Our family Christmas in Montana was amazing. As one of my daughters said, “The best thing about this trip is the isolation. If we were in Napa everyone would be off in different directions, spending time with friends, eating at restaurants, going to clubs… We’d be scattered. But here we’re all together, cooking together, working together, playing together. It’s perfect!”
Cows gotta be fed. Horses gotta be watered. Dolly, the milk cow, has gotta be milked, sick heifers gotta be doctored. Christmas gifts gotta be delivered in an all-wheel drive trunk. Wine and whiskey gotta be drunk. If you want fresh crusty bread you bake it. If you want a hot pizza you make it and you make the sauce from home-canned tomatoes too. Everybody works to keep the wood stove fired up. There’s no slacking off when you live on a ranch. Blizzard or no blizzard. Well, especially during a blizzard.
Don’t laugh, but this is my idea of heaven. I’ll take Big Sky Country any day.
Oscar and Julia sledding on a crisp clear cold day.
And ‘Oscar’ (with help from our girls) gave me the best Christmas present ever:
A New Coat!
I hope your Christmas was bright and shiny. After a challenging 2013 I’m wishing you all a better 2014. (Please let us all have a better 2014!)
Big Sky Country certainly agrees with you, Julia! (And the coat is perfect.)
Your description (except for sick heifers-somehow we lucked out on that-though you can add in frozen water pipes) describes one of our holidays on the family farms in Missouri. We were exhausted and filthy as you can get only on a farm, and what little water came through the pipes we had to heat in buckets on the wood-burning stove. It was wonderful!
Happy New Year!
Makes me miss Iowa, Marylin! My husband thinks I’m insane but I miss Iowa. I miss the winters. I miss the big white-tailed deer. I miss the cardinals (birds). I miss the fireflies. I miss the thunderstorms. Sigh… Miss it all. I feel completely at home in Montana in a way I’ve never felt in California. Happy New Year to you too!
Love that new coat, Julia. You look so classy in it too!
Too bad you can’t have ‘isolation’ as a part of Christmas every year every where. Being together is part of what Christmas and family is about.
Glad you are having a good time.
Happy New Year!
Thanks Roberta! I hope your Christmas was nice. Did you spend it with friends or family? Happy New Year!
hey, Happy New Year too! Nasty up this way! Glad you’re having fun.
Happy New Year. I vote for a better 2014, too. Montana, Idaho and Oregon away from the cities are good for the soul. Love the coat.
Sigh……..You make me feel so……..materialistic. Well actually I am but I can live with it.
I’m glad you had such a great time. I’m sure you’re all energized and ready to tackle civilization again. Then again what choice do you have. 
I enjoy the wide open spaces thru you. (sorta)
Love the new coat. I’m happy the Big Sky Country works for you.
2014 has to be better than 2013 - it just has to be.
Happy New Year! I LOVE your new coat. Gorgeous!
So glad you had a great Christmas celebration.
Love ya,
Penny
Hi Pens! Hope your Christmas was great! I love the coat too- I’ve never owned such a nice article of clothing.
Thanks, Amber. ICAM. So long sucky 2013!
Yeah, you’re good, Ray. Feel free to enjoy the wide open spaces vicariously!
Thanks, Stephanie! I love Montana and Idaho. Wyoming is cool too! I like the lack of people. Oregon? Parts of Oregon are amazing. Some are too much like Berkeley for me. My parents live in Ashland. Ick. Very elitist.
Happy New Year, Steph! I was worried about you - saw the ice storm on the news when we were in Montana. I’m assuming you have power again!
Love the coat. Your family has good taste. When we lived in Winnipeg, we took a family ski trip to Big Sky, Montana. It is wonderful. Loved the skiing there and the open sky, but I can’t say I miss the cold. Mind you, there’s nothing quite so cold as a Manitoba winter. Glad you had a great Christmas. Yet again, all the best in the new year to you and your family.
Ah, Diana, Winnipeg is one of the coldest cities on earth! But Manitoba is gorgeous - talk about big sky! Hope your Christmas was wonderful!
Merry Christmas loving those photos of you and Oscar and yes he did do well you look fab in that coat. xxxxxxxx
Thanks, Tom! You look fab in your onsie!
It all sounds like a wonderful Christmas. Missed you while you were gone! Welcome back!
Hi Anny! It was. I hope your Christmas was nice. Hope everyone is feeling better.