starbucks just opened up in my hometown of Kalispell, Montana. It's the first Starbucks to ever come to the little city where I grew up and I was SO excited to visit.
After visiting twice though I was very disappointed. The baristas were rude and couldn't make anything right and charged me wrong both times.
We spent the remained of our trip drinking from Montana Coffee Traders which I believe is some of the best coffee in the entire world. The websites a little cheezy but the great coffee makes up for it.

So we saw snow - something that wasn't new to me but new to my native born Californian husband. He didn't like the snow too much. Neither did I for that matter and it really wasn't all that bad when we were there either. I was expecting much more snow and a much lower temperature.
Until came......the sleigh ride

We froze our butts off here folks! Unfortunately for me I'm not speaking literally but if I ever was to freeze my butt off this would have been the time. My dad & stepmom had this brilliant idea that we should all go on a sleigh ride. I remember weeks before Christmas when my stepmom sent out an e-mail to myself and my brother in California telling us to bring our warm winter coats and boots. WHAT?!?!?! You're talking to southern California boy and Midwest girl here. We don't own any boots and they don't even make warm coats where we live! Needless to say because of how "unprepared" we were we did get a little frozen. Almost frosty the snowman like if you will.

As cold as we were we did have fun though.
What I really like is being home with my brother and his wife Mandie. I honestly can't remember the last time I was home at Christmas - let alone with my brother there so it was really special to be able to have my whole family together at the holidays.
It was cool being home and sharing my first Christmas as a wife with my family in the town (and even same house for that matter) where I grew up.
I really tried to treasure every second and didn't want to take a minute for granted. I'm sure it will be awhile until I'm ever home for Christmas again - let alone with my brother in town as well so for me the best Christmas gift ever was just being able to spend time with the people that I love.
Good times were had by all!