Iowa- Weeks 3 and 4

Thankfully, my good friend Liz was home for the holidays, so we were able to spend some quality time with her, Nate, and some other members of her family...

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family and had a delicious dinner of pork loin, baked sweet potato/apple, frog-ball (or fish-eye) salad, and beer bread.

Ben, Brandon, and Matt in their fur hats from Russia...

The kids...

Although travel was not advised on Christmas morning due to ice and wind, Erich, Kiley, Matt and I drove SLOWLY to my grandparents' house in Lincoln. The typically 3-hour-long trip took 4.5 hours, but we arrived in time for brunch, followed by gifts and Christmas dinner preparation.

This is Evey, the latest addition to the Friedman family. Congratulations, Ruth and Dan!

Table set for 23...

The guys...

Now that the younger generation is not so young anymore, we have enough players for a Contract Rummy tournament....

Table 1: T.J., Ashley, Brandon (Deb, the photographer)

Table 2: Mimi, Barb, Erich, and Elie

Table 3: Pam, Greg, Hannah, Kiley

Table 4: Andy, Matt, Colter, Scott

Brandon was the winner! In addition to cards, Beatles Rock Band was enjoyed by many...

On our second night in Lincoln, a Russian dinner was prepared (inspired by travel to Russia this fall), beginning with pickled herring spread, and pickles with sour cream and honey (try it, it's delicious!), followed by beef stroganoff, beet salad and pickled cucumbers. For dessert, we had baklava and some Lefse (Norwegian). And if the food wasn't authentic enough, Mimi and Herb also gifted everyone in the family with Russian fur hats of their own...needless to say, they were a hit!












As we were all acting silly with our new Russian hats, someone aptly commented that perhaps a Russian family somewhere in the world was gifting each other with NY Yankees hats at that very moment. I'd be curious to see what faces and/or gestures they might be making in a similar photo...

Ki, Erich, Ash, and Matt

The cousins...Elie, Ben, Brandon, Hannah, Colter, and Katy

No, we didn't fly our own personal Russian man in for the dinner. This is my uncle Greg who looks like he could have been plucked right out of the Red Square...

Dinner was followed by about 30 minutes of activity that could be described as "recreational dish washing" or perhaps "karaoke cleanup." Music was blasted. The Rock Band microphone was retrieved from the basement. Hilarity ensued and the dishes were done in record time.

Meanwhile, the kids had their own Russian after-party, to which Matt and I were graciously invited.  There was a special password, which was "no password," (can't get anything by these kids), and only two rules: (1) no smiling; and (2) no having fun. American children being socialized to believe that all Russians are fun-hating individuals - done and done.

The next morning, Matt and I were up bright and early to drive back to Des Moines for games, dinner, and a White Elephant gift exchange with Matt's Mom's family. This quick travel to and from various family gatherings is always a pleasant reminder of how fortunate we are to have our families live so close to one another.

In our final days in Iowa, I had brunch with Kate, Cassie, and Sam at Waveland Cafe and Matt had lunch with Kevin at Tasty Tacos. On our anniversary (3 years and counting!), we had a great lunch with Kiley and Erich downtown at Django and in keeping with tradition, we had our last supper with the combined family, this time, we met at Mustards.

Christmas card outtake (you may want to click on this picture to take a closer look at Brandon)

This was yet another great trip home, our last before leaving Germany at the end of the summer. Thanks to everyone who helped to make our Christmas so special. Love you all!

Iowa- Week 2

The day after Matt arrived in town, our combined family got together for dinner at Jason's Deli. Here's a picture of Magnus, Lena and their Bubba (Harold)...

The next morning, my mom, T.J., and I did a hot yoga session and that night, we celebrated Christmas with my grandparents. Kenny and Erich provided us with some great music and we had some fun with a White Elephant gift exchange.

Apparently T.J. was inspired by a pewter candlestick that was given a White Elephant gift...has anyone else had a family Christmas turn into a toga party?

