Too much Christmas

This year I had the opportunity to attend a total of 5 Christmas celebrations. The first was with Alise's family celebration on the 23rd. Unlike Bernadotte, the Sauk Centre area was able to have a White Christmas because of a couple inches on Thursday night. I arrived on the Friday the 22nd for my 2nd Johnny Holm's band experience in Sauk Centre. It ended up being a late night with a stop at the Truck Stop at 3:00 am after hitting up the town of West Union once Johnny Holm's band was done playing.

Saturday was jam-packed with activity. I woke up to the smell of dinner cooking in the oven. Then we opened presents, which looked like it was going to take forever. But we keeping chipping away at the heap until there was nothing left. I spent all afternoon trying to win games of pool or Foosball. I found out early in this relationship that this was no easy task with her family, but I think I ended up with enough wins to count on one hand. We were then treated to an excellent steak and crab dinner, which was probably the highlight of my weekend. After supper I racked up W's in both Disney Trivia (with Jerry's help) and Trivial Pursuit (the unstoppable Brian, Tammy and Lucas). We then winded down with the traditional viewing of the movie Jackass, which left us all feeling a little uncomfortable.

Sunday started out with my 3rd ever Catholic church service. I only saw a few broad differences beside the "genuflecting" and kneeling rituals. The lack of coat racks drove me nuts. I had never seen so many jackets worn in one church. I would totally understand if you had nothing to wear and threw a nice leather jacket over something less dressy. But the people who had their coats on were the same people wearing nice shirts or sweaters. One thing I never realized I cherished about Lutheran churches is my time at the coat rack. I can easily spend 10-15 minutes putting away my coat, grabbing a hanger for someone behind me, meeting someone new, or just talking to a "neighbor" I have not seen in a while. On the way out, it can take much longer as everyone is there at the same time. But this past Sunday I was in and out faster than you can say confessional. The only other big difference was the time we spent just watching the priest pray. I noticed at my Christmas service that only once does the pastor pray without the congregation. At the Catholic service I felt like half the time we were waiting in silence staring at the man on the throne. I do admit Lutherans have excessive preludes and postludes to their songs, but I think this is a fair trade.

We spent Sunday afternoon in Sauk Centre for Alise's grandparents' Christmas. The family of 12 siblings is much bigger than my mom's and dad's of 5 and 4 respectively, and the house is filled much faster. We ate, played the gift exchange game and were off to my house for our traditional Christmas Eve supper with my Grandparents and 1 set of aunt, uncle and cousins. There was no Santa in the flesh, but I had a good time playing Foosball against my much younger cousin, eating Ostkaka (my favorite dish of all time) and opening presents.

Christmas Day stayed as traditional as always. We started with church, headed to Grandma and Grandpa's down the road, and ate brunch. Then we opened presents and poked fun at each other until it was time to go to Christmas at the Rathmann's. Here we played cards, ate and opened our [surprise] $50 check from Grandma, which comes in handy this time of the year.

On Boxing Day (the 26th) I had a dentist checkup (no cavities) and am currently up in the cities, wasting my time away until Thursday, when I start work at Williams Arena. I will either try to keep myself busy with odds and ends I need to finish before Washington, D.C. (like packing and buying airline tickets), or enjoy America's past-time of sitting on the Internet doing nothing.

Holiday Break

I just got done with my 3rd semester of college, which unlike the last two, went very well. My GPA is up, my girlfriend is cute, and life is just peachy. I ended up taking 20 credits this semester, which is more like 15. Three of them were my internship this past summer with Agriliance, and two credits were for a 3-day class called Dairy Judging, which involved me traveling through the countryside of Minnesota and Wisconsin to judge cows. It was something I was hoping to succeed in, that is do well enough to have a spot on the team next year, well I did not. I used to be good, really, (Intermediate Individual Reasons Champion - 2001 MN State Fair, heck yes!) but I just stopped caring and trying. Anyways so my classes went very well, minus the fact that I was accused of cheating and having a "file of correct answers". I did not have/do either, and I ended up with a good grade in the class.

For break, I will be either home until Friday the 23rd, then at Alise's for her family's Christmas, and then back home from the 24th to the 27th. From the 28th until the 10th of January I will most likely be in the cities living at Alpha Gamma Rho and working at Williams Arena, which I did last year. It is a good time to log a lot of hours and really not do too much work.
I will leave for "AGR Recruitment School" which is the 12th and 13th in Kansas City, MO.

This brings me to the "big news" for me for this semester. I will most likely fly out of MSP on the 14th to arrive in Washington, D.C. to start my internship with the Honorable Collin C. Peterson (Dem, MN-07) and the House Agriculture Committee. This is graciously brought to me by the Renewable Fuels Association who is helping to differ some of my costs while I am out there. I start work on the 16th of January and end around the 19th of May. I will hopefully keep updating this blog close to daily as it is a good way to communicate with friends and family and cut down on the ol' cell phone bill. My duties should include answering phone calls, writing memos, and doing research and then taking in all the events and dinners that Capitol Staff usually get invited to. I am living just 3 blocks from the Supreme Court (4 from the Capitol) and and am really excited, yet a bit nervous at the same time. It is an exciting time as the Democrats won the house, which was good for me as Mr. Peterson is a Democrat and will now be the Chairman in a Farm Bill year. So, instead of the normal political schmoozing and pampering, I will hopefully be treated even more like a king. Just kidding, but hopefully.

I have really been overwhelmed by the number of people who, firstly, know someone that lives in D.C. working in the agricultural realm who are willing to get me as many contact numbers or emails so they can look me up when I am out there. And secondly the number of my closer friends and relatives who decide that "now would be a good time for a trip out there" (Cheap tickets through SunCountry Airlines). I look forward to it being my greatest semester of college, although I will miss out on a lot of stuff happening back at college. Of course I will miss my girlfriend, close friends and family, but thankfully EVERYONE was supportive of the trip right away and I basically forced myself to take the internship. I will miss all the little gatherings and Spring Jam, MN Royal and our brand new "Sweetheart Week," but they will be there next year. If enough people visit I can probably apply to be a tour guide for the summer or something, but until then, I plan on returning and either taking another internship or being a Full-Time student this summer.

The holidays are soon upon us. Merry Christmas!