Christmas!

I would love to tell you that our first Christmas overseas was 100% joyful, but I'd be telling a lie. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time celebrating the birth of Christ, but for some reason, the tears just decided to show up periodically throughout the season. If you know someone who is living far from home and can't physically be with their family during the holidays (or the rest of the year for that matter), give them a special hug the next time you see them. It's a really tough thing to do.

Through the tears, there were some fun things going on! We had Christmas dinner at our house for all the foreigners that live in our town. I think that cooking Christmas dinner for 20 people puts me in the 'for real grown-up' category! It was a task - especially since creating some of our favorite Christmas dishes took a few more steps than usual. Like making your own sour cream for casseroles and dips or making the French fried onions for the green beans! I planned out my cooking, and ELECTRICITY DIDN'T EVEN GO OUT ONE TIME WHILE I NEEDED THE OVEN! (Personally, I just heard the Hallelujah chorus playing in my head for that announcement) We had a few Christmas carols and a devotion time before dinner which also was great. I got teary a little bit during that time because Jon Thomas read aloud the Christmas story and Charlie sang 'Away in a Manger'. Sweet, sweet moments for this Mommy.

On Christmas Day, the boys got some special Christmas surprises, including the one shown below. The photo of their faces is classic - I love it! They were so excited about their basketball goal. After we opened all the presents and had a yummy breakfast, we went to church to celebrate. After the church celebration, we spent the remainder of the afternoon delivering some special Christmas presents to our neighbors and friends. We also took lots of oranges to the deaf school and the blind school in our town and let the boys pass out oranges to the kids. We all had a great time sharing gifts with people we've come to know and love.

Sunday was declared a pajama day, and it was so. much. fun. And a much needed day of relaxation. Now we look forward to a new year, new experiences, a new family member and new things to learn. I hope you and yours had a WONDERFUL Christmas and have a Happy New Year!