Karen,
That is great, we thank you so much! We are all looking forward to this wonderful Christmas treat and culinary reminder of our beloved homeland of North Dakota!
You may not realize it but the gracious and warm people of North Dakota (like yourself!) are unique amongst Americans, and as such, enjoy a cultural heritage that other states, countries, and peoples envy but can never truly understand. We native “Northern” Dakotans are considered by some non-natives as citizens of a state of “nothingness” (like Nirvana!) and those who view us in this dim light do not remain amongst or close to us for long. But for those of us who have always kept North Dakota always in our hearts we also know in our hearts that being the lowest and least can really be a great blessing! Jesus told us that in His famous Mountaintop Sermon… and so our beloved home state is the lowest and least in many good ways: in crime, in unemployment, in debt, in corruption, and in social ills. I think this is in part because most North Dakotans will never forget their cold, windy, and lonesome past; and as they love to recount the favorite childhood tales of cold winters (ie The Great Blizzard of 1966!)and hot summers of long ago, of plagues of Biblical proportions, and of the grit and fortitude of our pioneer ancestors who were just “too poor to go back to Minnesota” and remained out in that lovely prairie slough-land while others went further west to the warm western “paradise” places like California and Washington (and for me – Kansas? – not!!), they know in their hearts that such “thought-treasures” of their prairie childhood can never be taken away! And this thus makes us proud but not prideful while thankful but not thoughtless. So thus with these ideals of rememberance and gratitude I wish to you and yours:
Blessings, Peace, and Warmth during this Christmas Advent!
And as my grandpa used to always say in parting counsel:
Mach’s gut! (Take care!)
Bleiben Sie wohl! (Fare thee well!)
Halten Sie sich immer munter! (And always keep yourself happy and lively!)
Und – Adjea! (And – bye for now!)
Dean L., Kansas
