And Now For Christmas!

Rob and Dutch friend Maarten playing the song "Layla" (Eric Clapton) and "Moondance" (Van Morrison/Michael Buble) at the year-end Christmas party at IFALPES. Our teachers performing a hilarious song which made fun of things that happen daily at IFALPES (teachers are l-r: Pascaline, Pascale, Sandra, Nathalie, Bernadette, Corrine).

Making my mom's (really my grandma's) famous delicious Christmas cookies. There were 70 to frost, and I have to admit that Rob was the fastest froster the Erickson family has ever seen! We frosted while watching "It's a Wonderful Life" for me, the first time in its entirety. I'm now a fan!

Then, Christmas Dinner and Christmas Eve (below) at our house. In the picture at the table (l-r): Rob, Julie, Sue, Margit, Annemarie (Margit's sister), Rivers and Becky Camp (with Team, going to Chad), David and Rachael Carter; the babies, Ethan Camp and Benjamin Carter were out of the picture. We dined on avocado salad with a honey vinaigrette (by Becky), pulled pork tacos (me), sauteed apples with Thyme (margit), sweet corn tomalito (Rachael, thanks for being brave and trying it out, it was perfect!) like the kind they have at Chevy's in America, and some delicious appetizers of crab dip, spinach artichoke dip and homemade salsa. For desert we ate Black Forest pie (Charla) and Pear Cranberry Crisp (made by ROB!!!). Fun had by all.

We missed our little girl on Christmas, but Rob and I enjoyed our first Christmas alone as a couple on Christmas morning. We were also thankful for all our families and supporters who sent us gifts, and for our great friends and team who made it a really special time of year!

Thanksgiving Festivities (Belated)

Well, here they are, pictures of our Thanksgiving and Christmas times. Thanksgiving was spent with other missionaries, and one other American from school at David and Rachael Carter's house. Rachael did a beautiful job of decorating the table and organizing the day. We watched Elf afterwards and had lots of fun! We at yummy Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and every other traditional food you can imagine. I even made cranberry sauce for the first time (and even kind of liked it!...thanks to Margit for finding the elusive cranberries after they disappeared from the stores two days before Thanksgiving!)



Step 1: Wash the Cranberries and pull out the shriveled ones. Step 2: Peel and grate the fresh ginger and prepare other ingredients. Step 3: Add all the ingredients to the pot and cook the cranberries until they start to pop (they really do pop!). Sorry, no finished product picture, it wasn't that interesting!


I also made homemade buttermilk biscuits, and my new (for the last three years) Thanksgiving tradition: Carrot Cake!

We had lots of fun together, even though the world around us had no idea it was a holiday (our fellow classmates were in class at the time).

Can't wait til next year! Mmm! I'm getting hungry. Do you think it will be like this in Chad?