Merry Christmas from KL! (sort of)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

I was at the Pavilion Mall in late November.  Never expected all this!!

I don't know if you can tell, but that Santa has to be 30 feet high!  I heard "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King, etc." playing from the speakers.  In a Muslim country.  You would have never that in Oman!

This tree and the next one were in Metrojaya, a department store.

These trees were done up right.  Looked like something from Macy's!

Now here is a dilemma.  Do you dress for the weather or the season?  Allison dresses for the weather and Brenda for the season.  With temps constantly in the lower 90's, dressing for the temperature usually wins!

Mid Valley Mall in KL had a floral theme.

Shopping for Christmas decorations in Chinatown

Not quite Hobby Lobby, but it will do in a pinch.

Bangsar Shopping Center!

It had a gingerbread house theme.  It was so nice walking into any of these malls and hearing all the wonderful Christmas music.  Here is the thing.  I am writing this blog post from Texas.  I have been to a few malls here in Texas, and I have yet to hear Christmas music in the malls.  All the malls in KL, along with most public spaces, were decorated to the max, with Christmas music constantly playing.

Our Christmas tree.  I left all my Christmas decorations in storage, so these ornaments were purchased in Oman and KL.  By the way, Metrojaya is my favorite place to buy Christmas decorations!

Wreath on my antique doors

This was my daughter Amanda's Christmas card picture this year.  My grandson, Cooper.  I approve!

Austin, Jared, Poppa, and Joe

Jared and Savannah

We flew 25 hours to be back in Texas!  This is what Christmas in Mineola, Texas looks like.   Merry Christmas, y'all!

Tomorrow we finally get to see our grandson again!  Brace yourself for more pictures.

Golfing in KL

Today I have another guest writer-- my husband Joe!  He went golfing in KL a couple of weeks ago.  The pictures were amazing, so I will let him tell you all about it.

Well, this was the most interesting golfing I've experienced in Malaysia. I went to Templars Park Country Club just outside Kuala Lumpur. It was a great day with two of my colleagues. I hadn't golfed in a while, so I was looking forward to a good round.  This huge limestone bluff was visible from all 18 holes. It was stunning and completely surrounded by jungle.

The first thing that told me I wasn't in Kansas any more was this monkey. I should have known because there were monkey warnings all over our golf cart. We should have paid attention to the warnings....

If you don't pay attention, nothing is safe in the golf cart. At first it was our Pepsi 100 drinks (Malaysian Gatorade). One minute it was in our cup holder, the next minute some monkey was slobbering on it 50 feet in the air on a nice branch. This shot was of the monkey trying to break my friend's smoking habit. Look closely and you can see several cigarettes on the ground and the monkey is exploring the empty package.

This is a shot of my two golf buddies - Jong-Koo and Raymond. None of us took it too seriously and enjoyed the round.

Another critter I was shocked to see were the big iguanas. This one is foraging and is actually much smaller than some I've seen in KL. Your first instinct is to run, but they are pretty tame.

Another shot of the limestone bluff and one of the scenic holes. Since you can't fact-check this, let's say I birdied this hole.

I like the surroundings - just off the course was dense jungle teeming with monkeys, mosquitoes, and snakes. However, the course was well designed and fun. Extra golf balls are advisable.....

Thanksgiving in KL 2014

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  Today was our first Thanksgiving in KL, our third out of the US.  But unlike Oman, today was a regular school and work day.  Well, not at the Holmes house!  We celebrated the day with our fellow American friends.

The table set for lunch.  It was challenging to decorate for Thanksgiving with no access to real pumpkins, acorns, fall leaves, or other common 'fall' decor.  I made up for it with my faux pumpkins and lots of fresh flowers.

Just letting you see some of the views from our apartment.  There are the Petronas Twin towers and the KL tower.

The view from this direction.

This is our elevator lobby.  Welcoming our Thanksgiving guests.

Last year, in Oman, we had to watch rugby after our Thanksgiving meal.  We tried something new this year.  Austin found a UT (American) football game on You Tube and hooked up his computer to our tv.  Classic football!

It was a pretty and clear day in KL.  High of 93. 

Which game did we choose to watch?  The national championship game of 2005.  If you are going to watch classic football, make it the best!

Me, Peg, Allison.  Yes, I know my eyes are closed.  You wouldn't believe how often that happens.

