Our Thanksgiving holiday 2000

Mr. Schmitz tries to steal a taste while we enjoy making gingerbread cookies
Mr. Schmitz, Elizabeth, Jacques, Michael, Susan, Steven

We celebrated Thanksgiving over at the Schmitz house in Costa Mesa. A traditional turkey dinner complete with all of the fixings was enjoyed by all. Once everyone had their fill and the tryptophan from the turkey dinner had set in, we retired to the kitchen to make gingerbread cookies. Elizabeth had made the dough ahead of time and we provided the cookie cutters, icing, and decorations so that everyone could have fun making their own gingerbread cookie. As you can see, whenever we get together as a family, there is never a shortage of good times. While waiting for our masterpieces to bake, several of us enjoyed a rip-roaring game of Scattergories. We often had to keep our roaring laughter down to a minimum as our almost 1-year old nephew was asleep in the next room.

shopping at the Carslbad outlet stores
Steven, Elizabeth, Jacques, Michael, Karen, Nicholas (in the stroller), Susan, Mr. Schmitz
(Mrs. Schmitz was taking the picture)

Mr. and Mrs. Schmitz had recently bought a timeshare in Carslbad, so the next day we went on a family adventure to check them out. We toured the different models and got to see which one the Schmitzes had purchased. The Schmitzes are already planning several vacations to take advantage of their new found timeshare package.

While we were down there, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shop at the Carlsbad outlet stores. Jacques and I found several new gadgets and toys to add to our kitchen utensils. Jacques has already been enjoying using his new cookie press. We also found a store,“Le Creuset”, that sold a genuine, Swiss made, Raclette oven. Racler literally means “to scrape.” Raclette is a traditional Swiss dish in which you melt raclette cheese on little individual pans in a table oven. You then scrape the cheese onto your plate and enjoy it with pearl onions and pickles. YUM, YUM!! The particular one that we found also has a hot stone on the top so you could heat up meat or sliced tomatoes to go with your meal. Jacques was thrilled and we gently hinted to mom and dad Schmitz that it could be a possible Christmas present for the Kilchoërs. So, in the typical Schmitz fashion we were asked to turn our backs and they “secretly” made their purchase. Much to our surprise, ha, ha, it ended up under the tree on Christmas day, complete with raclette cheese from Trader Joe's, a local specialty food store. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitz couldn't get that cheese out of their house fast enough. It does have a rather pungent order, but nonetheless it is delicious!