Christmas Day

Christmas day was good . . . different, but good.  We are used to being surround by lots of family for the entire day, traveling from house to house, seeing family, opening presents, eating food, seeing more family, opening more presents, eating more food.  It starts early in the morning and continues on until late at night.  It's my favorite day of the year.  So, as Christmas day was approaching this year, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I knew it wouldn't be the same, but I didn't want it to feel like just any other day of the year.  We did lots to prepare for Christmas, we decorated, we had a party, we read the nativity story, we searched for Santa.  We did well preparing, but I was still uncertain about how Christmas day would turn out.  I was pleasantly surprised. 

Michael got up with the kids around 6:00 and let me sleep until a little after 7:00.  We were a bit worried about the kids staying upstairs the whole time, but they didn't even ask about the presents!  When I got up, I went downstairs and heated up our Christmas morning breakfast . . . gingerbread!!  I found a Betty Crocker box of gingerbread when we were in Singapore a couple of months ago.  That was a great buy!  It was delicious and a wonderful start to the day.  The kids and I made it on Christmas Eve.

After we had breakfast, we headed downstairs to open presents.  We timed it so we could call the grandparents, and they could watch the kids open some of their presents.  The timing was a little hard since the grandparents went to Christmas Eve services, but it ended up working out nicely.  Michael set up the video camera, one of us was taking pictures, and the other one had a phone to face time grandparents.  We all had a great time.  My favorite thing that Paisley did was that each time she opened a present, she would super sweetly say, "oh!" as if it were her favorite present and she was so excited to get it.

Truett waiting to go downstairs

I think they ended up with some really good presents.   Family members mostly sent money so we could go buy their presents.  Sounds like lots of fun, but a little bit harder here than one might think.  There aren't may quality toy stores around these parts.  There are lots of toy stores, but they aren't very good quality. Since we had the money to spend, we went to the higher end toy stores and got presents that will last.  They were more expensive, but they won't break within a week.  There are only a couple of these stores that we know of.  It's was kind of hard to spend all of that money in one or two stores, but I won't complain.  It was fun thinking of each kid and what to buy.  They really loved each of their presents.  Here are some pictures of them playing with their new toys.

So, after the presents were opened and toys were played with, we headed off to lunch.  A friend recently told me about a little cafe on this other side of town.  So, we bundled up (okay, not really, but it's a Christmas story, so I felt like that should be in there), and headed to ViaVia Cafe.  Apparently it's a chain, and they have them in other countries.  Look it up, cool place.  They had a Christmas day special that Michael and I got, but I only took a picture of the appetizer.  Oops!

The kids had jaffles, kinda like a panini

Not the cutest picture, but Paisley was proud of her red mustache!

Later in the afternoon, our family went to deliver goodies to our neighbors.  We made chocolate/peanut butter fudge.  I think the neighbors were surprised, but appreciative.  A couple have come back over the past couple of days with snacks for us in return.  I hope we continue this tradition.  I want the kids to enjoy the giving part of Christmas, not just the getting.

In the evening, a couple of neighbors and a classmate of Michael's stopped by.  I was glad to see them, but by that time I was just ready for bed!

So, all in all, I would say that our first Christmas away from family was a whopping success.  We got to talk to family, spend time playing with new toys, give to our neighbors, and welcome others into our home.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

More Christmas Pictures

I'll give a recap of our Christmas day sometime next week.  For now, enjoy a few more Christmas pictures.  Most are of Paisley because Truett wasn't in the mood to smile.

These two aren't really Christmas pictures, but I sure enjoy them.

 I'm pretty sure this one will be our Christmas picture for this year.  It shows my kids' personalities pretty well!

 If you remember from a previous post, we searched high and low for Santa in this town and didn't really have much success.  However, the one day we found a place for Santa pictures (with NO Santa), these are the clothes my kids are wearing.  Oops!

Search for Santa

So, there's quite a bit more Christmas in this country than we thought there would be. In fact, the malls have Christmas music piped in and there are decorations hanging from the rafters.  There are angels, snowflakes, Santas, trees, snowmen, and lights throughout the city.  Okay, it's not really that great, but the malls do have Christmas music and decorations up.  We have been on the search to find Santa in the city.  I found something of interest at a local mall.  A kids party with Santa!  It cost about $8 per kid, but surely it would be worth it . . . Santa would be there!  Well, Michael put it best when he compared it to a 4th grade talent show.  Let me tell you a bit about it.  We showed up, paid our money, and signed our kids in.  They asked us if we brought a present for Santa to give our kids.  Oops!  Strike one.  We walk in and they give us boxed snacks for the kids.  Not unusual.  I think half of the economy is stimulated through the purchasing of boxed food.  It really wasn't so bad. 

Except for this.  A flowered hot dog???

We go on in and the kids get balloon animals.  That's pretty cool.  

We continue on and sit down.  Now the fun begins.

Two girls come out in flapper outfits and do a little dance.  Not bad. 

Then comes the trio of girls all in pink playing the violins. At least they were playing Christmas carols.

Next up, kids playing drums?  Too loud, too long, too much, not even Christmas songs.  Strike two. 

Then comes the fashion show.  Strike three and we're out of there. 

Yep, very much like a 4th grade talent show.  Lucky for us, we saw Santa on the way in!  I guess he was in the "green room" waiting to come out.  Truett knocked on the door and waited for Santa to say hi, part excited and part petrified.  He wasn't quite sure what to do or what to think.  He did end up saying, "hi," but Paisley stayed away.  As we walked away, I told Truett that Santa spoke Indonesian.  That was NOT okay!

But, no worries, we found another chance to find Santa!  A couple of days later, there was "The Story of Christmas Journey" at a mall here in town.  It looked promising, even advertising a family cake decorating contest and photos with Santa.  Hooray!  We planned to make an afternoon of it.  First we'd find Santa and fill ourselves with holiday cheer.  Then, we were going to the movies.  We woke the kids up early from their naps, put on the Christmas clothes, and headed to the mall with high hopes.  This one was a bit better than the last attempt to find Santa.  There were actually some pretty good high school choirs singing Christmas songs in English.  I enjoyed that!  There were a few activities for the kids to do.  First they painted a minion.  Truett painted the yellow part and Paisley painted the blue. 

 In the middle of painting, however, Paisley spotted "Olaf" (the name of every snowman she sees) across the room.  Truett was pretty sure it was Frosty, a song that we sing over and over and over and over and over, you get the idea.  We went over to say hi and saw Santa.  Tru was a bit shy, but warmed up.  Paisley would have nothing to do with them!  I think she may have eventually given Frosty a high-five, but she RAN from Santa (who I am pretty sure was the exact same Santa from a few days before at the hotel).  

Truett was quite enthralled with Frosty and followed him around the whole room.  You could tell that the little wheels in his mind were spinning, he was deep in thought and copying Frosty's every move.  After making their way around the room, Truett comes up to me with the most serious expression and says, "I think that Frosty is just a mom or a dad or a grown up in a costume.  I see a zip on the back and think there's just someone in there."  He's quite the observer!

So, all in all, not the best results for our search for Santa.