On Sunday, Diane, Jessica, and I tried our hand at making Lefse, a Norwegian flatbread. Diane has a special Lefse grill, square cut rolling pin, and turning stick, so we gave it our best shot, and they turned out pretty darn good! It was a really great experience to take part in this family tradition and made me excited for a trip to Norway before we depart Europe for good!

Magnus was our flour man...

The finished products are hard shelled (see picture below), so naturally Magnus refers to them as cheese tacos. After the shells are rehydrated with water, we top them with melted butter and sugar, before rolling them up like a burrito (see, Magnus isn't that far off) and slicing them into pieces.

On Thursday, we had a belated birthday dinner with my grandparents at Bonefish Grill and attended Hannah's 8th-grade choir concert at Matt's alma mater junior high school. We spent Friday babysitting our nephew and niece, Magnus (3) and Lena (1). While Lena the bookworm had a good time reading with Uncle Matt...

...Magnus kept busy puzzling in his quilt-cape (served as clothing for the day).

Brandon arrived on Saturday and the following night, their longtime friends Chris, Brian, and Jason arrived in town for a quick visit.

Ki and Erich the night before their honeymoon in Cancun...

Iowa- Week 1

I made it to Des Moines with no problems, and kept very busy prior to Matt's arrival during my first week home.

The morning after I arrived in town, my sister, mom and I drove to Pella, Iowa, a Dutch colony founded in 1847. Pella holds a special place in my heart for one main reason- the Dutch letter (see a previous blog post for more information). Our pilgrimage to Jaarsma Bakery for Dutch letters was well worth it, since Matt and I will not be making it to Holland at Christmas time...the only time you can get these pastries in Europe, or so I'm told.

Is this Holland? Nope...it's Pella, Iowa

My mom is such a good sport...when we noticed that her fleece and scarf matched these plants, of course we made her get down in them for a photo...

From Pella, we headed to Iowa City to visit my brother, T.J., who is in his senior year at the University of Iowa. That night we had dinner at Givanni's, one of my favorite restaurants in Iowa City.

 
Check out the awesome art-deco lighting...

After dinner, we attended the Newman Singers Christmas concert and went to the Java House (a dark and cozy coffee house in Iowa City) for some tiramisu and tea...

The next day, we walked around the pedestrian mall (ped-mall) in Iowa City. It was great to see some of the familiar sights from my college days, including Old Capital, which served as the first capital building of Iowa until 1876 when the capital moved to Des Moines...

Me, Ki, and T, at the Saloon, decorated by my dad...

We were back in Des Moines for one night before my mom and I headed west on I-80 toward Lincoln, Nebraska to visit my grandparents. We were only in Lincoln for 24 hours, but had a great time getting into the Christmas spirit while decorating the tree and watching the snow begin to fall...

The following night, I went on a driving tour of a Jolly Holiday Lights display at Water Works Park in Des Moines with my parents and my great-great-aunt Mildred. Mildred will be celebrating her 90th birthday in April, and I'm the one who fell asleep in the car during the tour! I could blame it on the jet lag, but I have also been known to fall asleep (as a passenger, of course) on the drive home from Wiesbaden...

That night, the snow began to fall old-school Iowa style, and we woke up to a couple of feet in the driveway/yard and drifts that were nearly waste deep! This was the most snow I can remember seeing since I was a kid...

Our 13-year-old lab, Brandy, didn't quite know what to think about the snow...it's hard enough for her to walk these days, let along through all of this white stuff! Now she has taken to laying in the snow (we think it has a numbing effect on her arthritic hips) and eating it by the mouthful.

Introducing Mia Jane, daughter of our friends Kate and Nate...such a little peanut! Congrats guys!

Wiesbaden Christmas Market

A couple of nights before leaving for Iowa, we met some friends for the Wiesbaden Sternschnuppenmarkt (shooting stars) Christmas Market opening ceremony. In the picture below, you can see the light-covered market stalls and giant lilies set up in the Schlossplatz. See the white figures behind the lily? They're two dancers suspended in the air from an all-too-common German crane.

Here is a close-up picture of the suspended dancers who appeared to be wearing stilts, possibly to accentuate their movements.

 Our last Christmas Market in Germany...