Running out of megabytes...or something.

Blogger/google/the powers that be have told me that I am nearing the max on my space in cyber-space, and if I desire to keep sharing our lives freely with our family and friends, I'll need to start paying! Soooo, I'm trying to make all my holiday pictures as small as possible, and perhaps I will open a new google account and blog in 2013. :) That said, here is the whirlwind of our last couple weeks.

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with several other families with a delicious meal, fun gift exchange, ornament making for the kids (with a little help from the moms), and all-around good time. Our kids were so enamored to see different toys, that they busily checked out all that was available and then Lu promptly collapsed on the couch.  Both kids loved the trampoline too!

Unfortunately, between a December birthday and Christmas, Moo has become totally aware of what all is out there in that big world. What do I get to open now? Why is it that they put pictures of other toys on the boxes of the toys you've just received? And in the back of books? Poor Lu was simply overwhelmed with all the Christmas blessings she received Christmas morning, so I think next year we'll try to spread out the gift opening over a few weekends. Or maybe she'll get used to it by then. Yikes.Thankfully Moo was just as excited to help other people open their gifts as he was to receive his own. May that continue.

Christmas weekend, we went to a parade - the first ever in our city. Most people here don't know that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th. They have combined the traditions they have seen in movies and on TV of Thanksgiving and Christmas and celebrate it all on New Year's! It is quite common to have  a big turkey dinner and a visit from Santa on New Year's Eve. We were excited to participate in a parade on the  22nd that concluded with a carol sing and a few local pastors telling about the true reason for Christmas. It was a bit cold for the kids, but a joyous celebration.

We went to a candlelight service at our church on Sunday with a delicious meal after for 200+ local believers and foreigners. On Christmas Eve we went to the church that we attended our first year here (closer to our old house) and heard the Christmas story told from a children's Bible. The kids were invited to go up and participate in the story as shepherds, angels, and wisemen. We didn't bring a costume, but Moo was zealous to participate....but definitely not without a costume. A friend of ours lent his scarf and after I tied it around Moo's head, he leaped over the pew to join his buddies up front. Lu was excited to participate and demonstrate her new word of the day....in her sleep-deprived state, she proceeded to yell out "SHEP - HERD!  SHEP - HERD!" while the narrator continued the story. Ah, children. Gotta love 'em.

On Christmas Day we hosted a few families at our house for dinner, and Moo & Lu delivered chocolate bars to all while singing and ringing jingle bells in their self-appointed Christmas costumes - Santa & the Christmas Fairy.