Haunted: Merry Christmas and South Dakota

Winterized!

So... it's been several days since I updated. I was in South Dakota, freezing my ass off. Nothing quite like the midwest in winter! I have several pictures, links, anecdotes and other things to share with you from my trip. But before I do, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2013.

Okay.. now on to the "stuff":

We (meaning my mom and me) got to Vermillion, South Dakota at about 1:00am on Monday, December 24th. But first, let me back up just a smidge.

Sunday, December 23rd, I taught Zumba at 10:00am, rushed home, finished packing stuff into my carry-on suitcase (do you have any idea how hard it is to pack for below-freezing weather in a carry-on?!) and zoomed to the airport to catch a 3:30pm plane. My mom only told me right before we left that we did not have assigned seats. I was thinking, 'oh great, we're screwed.' We almost were. We barely squeaked on. I was in the very front of the economy class and my mom was about 40 rows behind me on that 757-200.

So. We get on that flight by the skin of our teeth and fly, uneventfully, to Denver. We pull into gate B27 30 minutes late. Our next flight leaves in 20 minutes out of gate B79! As soon as the flight attendant opens the door I am barreling out of it, up the jetway and into the terminal where I discover we have to run clear to the other end of concourse B, which is about a half mile long at the very least. My mom gets off the plane eons later and we literally RUN through the Denver airport. I was laughing the whole way because we must have looked ridiculous. I was in my parka and boots, carrying my backpack and dragging my mom's suitcase as well as my own, and she was running after me in slip on shoes and a ski jacket, her purse flapping everywhere. We got to B79 only to find the flight was delayed - our plane wasn't even there yet!

We get to Sioux Falls, SD at around midnight. It was dark and it was cold. We rent our car, a very stylish, very white Chrysler 200 with remote starter and heated seats! Oooo.. heavenly. We drive speedily down I-29 and make good time to Grandma's. One interesting thing to note was that once we got to Vermillion, I had to remind my mom how to get to Grandma's. The "city" (such as it is) seems to morph and grow every time we go.

After tromping around Grandma's at 1:00 in the morning, trying to be as quiet as possible and of course making tons of noise, Grandma wakes up and comes out in her nightgown, pushing her walker and scares the living shit out of me. She looked like a little whitish ghost coming down the hall! I blew up my air mattress (manually), ate some bread and peanut butter because my heart was skipping and stuttering like crazy, and went to bed.

Before I passed out, I wrote a journal entry to be entered into my journal or onto here later. Here it is (entry in blue):

Monday 12.24.12

Grandma’s house

2:00am

I must lose weight in South Dakota. I was such a pig before I left, it was totally unacceptable. I ate a little when I got to Grandma’s because my heartbeat was all crazy and I was shaking. But tomorrow will be different… I will not eat very much.

Here is the food/eating schedule I will write down (but I will add the times in according to when I wake up):

11) Plain coffee from McDonalds w/ stevia and ¼ - ½ c. nonfat milk (might have to be ½ cup because the coffee is bigger than what I make at home)

22) Tea with stevia

33) 1 packet oatmeal with ¼ c. nonfat milk

44) ½ fat free yogurt

55) fat free hot cocoa

66) Try to restrict as much as possible during lunch/dinner if out. Eat the oatmeal for the remaining meal.

Also, I can walk here. I packed gloves AND mittens, hat, scarf, hood, UnderArmour, hoodies, leggings, jeans, thick socks and boots. I should be set. No excuses here. I can walk to the other side of Vermillion in about an hour.

Goodnight.

Well, it didn't really turn out that way. But oh well. Also, sleeping became impossible past 7:00am because Grandma's caregivers arrive at that time and, of course, have to shout to be heard. Also, Grandma likes to watch Wheel Of Fortune reruns at that choice time of day, at about 1000 decibels. It was snowy, though, and pretty. I do love white Christmases.

Here comes the first link.. hold on, wait for it...

On Christmas eve day I took the rental car to go buy some bread and other random shit at Walmart (shush, it's the only option) and I discovered a wondrous thing. Really brought the Christmas spirit to my heart. God bless us, the car had Satellite Radio!!! Relieved, I turned it on and heard this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9mmhh_wvkA

I. Cracked. Up. Laughing. I love this song. I cranked that shit and rocked out all the way back to Grandma's. I had it up so loud that apparently my Grandma, who wears 2 hearing aids, heard it from the living room. "What's that racket?" she apparently asked my mom. So funny! Anyway I played the song for her later. She was not amused. She's 97 so I doubt very much she knew what "cock" meant in that context. Ha!

I went for a walk in the 12 degree weather. 2 hours. I was freezing. Enough said.

Christmas eve my mom decided we were going to church. Oh... no... Me? In church??? I have a Star of David tattooed on my back and the word "shalom" written in Hebrew on my right shoulder blade! I do not belong in church!

So after "Christmas eve dinner" (which consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches for my mom and grandma and a fat free yogurt for me), we went to Trinity Lutheran for Christmas eve mass.

I have to say, I had never really heard the story of Christmas before. I knew it was "Jesus' birthday" and about the manger and all that jazz, but never had I really thought about it. I don't mean to be totally anti-Christianity, because I'm really not, but... pardon me, the story makes no sense.

So there's this girl, who sorta-kinda has sex with this guy but they never really have sex, just kind of dry hump and all that good stuff. Anyway, she get's pregnant because she doesn't realize that there exists a thing called "pre-cum." But oops! This girl is engaged! So her fiance comes back into town and she says to him, "I'm pregnant! But I never had sex!" And for some reason he believes her and says, "wow! It's a miracle!" And she's thinking "uh huh.. sure..... just keep thinking that..." and 2000 years later we are still celebrating Christmas. I bet that Mary, whatever happened to her, is shaking her head in disbelief about what has become of the world. I believe Jesus lived and I believe he was a really good guy. But sorry, I don't believe he was the Son of God and I don't believe that Jonah lived in a whale and I don't believe whats-their-name lived for 900 years, and I certainly don't believe that people can rise from the dead. That just cannot be.

Nevertheless, the service was actually enjoyable. We all lit candles and it looked pretty. Then we drove around looking at Christmas lights in Vermillion.

Christmas day dawned clear and colder than anything I've ever experienced. We drove up to Arlington, SD in almost sub-zero weather.

By the late afternoon, however, it had warmed up just a touch.

I've decided that I have a new favorite Christmas song. I've heard it at Starbucks many times, while having coffee with my mom or sitting at a table drawing in my sketch pad. For a Christmas song it is very easy to listen to. Funny that it turned out to be Sixpence None The Richer. I've known of them forever but I never would have guessed it was her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-b5IC_Jsfc

December 26th was a balmy 16 degrees! I walked for 3 hours that day. Here are some pictures from that walk:

This morning we woke up to a litte blizzard!

The roads were clear, though, and we had no trouble making to Sioux Falls to catch our plane. On the 2nd flight, the guy next to me was fighting with his wife across the aisle the whole way. I have never been so glad to feel the wheels hit the tarmac!

So now I'm home... and tomorrow I am off again! My fiance and I are going up to Seattle for New Years. Here are some more random pictures from South Dakota. XO!