Christmas is happening...

Suddenly it was December. And we had no household goods, so that meant we had no Christmas decorations. And living in the worlds largest Muslim country, I just didn't know what was in store for us this year... 

But boy were we pleasant surprised when in November, some lovely decorations and events started popping up around the city.

One Saturday after Macy's basketball game, we went to a German Christmas Market- and it was WONDERFUL!

Next year will will bring more cash, eat more food, and stay longer. ST. Niklas above was so so authentic that I HAD to have the kids take a picture.

Tate saw a Fortnite Advent calendar advertised back in October that he wanted, and knowing this was going to be a wonky holiday season, I said yes. And Macy chose one too. They couldn't wait until Dec 1 to open them-

Not having our own decorations- and not wanting to spend money on any new ones- meant that I had to get creative-

I actually loved how the dried orange garland came out and was sad to take it down in January!

Anytime I saw Christmas decorations, I made the kids pose... this one was in the lobby of our church building, which is a large office complex-

And this one was outside the office building- 

A Christmas octopus, huh? 

How about flamingos? One of the local malls did a giant Christmas themed Flamingo display-

I found this advent calendar at a local market and just had to have it. The bamboo and tins reminded me so much of something authentic to south east Asia- 

I was delighted to find this Christmas themed pillow with animals riding in a Bajai, which is a mini taxi that you can find ALL around Jakarta-

I even got matching Christmas cards, which the kids wrote out this year!

Had to get creative with how to hang the stockings too-

Our first card-

Brian and I went to an Indonesian military dinner event, and I had to stop to pose in from of the tree, in our traditional Indonesian Batik even!

There were a few large displays like this around town that would always make me smile-

At the beginning of the month I said we were going to do this- and we did it!