Christmas 2013 on the Road

Melissa and I both look forward to spending a little time at our parents' houses with our families around the holidays.  Here is a look back at our adventures from Christmas 2013 on the road...

It started with stop in Reinbeck first and Grandpa John's reading of T'was the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

Cousin Ella was there and that was enough for Emma.

Christmas morning we opened presents.  Santa was very good to us again this year.

Emma was impressed that Santa had come through the fireplace...

 ...but not that he had left a mess!

Per usual, there was lots of relaxation, book reading and tea parties at the Stull house.

Melissa lives about an hour and a half away from the Burgart family farm.  Every year the Burgarts congregate to make ring bologna.  I tried to capture most of the steps.  Step one: mix the spices with the meat which is a blend of beef and pork.

Step two: crank the spiced meat into their casings.  Pictured here are three of my uncles: Larry (in plaid), David (red sweatshirt), and Joe (blue/grey shirt).

Step three: tie the bologna with a string to make a loop so that it can hang in the smoke house.  These are my cousins Amber (far in blue vest) and Katie (near).

Step four: Hang the bologna in the smoke house which was prepped earlier in the day with plastic around the outside to help keep the smoke in.

Step five: throughout the day the smoke is checked about every 30 minutes to make sure there isn't to much flame / heat and not too little smoke.  The down time is spent catching up with family via marathon card games.

After the bologna making we went back to Reinbeck for another day and then on to Council Bluffs.  The entire family was there this year, including Justin and his girlfriend Karen, Grandma Marge, Jon and Amy, and Emma's cousins Aubrey and Annie.  There was lots of good food, tons of presents, and great family time!

Emma's favorite past time - cookie decorating.

I think Emma thinks of playdough as practice for cookie making. :)

She never gets to far away from Uncle Justin.

The cousins.  Left to right is: Aubrey (5), Emma (2.5), Annie (3)

It was a great trip and worth every mile!  Thank you to all our families for a warm and loving home environment to come back to.

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, Emma, and Lucas

P.S. Here are a couple of bonus pictures I found of Emma and her Minneapolis pals at the Minnesota Zoo.