The rest of the holidays

Christmas day was fabulous. All of the siblings awoke and we opened presents before noon. It was all very civil and organized. We ate brunch and everyone went for a walk in the hills. We stopped by a cattle water tank to chop ice that had formed from a week of sub-zero weather. After we cleared a good half, we went back home and the boys made dinner. It was probably the first time we had all worked on a meal together without too much guidance from our mother and probably with the least amount of arguing!

The next day we went to Great Falls and visited cousins who drove to meet us halfway. We shared laughter, pizza and beer. The time spent together was way too short.
While in Montana Marie and I had fun skiing, snowboarding and just spending time with family. The day we left, the wind was howling and part of the drive to the train was in a white out. My brother Scott agreed to drive us while my other siblings left to Great Falls to depart. Marie and I boarded the train successfully, four hours after original departure time. As soon as we left the station we were told a freight train had derailed on the West side of the state and we would not leave the state until 10 am the next morning. When we got to Shelby Montana, the train stopped and our conductor told us because of avalanche danger, we would not leave Shelby for 7 hours. We were free to roam around town until then. Marie and I found a bar with a pool table and good bar food. We then went to a grocery store and a movie. It was a nice unplanned date in the middle of our vacation. We then got back on the train and slept mostly until Spokane. We walked around the platform there and had a chance to stretch our legs.
We finally arrived in Portland late at night and found our car with the chains still on. The snow had long since melted and it was raining. We drove home for a well deserved night sleep.