Christmas

Yesterday, Christmas, we woke up to grey clouds.  I always like it when it's grey, or rainy on Christmas, since that makes it feel a little more like wintery Christmas weather.

E's first Christmas!

We had a nice, relaxed morning.  The kids opened the few presents we had for them (none of the packages from the Grandparents arrived in time), and we had our traditional Christmas brunch.  Hot chocolate with whipped cream is a must.  We also had an egg and ham breakfast casserole, and hash browns.  Some years we do a special coffee cake, or cinnamon rolls.  But this year we stuck with savory.

Then we spent the rest of the morning trying out new Wii and computer games.

In the afternoon, we headed over to the Troolin's house.  We had fun visiting and making potato pancakes, then we sat down to a yummy dinner of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn and green bean casseroles, rolls and jello.  And of course, lots of delicious Christmas cookies that Sarah had made!

Kaitlyn helping to make the potato pancakes

The Girls (or most of them)

The Boys (and Rebekah)

The Spread

After the kids and dads played a short game of baseball in the yard, us adults played Carcassone Castle while the kids played a variety of other games, or made a puzzle.

It was a really fun day, and we loved the time we spent with good friends.

His first Christmas was just too much for him! =)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We hope you have a wonderful day as we celebrate our Saviour's birth!!!

Things That Make Me Happy

* Hot, sunny mornings that get all my laundry dry

* My kids playing together happily

* Creativity

This may look like my house is a disaster, but actually, it's a strategically laid out battle scene that my boys were fighting!

* My chest freezer

* Being able to get mince and cheese at the store!!!!

* This curly hair and smiling face

*  This little guy

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Christmas is going to be a very short season for us this year.  Usually, the weekend after Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations come out and we have fun putting up the tree, listening to Christmas music, baking all sorts of Christmas goodies, and counting down the days to Christmas.

But this year, almost none of that has happened so far.  And December is almost half-way over.

Being here in Cairns with none of our Christmas decorations, and thinking all along that we would have been back in PNG long before now (I originally thought we'd be back shortly after Thanksgiving!), I hadn't mentally prepared to do anything Christmas-related while we were here.  And then as the wait for Elijah's visa grew longer I would think "oh, it would be nice to do something to start preparing for Christmas", but I would figure that we'd just be here a few more days and then it didn't seem like it was worth going through all the effort.

But yesterday I decided that we needed to do something to make it feel like Christmas was fast approaching.  I know that when we go to the mall, or even the Lagoon, there are decorated Christmas trees and lights and such.  But it still doesn't feel anything like Christmas.  Maybe it's the 90+ degree weather with high humidity?  Maybe it's wearing shorts and tank tops every day and looking forward to that moment when we can get in the pool and cool off?  Of course, I've never lived somewhere where we get snow for Christmas, but still, both in California and Ukarumpa, it's definitely cooler than here!

So yesterday morning, on came the Christmas music and the kids and I took a paper nativity set that Justin's Preschool teacher had sent with some friends and we all helped to color it and put it on the wall.  And thanks to Justin's teacher too we have a paper chain to count down to Christmas with and read a Bible verse each day.

Also, since two of my friends are also here, and waiting for their babies to be born (Kelly is being induced today, and Adrienne tomorrow), we all needed some good distractions.  So yesterday morning I whipped up some sugar cookie dough, and Kelly made the frosting and we spent the rest of the morning baking and decorating sugar cookies!  It was a lot of fun to make them as a big group.  Normally, when we make them at home, after the kids decorate one or two cookies, they just want to eat them and aren't interested in decorating them anymore.  But with all of us there, that wasn't a problem at all!

And now, we know that Elijah's visa is in the mail, so we'll be heading home on Friday!  I'm glad we went ahead and did a few things related to Christmas, but it will be great to get home, and be able to set up the tree, and hang the stockings and just enjoy the last week before Christmas!

Just Like Grandma

One of the people on my "I want to be like them" list is my Grandma.  She went to be with Jesus at 93 years old, 8 years ago.  Up into her 80's she walked miles every day after spending an hour or so  faithfully praying for everyone on an extensive list.

Growing up, some of the highlights of each year for me included the week or so we spent at Grandma's house each summer, and the visits after Christmas.  I can picture every room in Grandma's house, and probably have a story of something that happened in each one.  Even the garage holds memories.  Grandma's garage was lined with shelves, and many of  these shelves were filled with jars.  There were jams, canned fruits, veggies and sauces of many kinds.  Most came from the fruit trees that grew in her backyard.  Some of my favorites were the plum jam and the applesauce.

So, all this to say that I tried a recipe for homemade applesauce this week.  It was super easy and super simple, and when I ate it, it tasted just like I remember Grandma's applesauce tasting.  It brought back memories of hot summer days and all the many fun, special memories I have of time spent at Grandma's house.

This is the recipe I tried:

4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped 
3/4 cup water 
1/4 cup white sugar 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher. 

I used a little less sugar, and only slightly mashed it with a fork so that it retained a nice, chunky consistency.  Yummy!

I'm Really Gonna Miss.....

The abundance of fresh fruit and veggies we've been able to enjoy while here in Cairns.

We get some great tropical fruit in PNG (bananas, pineapples, mangos) but I sure do miss apples and oranges and grapes and..... (the list goes on).  In the last few weeks, peaches and apricots and plums and such have come into season.  So I'm trying to get my fill of them, so that I'll be able to make it 2 1/2 more years without them!