Let it snow, let it snow...

Thanksgiving dinner has come and gone making it time to celebrate Christmas in our household!  Actually, we cheated because we started last night.  We couldn't help ourselves.  It was snowing and cold and it looked like the holidays!  Since we had put the lights up several weeks ago while it was still warm they were all ready to go and there was nothing to keep us from turning the timers on, so we did, and we don't regret it.  We actually got several inches of snow through yesterday and today.  Last night we kicked off our holidays with Christmas music, a movie and a fire.  And what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving morning than with pancakes and Ghostbusters.  We made sure that we each got on the treadmill this morning, too, so that we would be able to eat more at dinner, and it was a good thing.  We did dinner at Cortney's parents' house with all the usual trimmings.  Her dad did the turkey on the smoker (really there is no better way!), and there was stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry salad, waldorf salad, squash, wine, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and various coffees.  New and different this year was the addition of Patty, Curtis' fiance, and her family.  We had a wonderful time sharing the holiday with them, and the excellent desserts they brought, too.  Patty's father evidently has a sweet-tooth from which all the rest of us benefited.  In addition to the pies we had Death by Chocolate cake and riced pudding.  They also brought a traditional Peruvian drink called Chicha (I think) that is made by boiling purple corn to extract the joice, and then adding sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and apple pieces.  The drink has a relaxing and calming affect, yet is non-alcoholic.  We enjoyed it, and we had a wonderful time learning more about their traditions and their family.  Now, again, we are relaxing off the effects of a tryptophan dinner with a fire and a movie. 

Happy snow, happy holidays! 

To the West Coast in a day!

Today we decided to take a day trip to the west coast.  The west coast of Michigan, that is.   Jon's sister is going to Calvin College in Grand Rapids and since we missed seeing her for her 21st birthday at the end of October, we decided to head out her way and take her out to dinner to celebrate belatedly!  Cortney's parents graciously agreed to watch the dogs for us for the evening, and we set off immediately after church.  Since we rarely get out of town without the dogs, we decided to make the most of the afternoon.  Our friend Sue, Steve's mom, also lives in Grand Rapids, so when we got there we stopped to visit her as well.  She took us out for snacks and we had a nice visit with her.  Afterwards we managed to locate Ann's apartment (in the dark, even).  Ann and Tyson recommended eating at Brann's, a local character kind of a place with great American foods.  We had a wonderful time getting caught up with both of them at dinner, and the food was delicious.  Unfortunately, there was no room for dessert.  No matter, though.  Ann had baked a wonderful batch of cookies for us (from scratch), so we were able to enjoy dessert (and stay awake) on our way home.

Birthday Week

The birthday celebrations continued this week on Sunday with a delicious dinner at Cortney's parents' house with Patty and Curtis. Dad H provided the smoked ribs and Mom H provided the chocolate/whipped cream cake roll. Jon thanked them for the special menu and for the gifts: a one-of-a-kind safari-themed shower curtain and—at last—a replacement for the garage door opener we lost  awhile back. On Monday, just the two of us marked the occasion yet again with a dinner out at Red Lobster, where the waiter revealed the secret of their cheesy biscuits: just Bisquik, cheddar, and Italian herbs.

On Thursday, we got tickets to see soprano Renee Fleming at Hill Auditorium, which we preceded with dinner at Cottage Inn. Fleming was performing the title role in a concert presentation of Richard Strauss' Daphne. We were especially interested in this performance because we were in the middle of reading her autobiography. Indeed, we were very glad to hear the beauty and finesse of her voice.

Birthday Tailgate

How many Michigan fans have an October 10th birthday? We had four to celebrate at the tailgate today: Jon, Curtis, Bobbi, and Tom and Carrie's baby, who is to be delivered on Monday! Cortney made some tasty peanut butter brownies, and planted maize and blue candles for each of the birthday folk in them. Of course, that wasn't the only food on the menu.  Judi's sweets are, of course, always the best.  Bobbi brought the tastiest taco dip ever (we've requested that again for next week), and someone else brought pretzel jello - never heard of it, but it was really good.  Cortney's mom's chili and Charlie's grilled hotdogs were the party food du jour, and were a welcome warm treat during the cold snap. This was the first football Saturday of the year to really feel like fall, at around 50 degrees. And to think that it was 80 degrees just a few days ago!

Notice that the only discussion here is of the tailgating menu.  We won't be discussing the game.  After all, Halloween isn't for another few weeks, so there's no sense in scaring everyone now. 

A visit from the west.

Cortney's Aunt Cookie and Uncle Michael flew in today from Washington, so we skipped choir in order to have dinner with them.  We always have a good time seeing them, which just doesn't happen often enough.  We had a great dinner with them, got to see some amazing pictures of Uncle Michael with an enormous fish (which he caught himself).  While here they also got some advice from Patty for their upcoming trip to Peru.  By the way, food is clearly a social event in our culture.  Tonight we tried multiple cheeses from around the world, had Cortney's dad's famous ribs, and topped it off with a Muscat (a dessert wine).