Kevin, John, and Tony watching another game in the den.  Which game was this?  The Dallas Cowboys game from Sunday.  Another rule of classic football?  Pick games where your favorite team wins!  By the way, this room is painted orange.  We love the color!  First time in my life I have painted a room orange.

Like I mentioned, we had lots of fresh flowers.  I bought them in Chinatown, by Peter Hoe's.  Allison arranged them for me and did a great job!

Here I am, slicing the beef tenderloin roast.  This is the beef tenderloin I bought at Lucky Frozen.  It was delicious, if I do say so myself.  I say that because I don't make tenderloin that often and I am always relieved when it comes out well.  I got the recipe from my friend, Mary, in Oman.  And I am sharing it with y'all.

http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/3452827-REGENCY-BEEF-TENDERLOIN-WITH-HORSERADISH-BUTTER

I made the beef, two turkey breasts (that easily fit in my oven), a German Chocolate cake, and Chocolate Pecan pie.  Everyone else brought the yummy side dishes, rolls, and extra desserts.  I found a great recipe for the turkey breasts.  Here it is:

http://www.thedailymeal.com/barefoot-contessas-herb-roasted-turkey-breast

The whole gang!  A great blessing to have made such good friends in our short time in KL.

So this picture was taken later in the afternoon.  This is one of the things we love about the views from our apartment-- the rapidly-changing cloud formations.   We have also seen two complete rainbows in the last few weeks!

Girl time and dessert while the guys cheer for the Cowboys.

We ended the afternoon with a game:  Left, Right, Center.  We each played with three one-ringgit bills, and the winner ended up with all the bills.

Krystal, our big winner!  I think she won a total of $13.

I set the centerpiece on this sofa table while I cleared up.  I love the way it goes with my newly reupholstered lime green crushed velvet love seat!

I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  May it be a day filled with food, fun, and laughter as we are thankful for all our blessings.

Marine Corps Ball 2014

On November 10, 2014, it was the 239th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.  It was my privilege to attend a Birthday Ball for the second year in a row.  I don't know how the Marine Corps balls work in the US, but both of the balls I have attended have been overseas, where there are Marines guarding our foreign embassies.  The Marine Security Guard program covers more than 150 detachments at Embassies, Consulates, and other diplomatic missions around the world.

I have been asked how Joe and I were able to attend the ball since we are not in the military.  Tickets are available to the public, and we bought ours through the American Association of Malaysia.  But only because there was a last-minute cancellation.  Tickets sell out fast!

I had to find all the pieces to Joe's formal ensemble.  When one unpacks, one is sometimes ready to just put things away.  It can be a game of hide-and-go-seek to find things again.  Or in my case, remember-where-I-hid-things!  I made the Texas bow tie for Joe and our daughter, Amanda, bought him the Texas shirt studs.  Not really sure why Texans are so proud of our flag, but we are.  :)  Joe enjoyed getting a handshake from several fellow Texans.

I must say, red is not the most original dress color for a Marine Ball.  Last year, Savannah had fun taking pictures of her dad and me.  She said she felt like a mom at prom.  :)  But this ball was on a Friday evening, and started at 6:00. My kids were not even home from school when we had to leave! So Joe took a picture of me.

It took both of us to take this selfie!

And I had to get one of Joe!  Love the mirrored-elevator shot.

Found a friend to take one of both of us!  The ball was held in the JW Marriott.  There was a cocktail hour from 6:00-7:00.  We missed half of it due to terrible traffic.

My favorite part of the ceremony is when they post the colors and play the National Anthem.  It does my heart good to place hand over heart.

But before the National Anthem, the guest of honor and guest speaker walk down with the marines.  The guest of honor was American Ambassador to Malaysia Joseph Y. Yun.  The guest speaker was Lieutenant General John A. Toolan Jr.

The ceremony continued with speeches and the cutting of the birthday cake.  Then dinner.  Then dancing.

The Suvegs and the Holmeses

The Monzellas

Andreina Casey (who got there even later due to traffic), me, Mary Ellen and Peg.  Andreina was my main dancing partner for the evening!  We had a good time dancing, but I have to say, I am looking forward to the next Latin Ball.  Now that ball will really be just about the dancing!!

Dancing aside, it was wonderful to pay tribute to and remember our armed forces who serve our great country, all over the world!  God Bless America!