Dad and Mom came to visit!!!!

Christmas Day!

Our celebration of Christmas was full of yummy treats, fun presents, one visit to a friend's house that we hadn't gotten to the day before, and putting the last ornament up on the Jesse tree.  Happy Birthday Jesus!

Pre Christmas

One street over from us had a light display for the month of December.  They had bamboo poles arched across the road with lights attached.  The kids loved it!

 This is a Pondok Natal or 'Christmas Hut'.  People build them all over the city and they usually have a manger scene (in this case a large star of David), a Christmas tree, maybe a Santa... and then they play very loud Christmas music from them.  This one was built by our neighbor just this Christmas.  He worked very hard on it (sometimes until 1 in the morning) and we were so glad when he was finished because the blaring music was a welcome change from the pounding hammers:)

 Dylan and Roman enjoying the Christmas Eve service at our church.

 On Christmas morning we took a quick trip to the beach for some pictures.

 We didn't celebrate our family Christmas until the next day.  On the 25th we visited homes of people from our church.

Everyone had lots of food, cookies, snacks and drinks to offer and loved playing with the kids.

In the afternoon we went home and opened our gate so that kids could come and get a can of coke. Raquel was very excited to hand out the soda:)  There were tons of kids roaming the neighbor hoods.  Some had backpacks full of cans of soda.  It reminded me of Halloween in the States.

That night we moved our mattresses to the living room and slept by the Christmas tree.  Well, Dylan, Raquel and I did.  We let the boys sleep in their beds:)

Roman's First Birthday!

December 19, 2011- little Roman Emmanuel joined us.  His middle name is a reminder that God is with us!   

He has been a very sweet addition to our family and we are so thankful for our happy little guy.

Since his birthday is so close to Christmas, I slacked on a party for him.  We just did cake and ice cream for him that night.  Someday when he's old enough to care we'll do something really fun:)

  

He was very tired and hungry, but I wanted to take a picture with this bib on since Gideon had worn it on his first birthday the year before:)

He was very serious about his cake.

It took him a little bit to get started...

but then he started to realized it was pretty good...

Then there was no stopping him:)

He was pretty irritated that we took the cake away to make him open presents.

Raquel and Gideon were happy to help

Ah yes, an extremely loud and obnoxious phone that will wake me up in the middle of the night if I so much as touch it with my little toe.  Good choice mom!

He's starting to walk but it's not his preferred mode of transportation yet

Saying goodnight to his big brother... so sweet

 Happy Birthday to our big little boy Roman!  We love you!

There is much more of a Christian influence in this area than where we lived before.  It was fun that the stores were a lot more decorated for Christmas and we heard lots of Christmas music.

Raquel and her friend used part of a papaya tree for their pretend Christmas tree:)

No need for a fireplace when it's around 95 degrees every day, so we used a mirror...

Gideon loves to help me bake. I had been rolling out cookies and went to the kitchen for a little bit.  When I came back, I found Gideon here.  He had pulled up a little stool and was getting to work!

Some of the neighborhood kids came and frosted cookies (and eventually their faces) with us.

While they were busy decorating, we heard other kids screaming outside.  Everyone ran out to see what was happening and that's when I discovered a very interesting Christmas tradition. (from what I understand this comes from the Dutch)  Now, I have heard of parents in the States telling their kids they have to be good or Santa won't bring them presents, but this kicks that threat up a notch.  Here, parents can tell their kids that, if they don't behave, Sinter Pit will get them, and it doesn't have to be an empty threat.  Groups (usually from a nearby church) can be hired to come and give your kid a good scare.  The ones that I've seen go around in the back of a pickup truck blaring Christmas music.  There are a few guys painted pitch black (Sinter Pit) carrying a stick or a bag and they'll come to your house and take the specified child and carry them away.  It's all in good fun and they bring them right back and then Sinter Klaus (Santa) accompanied by a lady dressed like an angel will come off the truck and give them a present that the parents have provided beforehand.