Christmas in Kansas

After visiting 3 continents and upwards of 15 countries in 9 months we decided to spend Christmas in Kansas. For those not in the know, I can hear the "what the hell were you thinking" call. To clarify things, I lived in Kansas for about 10 years and my parents still reside in sunflower sunny Lenexa, a suburb of greater Kansas City. So Christmas was to be a wonderful family affair for the first time in many years. My sister Lauren also made the trip from New York so we got to spend some quality time with the entire Farmer family including the slobbering duo of Banks and Tukka over about a week.

We arrived in Kansas City after about 30 hours of straight travel from Tokyo and quickly succumbed to a bad case of jet lag. The first few days were spent waking at 3am and struggling to keep our eyes open at 4pm. Once Lauren arrived things started to pickup and what I thought maybe was to be a week of relaxing and watching TV became a shop and eat marathon. We managed to see all the big malls of the area including Cabelas Outdoor Center where if your so inclined can by a human killing sniper rifle or a monogramed AK-47, just what everyone needs under their tree during this time of peace and happiness. We also dined at all the classics including Zardas BBQ (KC Classic), Mr Goodcents Subs, Pizza Maker and most of the numerous fast food establishments that grace every square inch of the country.

Leading up to Christmas there was concerns from all parties involved that the tree would look rather sparten due to various restraints such as no room in backpacks for gifts and minimal money to buy gifts. However, that was all rectified by the every looming precense of cheap Chinese goods. We loaded up and with some wonderful presents from everyone else the tree was decidely overflowing.

Christmas day was great, starting off by opening the presents as soon as everyone was awake. I must say that the gifts totally exceeded all expectations, including the handbag we bought my Mum for a DISCOUNTED price in China, which turned out to be retailed for $5000. Personally I feel the story surrounding the handbag is better then the bag itself. The remaining gifts consisted of lots of Australian lollies and Chinese DVD. After the presents and a good breakfast we headed off to the movies for the traditional Farmer family experience. Usually we go for something light hearted, but Hollywood had not obliged this year so we opted for The Good Shepherd. The rest of the day included a lovely lamb dinner with roast veggies and Dad and I sitting down to watch England succumb to Aussie excellence in the Boxing Day Test.

On Boxing Day my parents and Lauren were nice enough to arrange a little party (drinks and nibbles as Mum likes to call it) and invited friends I went to school with from the area and had not seen in upwards of 8 years. I must admit I was slightly apprehensive about the whole thing, but it turned out to be great fun and I am very grateful to Mum, Dad, and Lauren for setting it up. It was a great time for me to see friends again and also for Leighanne to meet some people I have talked about in the past. In addition Dad got to explain the virtues and technicalities on what the best way to get an Englishmen out is to laymen Americans. Overall is was a great night and we all had the hangover to prove it the next morning. Leighanne and I would like the thank everyone who came to the party, the number who showed up was very surprising, it was very good to see everyone again and hopefully you all had an enjoyable time.

A couple days later the visit to Kansas was over and we where off to bring in the New Year in Las Vegas. We both had a great time in Kansas, I especially loved seeing my family again. Although we are probably one of the most computer connected families on earth, it was still wonderful to be able to give each other hugs again.