Now that the distraction of illness, work travel and football are past for a while, I can spend a few minutes wrapping up the Christmas visit from the adult kiddies.  We did lots of family stuff that we could have done anywhere, but we also indulged in some Kansas City-specific fun.

  First:  a little Christmas music.  The annual Christmas show put on by the Kansas City Symphony was wonderful. Christmas carols, Santa, a sing along, all of it.  We heard the Carol of the Bells played on handbells and a full choir do the Hallelujah Chorus.  We had great seats in the beautiful Kaufman Center. Complete with hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps! I was feeling a little under the weather with what would turn out to be a sinus infection and a touch of bronchitis but we didn’t let that stand in our way.

More Christmas themed fun was the drive through Longview Lake park.  For those in NoVA, Bull Run has nothing on this display – and it’s free.  We were big fans of the top-hat wearing snow man and NASCAR santa.

Other entertaining things one can do:  visit the Roasterie coffee roasters.  A Kansas City original, it has an airplane on the roof and lots of great coffee being roasted inside. (And of course, goofy photo ops for my “just pretending-pretending-to-be-adult” children.)  The tour was informative and according to my son, the self-proclaimed coffee nerd, very well done.

We also visited the World War I museum that is just across the street from my work.  No goofy photos from there.  It is an amazing exhibit that shamed me when I realized how little I knew about that war.  Being from New England, our history stopped after the Constitution was signed.  In Virginia, history is all about the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression if you go far enough south).  Frank was much better versed in the details of “the Great War” from his school days in Scotland.  Needless to say, Downton Abbey couldn’t possibly convey the magnitude of what was faced in those days.  I highly recommend a visit when you come to see us.  🙂

And last but certainly not least, we took advantage of the Chiefs all-but-mathematical elimination from the playoffs to pick up some tickets to Arrowhead Stadium for the chidlers to see their first live NFL game. It wasn’t too cold and the seats were great.  They learned all the not-politically-correct cheers that go with a Native American themed team and stadium and got to see the Chiefs pull out a win, knocking the San Diego Chargers out of the playoffs.  Small consolation.

So now we have some experience playing tour guide over the holidays. That will come in handy when my brother and his family come for Christmas next year. Anybody want to come visit another time of year? We could use the practice!