At an early Christmas celebration, there are smiles across the room.
But beneath the surface for the Peltier family is a feeling of missing.
"It's hard knowing that he's still out there. And we just can't find him," said Katie Nelson of Stillwater.
Siblings Katie Nelson, Dave Peltier and Megan DeCorsey are stuck in limbo.
"We need some closure," DeCorsey said.
Their dad, Lee Peltier, went hunting with three friends on November 3 in the Nemadji State Forest in Pine County. The men separated and planned to meet at the cabin for lunch.
"When evening came. He didn't come back. They started to get nervous and it got dark. And he still didn't come back. They started a bonfire. Waited for him," Dave Peltier said.
But Lee Peltier never came back. And a manhunt by hundreds of officers and volunteers didn't turn up a trace.
"I think he got turned around and lost, took cover somewhere, and just we can't see him from where we're searching," DeCorsey said.
"It's thick woods. It's boggy. It's marshy. It's hard to search miles and miles and miles," Nelson said.
They know their dad tried three straight phone calls to each of his hunting buddies. But cell service is so bad in that area, the friends didn't receive the calls. There are no voice mails and they don't know if Peltier tried 911.
"It just makes you feel really sad. Because he was just out there by himself and we don't know what was going through his head. He was probably scared and probably feeling desperate," Nelson said.
Now these siblings are feeling desperate. For answers.
"I feel like we are leaving him behind. He's just in that forest and we can't find him," Nelson said.