Christmas in the Midwest

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry (early) Christmas! Hope you all are doing well and staying warm! We're trying to stay warm out here. It's just started getting really cold here in MO and we have a long way still to go. We don't have any snow yet, but I am hoping to be able to see an ice storm sometime this winter since I've heard that they are amazing. I'm not looking forward to driving in it....just looking at it.

Anyway, we spend Thanksgiving in Illinois this year with Justin's aunt and uncle. It was so nice of them to invite us and although it was a long drive it was so nice to be able to spend the holiday with family. We're really excited to be able to spend Christmas with our family too!!!

It's hard to believe it's been 6 months here. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It almost seems like it should be more. Oh, well. We're getting there! : ) Below are some holiday-ish things we've been up to lately. Hope you enjoy!

This was the pie we made for Thanksgiving. Justin decided to decorate it, so you can imagine what he would do...

St. Charles, MO. They have the most awesome Christmas activities. I had to try and get a shot of the shops on main street. All of the buildings are pretty old and it adds a lot to the ambiance.

Outdoor ice skating!!! This was a life dream fulfilled!

More outdoor ice skating with some fellow friends and ward members.

Singing with some local carolers! The real carolers they had walking around town were dressed in Victorian garb. It was so cool!

Daniel Boone, the namesake of the county we live in. What a guy!

By far the coolest Christmas tradition I've ever seen ever!!! This is "Los Posadas" which is a Spanish tradition. Mary and Joseph walk down main street knocking on shop doors. The shopkeepers all turn them away until they are directed to a stable. The "stable" was set up on an outdoor stage. Once they got there, they had the carolers singing Christmas songs. They sang "O Holy Night" while an actress dressed as an angel brought baby Jesus out to Mary and Joseph. It was so incredible. It gave me a new insight into the Nativity. I wish they did something like this in more places.

Following Mary and Joseph down the street!