I’m not sure about you,  but I’m a very visual person.  When I look at something,  it’s almost as if I can hear my “shutter button” snap and what I see is captured in my memory.  When I tell stories, I have a tendency to add as many details as possible so that my listener is offered the opportunity to see what I saw when what happened happened.  This is just a warning as this “detail” thing is about to happen.   I also find that I learn something with each and every “experience” so I am also including a bit of advice derived from each life changing “experience” from 2016.  With these explanations in place, I shall now proceed with this year’s  Christmas Letter.  Ready, set, go……………………

And go we did!  Last winter was the very first winter I sat on a snowmobile alone.  No longer was I a third grade, little pain in the butt sister wrapping her arms around her brother’s mid section in an attempt to not be thrown off a snowmobile but rather the driver.  I did alright on “my sled” but I will probably never like slanty ditches.  My “wild and carefree, fly by the seat of my pants” side never developed.  Don found this out when he encouraged me to follow him into a steep ditch.  For a moment I sat on the approach contemplating and my smart, logical side said, “DON’T DO IT!”  I didn’t want to disappoint him so I took the plunge.  Big mistake!  I almost hit a tree and just about tipped over on that dang slanted ditch!   I drove up on the edge of the highway and drove back to the soybean field where I felt much safer.  The excitement continued when my hand warmers quit working and Don traded sleds with me.  He bought a “walker and lift chair” style sled for me and a “Haley’s Comet” style sled for himself.  This style difference became incredibly clear once I squeezed the throttle on his.  The tiny little gesture derived from the  small, insignificant pressure applied by my frozen thumb provided some rather startling results!  The snowmobile was my brother and I was his pain in the butt little sister all over again and once again I found myself hanging on FOR DEAR LIFE!!!!

Snowmobile Advice:  If the snowmobile is painted psychedelic orange assume it goes REALLY fast.  Also, if the ride route includes lots of steep, slanted ditches you won’t like as much as the flat road (highway),  stay home and bake cookies.  Apparently snowmobiles are not supposed to be driven on highways.  Who knew?

In April, the 8th to be exact, we sat by our mother’s side.  We waited patiently as her wings were woven.  Just after 5pm she tried out her glistening wings and left us……peacefully.  Losing a parent is a learning experience.  You learn that nothing and I mean nothing is more important than family and when you lose someone, the ties between those remaining tighten ever so slightly in an effort to keep the one en route to Heaven safe within your hearts.  Mom was an incredible human being and her absence is missed by each and every one of us.  There isn’t a day she isn’t thought about, celebrated and loved.

In June, our dear friend and a friend to many, was tragically taken from us.  Lee “Don’t Be A Fun Hater” Loebs was so very young with so much of life ahead but we realized, once he was gone, just how much of his 28 years he wasted….absolutely none.  Not one minute.  His presence and the memories he left behind changed us all for the better.

When you lose someone important in your life advice:  Don’t waste any time being angry over stupid stuff, upset about little things or just plain ornery.  Treat everyone important to you very well and let them know you care every chance you get.

With two incredible losses in 2016, we carried on with heavy hearts.  Healing takes time but Don helped me to realize nothing heals hearts more quickly than hard work and hard work is what was headed our way.  Last year we purchased a lot that was in dire need of Paul Bunyon but because we weren’t able to locate his phone number, we took on the task ourselves!  Did you have any idea there was a difference between branches, twigs and sticks?  Me neither….that is until Don and I picked up 3,472,912 of each.  Branches, better known as “inter-twiners,” are placed on the bottom of a trailer and form a sled type structure that, when pulled correctly, will slide the entire load of debris off the trailer when the pickup driven by “Paul (Don) Bunyon”peels out.  Twigs are slightly smaller than branches and may or may not include leaves.  One might say they’re “inter-twiner” wannabes.  They’re loaded after the branches in an effort to hold the sticks.  The sticks are over-sized toothpicks.  They’re not heavy or cumbersome and when you cut down a tree there are A LOT OF THEM!!!!  There are also saplings.  They aren’t trees yet but they have incredibly strong roots so pulling them out of the ground isn’t an option.  Ours got whacked off with a Turbo “Don” Style Weed Whacker with the Optional “Small Tree” Annihilator.  We succeeded with our debris removal and unearthed an incredibly beautiful piece of land that was just waiting for the right two people to see what it had to offer.  What’s even better than this beauty is the fact that two people realized a single dream.

Land Cleaning Advice:  Saplings are the single most deadly force in a cleaned tree strip once they are cut off to a height of approximately 3 inches.  Don and I and our wits know where all 487 of ours are, just sayin.

