Happy Holidays

The past two months have been super busy with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, finishing a semester of grad school, and spending time with my family. I wanted to take a little time off and put all of my holiday stuff into one big megapost! So here we are! Now that I'm back in Thailand, I'm taking some time to get caught up on my blog.

I arrived in Texas in mid-November, just in time to see the leaves changing color before winter.

My parents and I discovered the very best Christmas beer ever! It's called Angry Santa, and it's produced by Fort Worth local brewery, Rahr & Sons.

Dad and I spent an evening in downtown Fort Worth, and saw the lights at Sundance Square.

We had tickets to Miss Saigon at Bass Hall, which was already decorated for Christmas.

I think Santa was breaking into Worthington Bank!

Of course we spent a weekend in Clifton to visit the world-famous Norwegian Country Christmas Festival!

The most exciting part of the festival is the Cookie Stroll at First UMC! You are given a box to fill up with as many cookies as you like, and purchase it by weight. You have to get there fast, though! It seems like everyone in Clifton wants to get their hands on some delicious homemade cookies!

It's hard to stop yourself from buying more and more!

One day, my brother and I were in Dallas so that I could apply for a new visa to Thailand at the consulate. Afterwards, we decided to stop in at the Galleria. It was very cool to see the big tree (I had never been there before), but the traffic was a nightmare! We had some Thai food at the food court, looked at the tree, listened to some carolers, and promptly left! 

Christmas morning started with a delicious breakfast! I guess I have really missed cooking. This year, I insisted on planning big menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years. Generally, we followed the recipes and menu suggestions from the 2019 Southern Living Christmas Cookbook, which I rate 5 stars! Every recipe was great!

On Christmas afternoon, we made a big bowl of my grandma's Christmas punch. I wasn't allowed to have any when I was a kid!

And on New Year's Day, I made up a batch of my special mulled wine recipe! It's a tradition from Bangkok, and now I make it every year. It just makes it feel like Christmas!