Christmas 2013

Third Christmas away from home. Hum, hasn't gotten easier. We miss the energy of being around family. The excitement of all getting together. The cold! The worst part of Christmas day for me is going outside and seeing everyone else just going on with their normal daily routine. Working as if it's a regular ole Tuesday. Traffic, shopping, etc... In the US we would inevitably go out on Christmas, driving from one family to the other. And the quiet streets were a sign that everyone was at home, doing the same thing as we were. Celebrating! It's so exciting know that almost every other person in your city thinks it's a special day too. You can feel it in the air with the lights and decorations and lack of "normalcy." Of course, this mostly just applies to Damien and I. The kids are still super excited about Christmas and don't remember anything different. All of Sora's Christmas' have been in Thailand. And most of Miciah's too. Orin asks constantly when we will be in the US for Christmas again. He knows Christmas in Thailand is just missing "something."

One thing it's taught me, is that as nice as the "feeling" of Christmas is, it really shouldn't matter. Yes, it's a good feeling. I love it. But Christmas is about a baby who came to die to save us. Period. Yes, it's about giving, and making other's feel good. But if our special feelings don't come from the the fact that Jesus was born, then we're missing the point anyway. Good feelings about lights, and presents and family are great. But if we don't have any of those I don't think we should lose the Christmas spirit. And that in the end is the struggle. 

My kids don't know how lucky they are. All of this from packages from grandparents and strangers at our home church who just want to bless us. They have plenty!

Saying Merry Christmas to Nina and Pops, Aunt Emily, Uncle Ryan, and Uncle Joel.

Micaiah showing them his first lose tooth! Which we pulled out later on.

The kids love big breakfasts with lots of options. Orin and Caiah made a list of everything they wanted and I checked each thing off as I cooked it.

French Bread, Fruit, Bacon, Baked Beans, Bagels, Hash Browns, Fried Eggs, Sausage, Biscuits  Toast and Juice. Yum!

We had Christmas dinner at Bake 'N Bite. They do a wonderful buffet of Turkey, Ham, Roast and all of the sides and desserts. Hum, I should have worn green or red, obviously!

The restaurant is really close to our house but they provide a free tuk-tuk for people who park on the street. So we just walk a little bit and then take the tuk-tuk. Fun!

The child loves to read!

This is his 10 millionth piece of apple pie. :)

I have a bunch of great videos that I want to upload but blogger is having trouble with them. I might just put them in a different post.