Cashew Chicken Traditions.

Apparently, it is snowing in Baton Rouge right now. That's nice and all, but why isn't it snowing in a place that needs it? All we have are high temperatures that aren't reaching past 30 and icy ski runs. Hopefully though, it will start snowing tomorrow and will continue throughout the week like it is supposed to. If I wasn't absolutely frozen and buried under blankets, I would be doing a snow dance right now. (Though, despite the cold, my friend and I got ice cream tonight...only at the BEST ice cream place ever, called the Yellow Snow. Expect to go there when you all come to visit.)

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! Things have been great in my neck of the woods. Last week I boarded a plane bound for, first Chicago, and then Springfield, Missouri. It was great to get out of town for a bit and see my family. I love Park City, but it

really is kind of like a college town for college graduates. It's small enough to only have about 2 degrees of separation between every person here between the ages of 20 and 35. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it was good to get away for a weekend. I love Thanksgiving in our family. I love the predictability of it. It is 5 days out of the whole year that have followed the same schedule for years. Wednesday night, we all get into town. We go out to Mexican Villa...which we didn't do this year

and I think it rocked my cousin Jeff's world a little. Instead, we went to get pasta. Who, you might be wondering, goes and eats a big, Mexican or Pasta dinner on the night before Turkey Day? The Smith's do. And then we run it off the next morning at the Turkey Trot. Paige and I were the champions this year! We even beat out Mitchell. Then we take family pictures, race to the cold showers and head out to the farm. We then eat ourselves into a food coma. We had 20 people at the farm this year, plus 3 dogs. Unfortunately, Shelby wasn't allowed at the farm since she would roll in every pile of cow poop there. Anyways, we eat alot, as does everyone on this day. The day after Thanksgiving, we split up into shopping groups. The brother's go to Bass Pro and take the annual tour de childhood. Aunt Kim and Maria tackle the intense sales and my mom, Paige and I venture out to an outdoors store away from the madness and then to Starbucks for momma's daily fix. Then, we got Cashew

Chicken. If you have never been to Springfield, you apparently have never experienced THE Springfield Cashew Chicken. It's like Jambalaya

is to Baton Rouge. With a Springfield native as a father, we grew up having a homemade version, which I actually prefer. But it is a necessity, to have the origonal while there. We then go to Grandpa's for pizza, pool and patio-sitting. I introduced the fam to Apples to Apples this year. It got pretty intense. Day 4 of Thanksgiving, we all go see an early movie, watch the Kansas/Mizzou game and go to Grandma & Jim's for early Christmas presents and a homecooked meal. Then day 5, we wake up before the sun and hit the road. What a wonderful 5 days of my life. I am already looking forward to next year.