Thanksgiving in Columbia

When Jeff was offered a residency interview at Columbia, MO the Monday after Thanksgiving we were very excited, because that would give us an excuse to drive to Columbia and spend a week at my sister's for Thanksgiving.

The drive was long (14 hours!) but Christine did amazing. During the month before I prepared little games and activities for the "Big Trip." I ended up over-preparing and not using a third of the stuff I had put together, but that's okay because it makes great activities for church). The big purchase was a portable DVD player and Dora's Mermaid Adventure on DVD. Christine was so excited for the big trip, and couldn't stop talking about it. "Big trip... drive allllll day... watch Dora Mermaid!"

On the way up we had a flat tire. Luckily, an older gentleman pulled over to help us out, which was fortunate when a drunk guy stumbled up to "help" us out too (not sure if he came over to help or if we had just distracted him from his fishing at the pond- yep fishing with just his hands). Thank you, thank you to the older gentleman who did the talking with the drunk guy and convinced him to continue meandering down the road.

Christine had a blast playing with her cousins. The kids loved playing restaurant, where they would "cook" food for each other and then "eat" the food by shoving the plastic food down their shirts (hence the lumps in Trevor's red shirt!)

 Christine's favorite part was probably helping with the chickens.

You might recognize this backyard in our Christmas card picture this year!

 Don't worry she's had a hair trim since this picture was taken (remember, I was just coming out of my 3 month coma)
The chickens were always mentioned in Christine's prayers. "Thank you chickens. Thank you chickens eat Thanksgiving dinner" (for some reason Christine thinks the chickens got to eat Thanksgiving dinner too)

I will admit, one of the reasons I was most excited for this trip was the amazing food we would get to eat! My sister is a fantastic cook. I get all my recipes from her. The Thanksgiving meal did not disappoint.

Christine's nap landed perfectly during meal time, so Jeff and I were able to enjoy the meal together (what a luxury!)

My sister made cranberries from scratch (I've only ever had them from a can) and they were delicious!  If you're wondering, in the red dish is honey butter, in the country crock tub is cinnamon butter (store bought- for shame!) and on the plate is raspberry butter. All to put on the wonderful, light flaky homemade rolls. YUM

The praline yams were my favorite. Seriously, they tasted like a praline pie. Amazing! They were Christine's favorite. She kept asking for more yams.

 Jeff and I made the cornbread stuffing (a Hamaker tradition) it turned out perfectly

Not pictured is the frozen cranberry salad, the turkey (what? how did I not get a picture of the turkey?) the gravy, and the six pies. Oh the pies. I am getting hungry just remembering this amazing meal, and the wonderful leftovers we enjoyed afterwords.

As you might know, this year Walmart and several other stores began their Black Friday sales Thursday evening. My sister is a HARD CORE Black Friday shopper and took us out that night. Yes, we went to Walmart at 9 pm with all the crazies. It was a little chaotic, but also fun, there was a lot of energy in the air from all the excitement. The next morning my sister tried to convince me to get up at 4 am to hit the stores. I told you she was hard core! I somehow convinced her to let us sleep in until 8. When you hit the store after all the crazies have finished up, it's more calm, and usually most things are still in stock except for the big items like TVs and Wii's.

For the rest of the week we enjoyed playing board games, watching Christmas movies, and helping Jessica put up her Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music. Thank you Jessica and Bill for having us!