Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas with family or friends. We had a very nice day. It started off with us all going to McDonald's for breakfast, which is something we very rarely do here. We used to be invited to a Christmas breakfast put on by a couple from our school, which had become a wonderful tradition for many families here. Unfortunately this couple left us at the end of last year and so we now need to establish another tradition for breakfast. So perhaps we will go to McDonald's every year from here on out....hmm... :-) In the early afternoon we invited some friends over for a dinner of swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, a VERY yummy sweet potato dish that my friend brought and a veggie tray. Besides the fact that turkeys cost around $45 here, we wanted to keep things simple so that we didn't have to work too much! lol! Later in the afternoon we enjoyed some chocolate cake and of course, pumpkin pie for dessert. We spent the afternoon sitting around chatting while the kids played. I forgot to take pictures, though, so I am bummed about that! I had taken my camera downstairs and thought of it right when we were saying grace, but then forgot about it after that. Sorry.

I do have photos from the few days before...gift wrapping, our gift-giving on Christmas Eve as well as the opening of our stockings on Christmas Eve eve.

We had a nice Christmas Eve eve service at our church on Tuesday evening, but again I didn't get any photos of the event even though I took my camera. There were quite a number of people in attendance and we all had refreshments afterwards. I made a pan of coconut and chocolate chip bars and they were consumed pretty quickly.

Christmas Eve...

KJ had been asking for flip flops for months...she finally got some from Santa.

Reading the Christmas story...

Pretending to read the Christmas story because it made a cute picture:-)

The stockings on Christmas Eve eve...somehow I missed KD and his stocking...ugh...

Helping wrap daddy's gifts...

I cannot believe it's already been ten days since I last updated this. There has been so much going on and so many events happening that I hardly know where to begin with the update. It's possible this post could take me hours to do and I'm not sure if I am up to that task right now. I will start and see how it goes...if I don't get them all in today I can try again tomorrow...or soon.

And because trying to get the format right on a post that covers so many different days and events, can take a long time I am just going to write about the photos and not worry about the order. Reality is you probably could care less about which days we did what! lol!

This past Monday, KL, and his classmates went to a place of charity downtown where the homeless people can go to get a meal, some clothes and some of their other needs met. The class went there to sing Christmas songs and to play the angklungs (the instruments you see in the pictures), but since it ended up being too crowded in the room, they only were able to do the singing while there. Fortunately on Thursday, they did their performance again during the elementary chapel time. I think they all did a fantastic job...and KL looked so handsome:-0
Each student had a small speaking part in the program.

Here KJ and her friends are playing with the water table on the second to last day of school before the Christmas holiday. I think that most of them really need the next few weeks to relax and rest and take a break.

KJ and her friend, Lana.

Tuesday night was the elementary Christmas concert. Although KR didn't have any major parts in the play, she did make a beautiful angel.

On Wednesday of this past week was the annual elementary sports day. I was unable to attend the whole morning because I had to give my final exams in my Spanish classes, but did manage to see a few events of the morning. The rest of the pictures are courtesy of my friend, Jackie, who actually has a better camera anyway.

Christmas party on Saturday night, December 13th....

Greg chatting away with his friend, Clay (and unknown other).

The lady on the left is the middle school art teacher and on the right is the middle school social studies teacher so they have taught (and still do teach) the two older boys.

Athy, (the hostess) with Vicky, Jacki and myself...enjoying ourselves :-)

Some michief maker decided to "match" up everyone's shoes while they were inside at the party! lol!These friends all have their birthdays in December so we decided to celebrate them collectively since this is such a busy time of the year for everyone. We had a great time doing a little shopping at the mall and then enjoyed lunch at a pasta place with donuts for dessert! This Big Apple Donut shop just opened up this fall in the mall and the donuts are pretty good...not as good as Krispy Kreme but that is to be expected. We are just glad for a decent donut place in town. KL has had a Dunkin Donuts since we have been here but it has never made it to Penang.

Great dessert, huh?

This was the cutest face at the celebration:-)

A party, a concert and more sickness...

Tuesday after preschool KJ had a Christmas party at her friend's house. She invited all nine of the kids in her class to come for some food, games, a story, and some presents. The kids all had a great time. The party was only for an hour, but with that many kids in an apartment, the hour was just about right. Thanks to the mom who was brave enough to put this on for the kids! :-) Here are some pictures of the event:

Praying for the food.

Reading the Christmas story.

Getting ready to open the gifts.

Getting a little help here...See what I got!

Then that evening KD had his end-of-the-semester band concert. Because every middle school student in grades 6-8 is required to take band, these concerts are PACKED. We got there a bit late and it was standing-room only. They ended up adding more chairs so we had some place to sit clear in the back. When it came time for KD's grade to play, I went up towards the front and stood on a chair to the side of the room (that had been vacated by one of the band students) so that I could get a better view of him this time around. In the video you will see that the view is much better than last time, where I only managed to get the very tip top of his head! It's amazing just how far the class has come since last year at this time. I was reminded of this when the beginning band grade 6 played their pieces! It's a lot of fun to see their progess over the year.

KJ and her friend enjoying the show.

Aren't they cute together? They are such pals and whenever they see each other they hug and laugh like it's been years since they have seen each other, instead of hours! Too cute!

Last night was the Boy Scout's court of honor, where one of the students from our school received his Eagle Scout rank. I was planning to attend, because it was a special evening, but KR came down sick during the night Wednesday night. It was NOT a fun night for her or I as she threw up 8-10 times before morning. Of course, the first time is always the worst and that was all over the bedroom floor! I know, I know, too much information for some of you, but that has been my reality three times these over the past three weeks! I am getting extremely tired of middle-of-the-night clean up sessions! Just when I thought we were safe from anyone else coming down with it! Ugh... KR is home again today from school because, even though she has not vomitted for over 24 hours, and she has no fever, she just wasn't feeling 100% this morning. I think it's better to be safe than sorry, and besides it's Friday so she can have the weekend to rest and recover. Anyway, since I was unable to attend the court of honor I didn't get any pictures of it. KD had a small part to play, but he didn't earn any badges so didn't receive anything other than taking part in the ceremony.

And speaking of the weekend, this one promises to be a busy one, once again, so stay tuned for updates about that sometime next week! Have a great weekend!