Christmas Eve we went to church at a friend's church since our church was not having a service, and then we went out to dinner as a family of 4. Never before had we gone out to dinner on Christmas Eve- and again, it was lovey! We went to the fabulous Italian restaurant where my friends took me for my birthday and they did a great job with lots of subtle Christmas decorations to make the experience lovely.
When we came home, the kids found presents under the tree and a note from Santa that he had come while we were out. Keeping with tradition, he gave them new pajamas- Peppa Pig for Macy and Fort Nite for Tate.
After we got the kids to sleep, Brian and I got busy counting money-
I did my best not to buy Christmas wrapping paper, or tags, so I had to get creative-
I cut those out of a snack box!
I was able to hoard some special snacks for Christmas Day-
The white chocolate covered Oreos are our family favorite for Christmas, I bought them before we left the states and lugged them in my suitcase!
Our Christmas tree-
Just wait until you see our mantel. Hey I tried- and saved money too. Win win.
One year in Little Rock after we built our house- and I was pregnant with Tate- we had mice. Liked to think it was only 1 mouse, and I called it the "Christmas Mouse" because that sounded cute.
Well, here in Jakarta we have gecko's in our house frequently, like we would have had mice in America, and on Christmas morning I saw this little guy and called him the "Christmas gecko"
The kids big gift from us was two upcoming trips- but they also each got a bean bag!
My friends rocked it this year with gifts- not only for the kids, but for me too. Sara made me this sign-
The best homemade present ever award goes to Tate-
My girls were brilliant and sent the kids American snacks-
Tate couldn't imagine what was in this giant box...
We put on the fake fireplace on TV-
It was like 7-11 in this box of goodies!
Tate was suddenly an Indonesian millionaire-
Kristen knows me so well with my love of California and baking-
For the first time ever, I got the kids- I mean Santa got the kids- cans of fake snow. Poor Macy found that her can was absolutely empty!
Tate let her have his, and it was a huge hit-
Just after Thanksgiving, I got an idea for us to volunteer as a family at a local organization who we may be of service to, and in turn would enrich our lives. Being that Christmas is a Christian holiday and we live in a Muslim country, I figured organizations would be open for the day and need us possibly. I started reaching out to places and people wrote back to my initial email saying "But isn't the day you've offered your holiday?"
I found a local orphanage that was welcome to us coming for a few hours Christmas afternoon, suggesting that we could help out in the kitchen to make dinner. I wanted to bring the kids a treat, so I ordered some Christmas themed cookies from the American Club to take with us-
The orphanage was difficult to find, but eventually we made it and were welcomed warmly. The kids were headed out to the mall that evening, so dinner was moved up and we missed it unfortunately. they gave us a tour and the kids sang Christmas carols to us, in English!
Tate and Macy passed out the cookies to the kids-
And then they played soccer with the kids-
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Sure, it was awkward, but that's exactly why it was important that we did this. We were caucasian, Christian, Americans who spoke English- how different could our kids be from the kids living there? But it was amazing seeing the kids playing soccer, eating cookies, and just being kids together.
We went home and got back into our pajamas to enjoy an evening in, enjoying each other and the few hours we had left of Christmas Day-
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And back in America, I was so happy when Sue sent us this picture of Stormy, out walking off her Christmas Dinner!
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