Christmas Highlights

Christmas Day was a fun, relaxing, really great day.  I loved every minute of it!  As easy as it would be to say that I've gotten used to be away from my family on Christmas (this is my 4th Christmas overseas!), it's not true.  You never get used to being so far from home but you begin to see home as this flexible place and family these flexible people.  I feel blessed that God has brought people into my life here in East Asia that feel just like family.  It's a real treat.

ANYWAY! Back to the day!  My roommate and I woke up and made a delicious pre-breakfast of coffee, BACON and fried potatoes.  We ate up and then opened presents from each other.  Lots of delicious treats and fun things as well. A BEAUTIFUL leaf necklace that she bought for me. I got her a badminton set and we took a pause from opening gifts to play a little bit… yes, in the apartment.  It's what we do.

After we opened presents, we grabbed our stuff and headed over to our friends' house! Where we are breakfast #2… egg casserole, bacon buns, goetta (this German dish made up of most meat but you eat it covered in syrup. sounds weird, but it's good!) and more coffee.  We opened more gifts and had a lot of fun doing it.  I was totally spoiled not only by my family sending things from the States but also by my family here. I felt so known and so loved by the things they gave me.

"Their stockings were hung on the cabinet with care…"

Candy from the States. A real treat!!

My new owl mug. Isn't it beautiful? There's just something about drinking warm drinks from a beautiful mug. It is a favorite of mine :)

Definitely one of my highlights was the Christmas pajama pants I had made for my friends and their little kiddos. My sneaky side borrowed some of their pajama pants and took them to a local seamstress who basically copied the pants using the material I had.  She did awesome and they worked out so well! Plus they LOVED their gift.  Aren't they the cutest??

The rest of the day was a lot of eating, puzzle-doing, game-playing, laughing, eating, picture-taking, checking out new gifts and did I mention eating? haha.  We had lots of snacks and for dinner had homemade lasagna!

After my full day, I came home and used Skype to video chat with my family who was just waking up to start their Christmas day.  Because of a good internet connection, I got to see them open their gifts and they got to see me open mine too! It was super fun and really made me feel like a part of their day.

So there you have it…Christmas in East Asia. Always a special time!