Thursday, January 1, 2015

Our early family Christmas

What is better than Christmas morning? Isn't that the icon for pure joy? I know that for many it isn't. It can bring painful memories, it can be lonely, it can bring discontentment for what we wish we had.

 For many in my neighborhood it's a curious time of wondering why foreigners do so many strange things. This time of year always produces a war within me, wishing the joy of the arrival of the King of kings would not be mixed with so many insignificant cultural traditions. This is so confusing to my neighbors. You can read about my annual Christmas struggle here. I try to balance the cultural traditions while teaching the historical roots of this celebration to both my children and my neighbors. (I bought some Khmer books for the children to read while they play with the Nativity set we bought). My meager attempt at witnessing without yet speaking the language. (notice I said yet...a goal to focus on in 2015! haha)

When Joe got home from work on Saturday (Dec 20) we started our Christmas festivities. A yummy lasagna dinner! Since we don't purchase cheese very often, this was SUCH a treat for us! Well, a treat for Joe and I, anyway. Wes & Bria were not very impressed and wanted rice instead. Those kids. haha. At least they enjoyed their mixed veggies.



Growing up for me, it was always a family tradition to sleep "under" the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We would then open gifts in the morning. We do our best to carry on those special traditions. The mattress was a great source of entertainment!! Last year Bria was just laying on her back. This year she was jumping all over the place with Wes. So cute!

We watched a Christmas movie (and it wasn't Curious George's Christmas Movie this year! Yay!) and ate popcorn and other fun treats.


She has a VERY big sweet tooth! She loved the homemade chocolates sent from Gramma Martin!


We let each child open a gift to play with in the evening.
He has been bemoaning the fact that he lost his animal puzzle somewhere in our travels this summer. He was SO happy to get a new one!


And Bria loves her Hello Kitty!



The attempt at sleeping under the tree FAILED. 
We gave up and just put the kids in their beds, and then carried our mattress back upstairs again. Ahh...much better!


SO many gifts under the tree. Many from all of you. THANK you!



Our "Christmas morning" we had a yummy breakfast, talked with grandparents, and then opened gifts! Wes got SO into it this year! It ended up being a most-of-the-day event since each gift was SO exciting and needed to be played with / enjoyed right away!



They never get sweet cereal, so this is a special treat!
Wes, of course, got Alphabits. Eating letters. Can life get any better??


Bria got Fruit Loops. Because mommy likes them.























After the festivities, we got dressed up and went to church. It was a beautiful time of worship and celebration! 
Once we were home again, our own party continued! 
We were pleasantly surprised to snap a few pics with the kids!


Earlier, when I showed Wes of Christmas cookies and asked him which ones we should make together, he really wanted to make the gingerbread men. He wanted to put eyes and buttons on them. However, I didn't have anything to make eyes or buttons with! To our joy, some Christmas baking goodies were included in our gift box! So, I made gingerbread men and we decorated and ate them together after church. SOsoso much fun!



It was hard to actually get the eyes and buttons onto the cookies, though. They somehow kept disappearing! hehe

Our finished gingerbread men!

Re-opening the stockings is just as much fun the second and third and fourth times.
Wes had me re-wrap his gifts several times just so he could open them again!


Merry Christmas from us to you!
I hope this helps you feel a part of our celebrations. We wish we could have joined your as well.


Love, Joe, Nica, Wes, & Bria

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