A Year in Montana: Holiday Spirit

Thanksgiving in Ashland last week was a lovely celebration with our JV family. 28 people gathered at the Ashland house- luckily it's a huge lodge and could fit everyone! It was a great cozy spot for Thanksgiving. An early football game and three turkeys later, we all had a great time and were thankful for a wonderful group to celebrate with.

A blurry picture of me at Thanksgiving with the turkey placemat I made in school :)

Now this weekend Sarah and I started getting into the Christmas spirit. Hardin (the town nearby) had a "Holiday Stroll" on Friday night, where the shops stayed open late (well, 8 o'clock... late for Hardin), they served hot chocolate, and had horse and buggy rides up and down Main Street. It was such a cute little Christmas celebration. We went with the 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Debbie, and it was so fun. At the end people shot off fireworks in the street. So small-town festive.

Then on Saturday we adventured into Sheridan, Wyoming, which is only about an hour south of us. First time in Wyoming- exciting! It's a nice ride past the Big Horn Mountains. Sheridan is right at the foot of the mountains on the other side from us. It has such a quaint downtown with tons of nice shops. Since we're so close we definitely want to go back and spend some more time there. That evening they had a Christmas Open House at their Trail End Museum, which is really just an old mansion from an old rich family that is now a tourist attraction that offers a glimpse at life in Wyoming in the early 1900s. Anyways, it was all decorated for Christmas, they gave out hot cider and figgy pudding (finally found out what that darn pudding is- which is to say that it's not pudding at all...), had Old Father Christmas there, and Christmas carols in the drawing room. It was a lovely little place to get a dose of Christmas cheer.