Christmas Shenanigans pt 2

 I got all creative too... aside from making my advent calender out of paper, I also made stockings for the kids.  Jackson says "look like casts"

 Christmas Eve tradition lets the kids open one gift of my choice... (pjs of course)

 We were given a complimentary dinner at the restaurant in our buildings which we decided to make our special Christmas Eve dinner.  A delicious four course meal, and fancy... just look at the beautiful smoked salmon appetizer

 Pumpkin soup in a bread bowl, Jovey's favorite, followed by a turkey dinner with all the fixings

 and Christmas stollen to finish it off.  we were so full we took it home for Christmas breakfast!

 We followed dinner with the Studio C Christmas episode in our new pjs

 And enjoyed opening presents in front of the dual 'fireplaces' (thanks netflix!)

 Lego minifigures and hot chocolate all around!

and Coryn with his binoculars from Santa (he spent all day carrying them around in the accompanying satchel)

Christmas Shenanigans in Thailand pt 1

 They have a love of Snoopy... at least at the Central mall chains...

 Coryn is chatting with a few new friends from church at a Christmas party

 Jovey and Carter are freaking out over the abundance of toys they have been missing...

 And we sang some Christmas carols with our new friends.

 Unfortunately our shipment of household goods is too late for Christmas, so we had to get a 2 ft tree to supplement.  I already know where I'm going to put it next year if we are still here.

 As part of our advent calendar the kids got to do some winter crafts, like make snowflakes.  Carter's phrase of the night: "wow, its prettier than I thought it would be"

 Our new home had a caroling and hot chocolate get together, we were able to get to know some neighbors

and as far as I can tell, they didn't have any santas to talk to, but the malls all had fancy setups like they would if they could find a santa to sit there... elderly bearded gentlemen of the world might be able to find a job here...

Christmas! (last year of course)

 Aww

 little tiny packages...

 Little pretend sushi...

 lab coats

 guitars

 and grabby things too.

(and some hair for Jovey)

Christmas Eve! (last year of course...)

 PJs of course

 some glow

 some footies

 And the candlelight service at church

with the family

Streets of Bethlehem

So there are a million fun things to do around the holidays here, a variety of historical productions in particular.  We went to Salinas to see a program called Streets of Bethlehem where people dress up and act like the time of Jesus's birth.  
 Bus ride!  always a favorite.

This is a big production with acting at several stages so they only let people in a few at a time.  A roman guard keeps the crowds entertained with threats and bribes...

 Plus a variety of educational booths about the time with crafts and activities like bread making, Jewish holiday traditions, dried fruit, spice boxes, etc.

 For the finale, a musical number by a choir of angels

and the live nativity....  all in all a great Christmas tradition.

Tree Lighting

 The first Monday after Thanksgiving the town has its tree-lighting event including music from a few groups, we went to watch.

 And play in the dark because when else do we get to do that?











Weeeee!

Whats that?  A fire truck? with... 



Santa!

Christmas with the Irishes

Kiki and Joe (wish I'd gotten a pic of Joe and Jovey, she really loved playing with him!)






Gpop! always good for horseplay :D
















Grandie and Jovey making like a cat (they love sitting on paper and in boxes, and so does Jovey)








Jovey feeling like a star with Kiki's friend Jill











Coryn got a violin, (pure fascination for Coryn, and Carter is starting to ask when he'll get a turn)








Jovey and her box of linking rings, or is it a hat full of bracelets?

Christmas with the Messingers

Jovey loved to sit on the fireplace,












Carter getting some loving from Grandma and Grandpa






Jovey getting loving from Great Grandpa Carpenter,








and loving the giant gift bags...



















Coryn getting what he wanted for about 10 months,










Carter's first train set (one of the boys' favorites)












the right side of the room (hi Duane!)















left side of the room...