Christmas with Carolyn

We were delighted to once again host our parents in our little house here in KC: this time Carolyn Sullivan came out to celebrate an early Christmas with us. Tom unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute because his back went out, and we missed him a lot, but we're looking forward to seeing both of them again in the Spring.

We went shopping for maternity clothes while John was at work,

 enjoyed an incredible meal at Jack Stack's BBQ, one of the original BBQ places in Kansas City,

 

visited the Steamboat Arabia, a museum about a ship that sunk in the MO river in the 1800s, but was covered in mud, so all its merchandise and goods were perfectly preserved.

  

It was fascinating to see all the normal goods that were taken to the frontier towns. They had everything from keys, to boots, to beautiful British china, to tools... even French perfume!

 

Here's John with one of the huge paddle wheels.

 And we celebrated Christmas with hot spiced cider and cheesecake!

 John and his Mommy.

 We got Tom on Skype while we were opening our gifts... it was almost like he was there! Almost.

Carolyn, thanks so much for coming. We thoroughly enjoyed your visit, and made lots of fun memories!

After Carolyn left to go back to Washington, John had a full day off from work, with no other commitments, so we enjoyed a rare day at home, just the two of us, to celebrate the completion of his first semester at IHOPU, and to kick off the Christmas vacation. Our first surprise was to wake up to the first snowfall of the year. We haven't been around snow in quite a while, and it's a lovely feeling to wake up to a blanket of snow, knowing you don't have to set foot outside or go scrape your car if you don't want to!

 Winter Wonderland

 We made fabulous blueberry muffins for breakfast: thank you Cooks Illustrated, as always.

 I finished quilting a stocking for Baby... of course I can't stitch a name on the top yet, since we don't know if it's a him or a her.

We made crepes for dinner, and even got out the beautiful Christmas place mats Mrs. Barker made us for our wedding.

Thai Gingerbread House

A few years ago, John and I created a new Christmas tradition for our house: we design and build a gingerbread bread inspired by our travels or places we have lived. In 2009, we made a French farmhouse:

We obviously haven't been able to do this for the past two years in Thailand. The ingredients cost a fortune, we didn't have an oven, and anyway, it would have melted in the heat and invited all the ants in the neighborhood into our apartment (not to mention less pleasant critters).

So this year, we were super excited to continue our tradition, and decided create a traditional Thai house along the river. I designed the pattern, we went to the stores and bought our ingredients, and then spread the actual baking and construction over a week since John is so busy these days. Here's what we did:

 Baking the dough: we used up 1 1/3 cups molasses and 9 cups flour!

 John using his muscles to roll it out!

 

Decorating the ground

 Construction has begun!!

 Time for a milk and cheesecake break!

 Stay, candy cane! Stay!!

 Setting up the stilts

 Hoping the stilts will actually hold up the house...

Et voila!! A Thai Gingerbread house!! Isn't it cute? I especially like our coconut tree that is shorter than the house, and the stuff floating in the water. We still want to go to the store and get some candy crocodiles!

Thanksgiving with the Larsons

We were so blessed to host Dana's family's Thanksgiving gathering this year, here in KC! Our little house expanded from having 2 people to 6 people and a dog. We had a wonderful time with the Larsons (all except for Matt): we got to show them around our new area, play lots of games, enjoy good fellowship, and cook a HUGE COSTCO turkey. It's been a pretty lonely fall as we've been adjusting to our new life and making friends, and it felt SO GOOD to be surrounded by people who already knew and loved us and to catch up with them!!

Eric arrived on the Saturday before Thanksgiving after spending all night on a Greyhound bus from Chicago. We had a few days with him before the rest of the gang arrived from Colorado. My hard-working husband spent his break working extra early-morning hours at COSTCO, so most days he came home at 1:30 and took a nap, and then we could all hang out. Eric had a lot of homework to do, so he and I enjoyed some quiet days at home.

Then, on Tuesday night, Mom, Dad, Joel, AND Reepicheep arrived from Castle Rock, and the house exploded into a cocoon of happy noise, good eating, and general mayhem. :) It was lovely.

John and I had never cooked a turkey before, so John just picked one up from work, not realizing how massive COSTCO turkeys really are. When John brought this 23 pound turkey out of the kitchen to show it off, the dog literally yelped, ran under and table with his tail between his legs, and stood staring at it really suspiciously. Granted, the turkey is like 4 times bigger than Reep.

 Sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner:

 It's hard to be a dog:

 

 A serious game of Nerds:

 Enjoying a sunset along the river:

 

My family has a funny obsession about taking pictures with statues. Here, Joel and I are conversing with Ben Franklin. On a side note, notice how I can't zip up my coat anymore, I can only button the top. It's cold being a pregnant lady in winter. 

 We found a cheese and import shop!

 Admiring the Christmas lights at the famous Kansas City Country Club Plaza:

 I am so grateful for my family and the special times we spend together!! In our modern age, it is such a blessing to have parents who still love each other, brothers who are growing up into great men, and a caring and devoted husband. Thank you, Lord Jesus!