Whenever I tell anyone that I’m going to North Dakota during the winter season, I get these incredulous looks–Are you crazy?  No, I’m not.  First, it’s not as bad as you think and I have the necessary “sleeping bag” coat and fluffy boots, plus Alan and Lauri keep the house cozy warm and they have remote starts on their vehicles so they are always comfy.  Second–we get to see some of our kids and grandkids.  Totally worth it!  And it didn’t hurt that we were blessed with a week of sunshine and daytime temps in the 40s – upper 50s.  Not bad.  It didn’t get chilly until Thanksgiving. And we left the next day.

Speaking of Thanksgiving.  I’ve got a few pics for you.  Promise, this is the last bunch of family-oriented photos that I’ll post for a few weeks.

Besides our gang descending on them, Alan and Lauri also invited Lauri’s parents, brother, his girlfriend, and two more small people for Thanksgiving.  14 adults.  4 kids.  Fun!  They have a huge heated shop which we put to use.  Prep in the house.  Dining in the shop. Friday morning brought every couch filled with a sleeping body plus kids on a air mattress on the floor.  Only for a short while though because Lauri and Ashley were off for Black Friday madness!

Following Michelle’s instructions from last Wednesday:  https://ktgreendesign.com//adventures-in-the-kitchen-with-michelle-19/ , we made a huge turkey, Alan smoked a turkey, and Marcy brought a ham.  Everyone had a side or some part of the preparation.  Dinner was followed by poker and ping pong.  Rumour has it that there were a few people in the hot tub, too.

 

We’ve been on the road.  Even Maggie.  We flew to North Dakota for Alan and Lauri’s  wedding reception and hung around for Thanksgiving.  Jes and Andrew also made the trip from Brooklyn.  Eight days of family fun! I did a few posts from there but since I only have my iPad when I travel, anything posted on the road is short and sweet!

Seemed only right to do some Christmas cookie baking while we were there–Cookie Day, North Dakota Style.  Cookie Day has been a special annual event for me and a bunch of my friends and family for over 20 years.  Here’s a link to cookie days past: https://ktgreendesign.com//cookieday.html Our Cookie Day is not just an exchange.  The bakers actually bring the ingredients, mix up the cookies, and bake that day.  Along with consuming many adult beverages and the most delicious appetizers ever, it’s the most wonderful day of the year!

Since Lauri had not yet been introduced to Cookie Day and Jes was AWOL last year and won’t make it to Florida the rest of this year, we decided to have two Cookie Days!  One in ND, one in FL. (Florida Cookie Day is a few weeks away!) There can never be too many Cookie Days! We also invited the men to join us since it was too cold to throw them outside.  That would just be mean!  Besides, not too many golf courses are open in Mandan, ND in November!