Catching Up: Christmas And A New Addition To The Family

I realized after looking at everybody else's blogs that I am terrible when it comes to tending to our blog. I made it to "D" on the "Grateful ABC's," I didn't report on Kerrigan's encounter with the mall Santa, I haven't updated on Christmas, and I've just been generally lazy when it comes to keeping people updated. Thankfully, we're not that exciting and not much has happened.

For starters, here's a recap of Christmas for the Richardsons.

Kerrigan and Santa: This year Kerrigan happily went to see Santa. It was nowhere near the fiasco it was last year. She was even a role model for a little girl two years older! It helped that she seemed to remember the stuffed dog from last year.

(Ella and Kerrigan at Marlin & Lisa's ward dinner)

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. We had a semi-traditional Swedish dinner (a huge undertaking in and of itself) with recipes from my great-grandma. We were also able to do a short photo session and take a family portrait since the arrival of our neice, Ella. It was so nice to have a somewhat relaxing (after dinner, that is) Christmas Eve at home. It was, however, short-lived, as Kerrigan got too overexcited and spent the entire night screaming. Needless to say, nobody got any sleep that night, and it wasn't because we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa. Kerrigan finally fell asleep at 6:00 a.m. and we had to be on the road to Worland at 8:00 a.m. A bit rushed? Yes. Yes, we were.

Christmas Day was spent in Worland with the Foulgers. Though we were all exhausted from our horrendous night, it was a pleasant day. Kerrigan was surprisingly well-behaved when her lack of sleep was taken into account. Like last year, she made out like a bandit after all was said and done, having been completely spoiled by both sets of grandparents.

After a great holiday season, we got a new addition to the family. The company that I work for, Eleutian Technology, has been hosting 30 teachers from South Korea in Cody. They studied for three months at NWC and are now doing 6 weeks of curriculum work in local elementary schools. We were approached a few weeks ago and asked to host one of the teachers. Not wanting to turn our backs on a great opportunity like this, we were assigned to host a teacher by the name of Young Seung Yun, (a.k.a. Angie). She has been a student of mine since September. We picked her up last Sunday, and it has been a great week thus far. Kerrigan is slowly becoming accustomed to a new person living in the house, but you can tell she is enjoying a new face. She will spend hours in Young's room, watching videos of Korean nursery rhymes and singing songs. Tonight Young cooked a Korean meal for us (don't ask me to remember the name of the dish...all I know is that it was delicious). We were also introduced to the Korean staple of kimchi, a spicy cabbage relish-type dish. It is usually allowed to ferment for at least three months, but we had fresh kimchi. Let me say that spicy does not even begin to describe it. If you're ever looking for a new way to clear your sinuses, kimchi may be the stuff for you! We hope to have many more experiences to share over the coming weeks!