A Technological Christmas

Andy and Megan made it safely to our house on December 23rd, and we celebrated with Andy's favorite meal of Imo's Pizza. It is a must-have when he comes to town, so we figured we would just get it out of the way. On Christmas Eve Jim and I got a workout in at the rec center before the day's festivities began. I made my traditional Italian beef for supper, followed by our new tradition of Cranberry Cosmopolitans while opening gifts. As I mentioned before, Katie was unable to come home due to lack of vacation days, so we did the next best thing. I put my Macbook on the entry foyer steps where she normally sits during our gift exchange, with a Cosmo next to the computer for a virtual toast. Through the miracle of Skype we set up the laptop and my iPad so that she could see us opening the presents and we, in turn, could watch her open her gifts. It amazes me that we could keep in contact with her for over two hours at absolutely no cost to anyone. Thank you, inventor of Skype! Below is a fun gift I received to commemorate my trip to Switzerland this year. I really need to find the connection between this Kubler family and mine!

Kubler Absinthe

MoBot Train

While the kids were here we made our annual trip to the flower and train show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was lovely as always, and surprisingly uncrowded on the day after Christmas. We also visited the Art Museum to see the new addition for the first time. While I am not a fan of the architecture it was interesting to see the new exhibition space. I particularly like the exhibit shown below that looked like a fabric quilt but was in fact made from liquor bottle caps. The interactive glass block exhibit is cool as well.

Jim on repeat

I was, however, very offended by this painting.

Jim and I fly out to Los Angeles tomorrow to bring in the New Year with Katie. Kirby will remain here with his favorite dog sitters though he always prefers to be with Jim. Speaking of Kirby, here is the gift I had made for Jim. He loved it, as you might imagine.

Kirby mug

Happy New Year to my readers. May 2014 be everything you hope for and desire!