Holiday Break and White Elephant 1, 2, and 3

Holiday break in the U.S. was long, relaxing, and satisfying! We flew in December 10 in order to be able to make the famous annual Pennington and Company Christmas party (the company James does freelance work for).

The P & C gang

This was a fun time not only because James got to reconnect to coworkers that he hopes to work with again in July, but also because we got to see so many close friends! P & C is such a great place to work, and many times they allow their employees to work remotely. On the other hand, this means many of our closest friends have moved away and won't be there when we return. But they all made it back for the Christmas party, and it felt as if nothing had changed!

NEOSHO After a few days in Lawrence spending time with close friends, we then spent 10 long days of luxury in Neosho, Missouri, where Mom and Dad Kenny (Beth's parents) had recently built a new house and got a new baby pet pug, Mitzi! The house was awesome and comfortable, and watching TV on a giant HDTV was surreal.

The Kenny Family

Christmas Eve-Eve Evening

John, Paul, Ringo, and George

Tim, Natalie, Robin, and James

We spent our days playing video games with Beth's brother and sister, reading, eating Cheez Its, sitting in the hot tub, and drinking good beer, of course! Christmas in Neosho was magical, fun, and we celebrated with presents in the evening, a new tradition for the Kennys. James' big gift was a beer-making kit, which we dragged back to Guatemala. We hope it will turn out well!

WEST PLAINS After 10 great days, we went to West Plains to spend 10 more great days with Mom and Dad Mildren (James' parents)...and our cat, Mia! Again, there is not much to report since we just did so much relaxing! Christmas Day at the Mildren house is a fun time, and we especially enjoyed Mom Mildren's cookie-baking.

The Mildren Family

Mark, Lynda, Gabby, James

Our beloved Mia

Our beloved Lynda

SPRINGFIELD New Years Eve was celebrated in Springfield, Missouri, with some more close friends, the Pypers, and our friends Adam and Molly.

Adam, Stan, James

Happy 2009!

KC Then, to end the visit, we spent a few days in Kansas City relaxing with more friends. It was a great break!...but did we mention it was freezing cold?

Friends in Kansas City

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3 White Elephant Parties

6 ridiculous gifts

James' contribution poster to our Guate party

While we were home, we had two white elephant parties, where everyone brings an already-owned gift they don't want anymore and then you trade, steal, and end up with, well, who knows! :) Then back here in Guate, we hosted one. We love white elephant parties because we get to be creative and funny and get rid of our junk we don't want anymore. It's also fun to see what others have been hiding in their house all year!

Side note: The BEST white elephant gift we have ever received was the squirrel toilet paper cover from Jake and Amber, from Amber's grandmother (2007).

White Elephant I: Journey Group Party

Dillon, Cara, Kristin, Pat

Lucky Pat!

I hit the jackpot

This gift was so bad it deserved the fireplace!

White Elephant II: P & C Christmas Party

Aaron is excited about his new mask!

Robert scored the Gallo

Isn't everyone looking to add to their VHS collection?

Mandi can rock that hat in L.A. for 2009

White Elephant III: Guatemala CAG Teacher Party

So many great gifts!

I think Mike brings a mustache to every party...

James has been needing a new cell phone purse

Poor Mike. He just got stamps.

Nina got a "hippy kit" of incense

We can't wait for Christmas 2009!

Putting the "A La!" in Guatemala!

On Saturday we ventured to Antigua, Guatemala! The weather has been so terrifically gorgeous of late that we just had to leave the city and spend a day in the fresh air of the small colonial town that used to be the capital of the country, Antigua! Our friends Matt & Amy joined us for the excursion, too. This was actually our first full day to just bum around with no goal or mission ahead of us...just to relax and enjoy the security of the town and comfort of its weather.

When we arrived, we decided to climb the Cerro de la Cruz ("The Hill of the Cross"), a small hill just above Antigua, looking over the entire town, dwarfed by Volcán Agua (no, we haven't climbed this one yet!). The view was spectacular and the climb only took about 10 minutes.




After that, we walked right past where my friend Brandi Martin and I did a summer homestay/Spanish immersion study in 2003. It was really neat to be back to a place I knew so well!




Then we had lunch at a recommended restaurant, Palacio de la India (our next best thing to India Palace from Lawrence!). It was a super small yet tastefully decorated restaurant that served, you guessed it -- our favorite-- Indian food! James and I were the only customers while we were there, so the service was obviously excellent, as was the food quality. It is a hidden gem that we hope will stay in business for quite awhile, even thought it's a ways from the Parque Central.



After a delicious and filling lunch, we decided to find a good place for local coffee, and Fernando's Kaffee did not disappoint! The Guatemalteca woman who served us was animated and friendly (and corrected me that she was a Señorita, NOT a Señora!), and we bought whole bean coffee that had been brewed the very same morning for about $5/lb. After sipping down an espresso, we went walking around, looking in boutiques and also found and checked out the posada (small hotel) we'll be staying in with my parents when they come in March, Posada Don Valentino. Everything looked great, so we decided to relax some in the Parque Central.


The Parque Central in Antigua is the focal point of the city for tourists and Guatemaltecos alike, which also attracts people trying to sell you things, too. It's not that annoying though....sometimes it's nice to have the sellers come directly to you!

Finally, we checked out a nice art store with interesting paintings that we want to buy one day. We rounded out the afternoon at the Casa de Jade (Jade is pronounced "Ha-day" in Spanish), a premier place in Antigua for buying quality handmade jade items, ranging from expensive jewelry to masks, chess sets, mirrors, and other decorative items. We couldn't afford anything in this store, but it was beautiful stuff, and also cool to see the people making the items on site!


According to La Casa del Jade's website, Jade was considered a stone more valuable than gold to the Maya, a symbol of eternal love, eternity, or the sky. When a noble-class person died, they were buried with masks or necklaces of jade. When someone of lower-class died, a piece of jade was placed in their mouth because the Maya thought that the spirit would always leave the body through the mouth, and when leaving, take the piece of jade with them as a passport into heaven. Interesting!

WOW! It is days like this that we love living abroad, and living in Guatemala! We can't wait to have family and friends visit this beautiful country.