With Mom safely in Heaven my brother decided to make her house his and his house ours.  I could go into a ton of details but they’re not necessary.  What is important is the fact that he has more room and we have a place of our very own until our dream becomes a reality with a house and garage.  The moving process wasn’t pretty.  I still had things in my Mom’s house we didn’t have room for in Bismarck and my brother had his house filled to capacity.  We assembled a 7 member moving crew one weekend but the moving didn’t happen due to the fact that harvest was in full swing so Don decided he and Jr would move everything the following weekend without anyone else’s help.  That was the weekend I learned just how thankful I was that I had to work.  Let’s just say being there wouldn’t have been healthy for our relationship.

Moving Advice:  Couples should move things at different times separate from one another or hire someone to do it if you want to keep your relationship healthy.  If only one of you moves everything it will take them a while to not hate “stuff!”  Just sayin.

I realize you don’t want to read forever but there is just so much that happened this year.  I’ll wait if you want to get a snack.

On May 27th my heart was filled with more joy, than honestly, I thought it could hold.  On the day before my beautiful niece married her handsome love she moved me beyond words.  Tears filled my eyes when they discovered the contents inside a tiny little box presented to me as a way of thanking me for helping to make their wedding day sparkle.  It was a ring.  A “mother’s” ring.  A ring that held 3 beautiful gems between two gold bands.  She told me I was and had always been her and her sister’s second mom and it was then, at that very moment, I realized my dream of becoming a mom really was a part of my reality.  God bless all of my precious nieces and my crazy nephew.  I love them to the moon and back!

Ring Receiving Advice:  If your boyfriend tells your niece the size ring you need for a finger you wanted him to put a ring on, don’t fret.  Hey, he knew what size ring you needed, right?

On October 8th, exactly 6 months since the day Mom spread her angelic wings, I had one of those days that will remain forever in my heart.  It started out with a craft show and a wounded monarch butterfly I rescued from the cold.  I sold a few dolls before the butterfly and I packed our things and headed home.  You might be wondering why I included the part about the butterfly.  He found me on that day for a reason.  Keep reading.  If a potty break is necessary, I can wait.

I arrived back at home and saw that Don was busy mowing so I headed inside.  Earlier he suggested we have Becky take some Christmas pictures so before long he came inside to shower and get ready for the photo shoot.  I found it somewhat odd that he brought 6 different shirt choices and even odder when he let me pick what he would wear.  He’s a pretty independent kind of guy if you know what I mean.  Eventually Becky arrived and several nice pictures were taken.  Before leaving she invited us out for supper and when we got there Don thought a bonfire would be fun just one last time before winter so he decided to get it going.  We knew Becky’s Don and Jr would be in the field until dark so we ate supper and then took our places around the fire.  When Don and Jr joined us, we started talking about what was on our Bucket List.  For some reason I began to feel as if my bucket list was the only one being discussed and  before long I found myself dodging the one thing I told myself I would never say again.  I would not tell Don one more time that I wanted to be his wife.  No I would not.  In fact, I had started telling people we were definitely not ever getting married.  Not ever.  My head believed it.  My heart never did.

I announced that I wanted to travel to the Smithsonian to see the ruby red slippers Dorothy wore on the Wizard of Oz and that someday I’d like to have a new home.  My sister nudged me in hopes that I would say what Don wanted to hear as she knew what he was about to do but I wasn’t going to cave so I said, “I’d like to learn how to fly an airplane.”  You could tell no one was impressed by my answers at this point so I caved.  I looked at Don and said, “Well, I want to be married to you but we both know that is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.”  It was at that moment, my life was about to change forever.  Don asked me just how sure I was about that and at least twice I said, VERY SURE!…..that is until he reached in his pocket and lowered himself onto one knee.  For a brief moment, everything around us disappeared.  I remember saying, “This is not happening, this is not really happening.”  but that little butterfly knew and my sister knew and Don knew it was happening and I would say that the following Wednesday, once my feet were reunited with the ground,  I believed it too!

The magic meaning of Butterfly symbolism is “The Magic of Believing” for believing is the first step in anything you set out to do.  Much like a cocoon,  when I moved to Bismarck, I left everything familiar to me trusting in something greater than myself to guide me and in doing so I’ve opened myself up to a world of new possibilities with a man that has always believed in me and our future together.

Life Changing Advice:  Always trust in the Lord.  There is nothing more powerful for His Love is the most compassionate and purest Love you will ever know.  He will lead you and guide you.  He will bring the people and experiences into your life that will inevitably draw your heart and soul closer to Him.

God Bless You One and All.  We truly hope your 2016 has been filled with unimaginable blessings and that the new year ahead will glisten with the magic of His undying Love for each and every one of us!

Merry Christmas!  Love Don and Beverly

PS:  The Turbo “Don” Style Weed Whacker with the Optional “Small Tree” Annihilator is available at all fine retailers.  Just tell ’em “Paul (Don) Bunyon” sent ya!