Dear Grandma,
It's Christmas Eve today and if the week hands me one more challenge I might possibly have to light something on fire. Don't worry though, that's a pretty common threat from me and I have yet to follow through. I've had so many frusterations with work this week I am going to bypass the subject completely. It would be a waste of time and it will only make me have to talk about it more. I have the blues and I knew I would. It's the first Christmas I have missed with my family since I have lived in Omaha, not that it will be "missed" just delayed. The traditions of Christmas Eve on Mary street are some of my favorites of all the year. I wish I was back home, having supper, going to church, opening presents - but I wll be here, nuring my sick kidneys and babysitting my pager all while anticipating the "bad" weather. I put that in quotations because some of these Nebraskans are whack jobs when it comes to weather and like dad said earlier this week "They panic and we South Dakotans get a six pack, put in a beatles cd and try to get the car stuck."

I wish I had more positive things to say this time around. I'm just really bummed and frusterated. The scare I had with my kidneys this morning has me paranoid and having the PA tell me that they would be concerned about cancer if I were a 60 year old overweight smoker. I know I'm not, but if there is one word that I would prefer never hear it's that one.

That being said, it's Christmas. I'm lucky to have a wonderful family, great friends. Christmas is when you make it and I am certainly looking foward to hitting the interstate on Wednesday to head home to celebrate the holidays with my family. It's just hard to watch everyone around here doing just that. I am thankful though, and I definitely shouldn't complain.

On the bright side I thought of somehting. This year I can spend Christmas with you. Because this year nobody can take that from me. So I'll see you on my couch this evening for a stack of Red Box movies.

Love you
Merry Christmas
Kristen

Dear Grandma,

I know it's been entirely too long since I've written. The holidays and the winter has been keeping me pretty busy and on top of all of that my computer got a virus. It's amazing that even technology gets sick. I am lucky enough to have a friend who's job is to take care of all of that, so he was able to fix the problem. Thank goodness he did, because Lord knows I would never have figured out and would have likely thrown my computer off the roof in the attempt.

Any break we thought we had gotten from winter this year was taken from us this past week. The snow hit Omaha - and hard - last Wednesday. So hard in fact that my roomate and I (and many other people) were stranded at home all day. Even my four wheel drive SUV couldn't make it through our street. I spent 20 minutes trying to get it back on the driveway after it had stubbornly planted itself in the middle of Franklin Street. The tires were spinnin' and the snow a'flyin...but she wasn't moving. Instead of risking our lives and sanity trying to get to work, Abby and I spent the afternoon in front of the fireplace watching movies and waiting for the snow plow. It was like the snow days we used to have in high school except I wasn't able to go back to bed and sleep until noon. Dang you adulthood and the fact that my body is programmed to be awake before 6 am. I couldn't even tell you how much snow we got, but it DUMPED snow for an entire day, and then spent another day blowing it into drifts across the streets of Omaha. It. was. a. mess. This week we've reached a new chapter "freezing drizzle and moron drivers." Please remind me again why I live in Nebraska.

This past weekend mom and dad were in town for mom's birthday. For months mom and I had dad believing they were coming to Omaha to celebrate mom's birthday - which was partially true. The "Surprise concert" that we were "taking mom" to was actually a surprise Beatles concert for dad. He was not especially excited to come all the way to Omaha to go out for supper, and boy was he surprised. I got him =) He thought for sure his birthday ended on the east coast...he's not the only one who can pull of secrets. =) We spent Saturday shopping and went out to eat for mom's birthday. It was a great weekend and I'm so happy they took the whole weekend and spent it with me. I'm certainly lucky.

Christmas is quickly approaching as is my dreaded week on call. Things are looking up though, there are going to be more people in Omaha over Christmas than I thought, one of my friends even invited me to eat with her family for Christmas. It still won't quite be the same and I will be missing my family, but it's nice to know I have options to keep myself occupied. Ive got my decorations up, my presents wrapped and have finally begun to get in the spirit, but, Christmas won't be Christmas for me until I'm home In Parkston with my family. I finally have Grandpa's star in Omaha. I remember the year we moved out of the house on 2nd and elm street - and away from the pretty star that hung on the street light on the corner each Christmas. I remember when you and Grandpa visited and presented me with my very own star for Mary street. That star now hangs on the wall in my duplex.

Things have really been going well with the exception of the general work frustrations. I'm happy and parts of my life that have seemed to be missing something are beginning to fill themselves in. I'm optimistic about the next year...hoepfully this will be the year I look back at and don't say "Boy, 2010 really blew." I've got high expectations. =)

I thought - very specifically - about you today at work. I remembered the day you came to the shop ... the first time I saw you after we found out you were sick. I rememvber the big smile on your face when you saw me and I remember the the hug where you squeezed me tighter than I thought your strength allowd. It's a great memory of a very difficult visit. My goodness I miss you.I thought of you again when I had a dipped Ritz (and then another). I'd give anything to make part of my trip to South Dakota in a couple weeks a detour through Amrour. But there's nothing worth seeing anymore in Armour....

I love you,
Kristen

I included a picture of my star from Grandpa, I thought he'd like to see it.

Dear Grandma,
Judging by the multitude of Christmas music on the radio and the fact that I finally got out my winter coat this morning, I would say it's safe to say the holiday season is here. We've skidded through Thangsgiving without any snow and pretty decent temperatures, so it's hard to believe Christmas is only a few weeks away. My christmas won't come until December 30th this year as I am on call through the actual holiday. I feel like I haven;t been back to South dakota in so long and I'm missing it especially right now - so I hope time does fly. I'm hoping that pushing our family Christmas back a week won't ruin it for everyone, I hope it still seems like Christmas. I was invited by a friend to her house on Christmas and I'll probably take her up on it granted I'm not at the hospital all day. Even if I am, I suppose it's ok. If I have to babysit my pager over Christmas 250 miles away from family, I would prefer to be busy and get the best out of the situation. And by that, I mean, a big fat check.

Although it only lasted for about an hour, we had our first glimpse of snow last night while I was running. It was those big fluffy flakes that basically splatter when they hit your face and melt as soon as they hit the ground - the pretty kind, and the kind that does not require to be shoveled from my driveway or scraped from my windshield - my favorite kind. Abby and I went to Target when I got home to get some more Christmas decorations for the duplex. I'm hoping to have some free time in between calls this weekend to get it all up. Mom is bringing the star Grandpa made me next weekend when her and dad come to Omaha. Now that I know I'll probably be in Omaha for awhile I feel like I can finally bring it here. It's my very favorite Christmas decoration and I will always remember the year he made it for me.

I spent some time over with my friend Blair this week and her sweet brand new little baby. I'm happy she'll be in town a couple nights a week because I certainly miss her being at work. I snuggled Baby Bristol for a couple hours, I forget how tiny babies are when they're first born. It's fun to watch Willow be a big sister..I can't wait until I can see Miss Hannah be a big sister. She's so sweet, I know she'll be great at it.

Please watch over all of us with all the traveling we're going to be doing over the next month or so. I guess I don't have numerous stops to make anymore, I suppose Christmas will take on entirely new traditions now and that's probably okay. We made your dipped ritz over Thanksgiving and mom promised to keep them until Christmas, I can't wait to fill my belly with them.

I'm trying to remind myself the things I'm thankful for (I truly do have so many), 'tis the season, afterall.

Love you,
Kristen