1st Christmas in Abu Dhabi

Just a warning.  I am consistently rotten at taking any kind of decent photographs at Christmas.  So this is it.  No cute matching pajama pictures.  No group photos of opening presents.  No look of surprise on my kids' faces.  No good welcoming shot of my parents and brother who flew around the world to be with us during this special time of year. The sad thing is that I don't have those (or many!) for any years.  After Christmas when I look at the sad evidence of what was really a fantastic holiday, I vow the following year will be different.  But alas, this was not the year.  So here it is - a small demonstration of the great smiles around our house getting ready for Christmas and the actual day.

First we have our little elves helping get our house ready for Christmas (and yes, this is our first artificial tree. ever.).  I asked around a bit if live ones were available in Abu Dhabi (not the most environmentally friendly thing in the world to buy a life tree shipped across the world but hey, I justified that I would only be buying one that was *already* here -  a real reach, I know).  In any case, I couldn't find one until after I purchased this big plastic one from China (I know, this one isn't exactly environmentally friendly either...).

All I want for Christmas
is my FOUR front teeth!

Christmas cookies (with camel shapes,
of course!)

Regan and Jane's school had a great breakfast with Santa event.  We had our fill of yummy pancakes.  We opted not to stand in line to see Santa (especially when Meredith ran screaming in the other direction when she saw him) but we made some crafts and munched some cookies.  My Aunt Pat (my grandmother Bernice's sister-in-law (married to Uncle Dean)) sent us a great care package with cookie mix and Christmas cookie cutters.  We had a lot of fun making and decorating those.

Matching dresses from Gaga and Grandpa Carl

Busy cooking and making in the new kitchen

Meet Lizzie (Jane's new puppy) and my
dad (Barry) with 3 of his 4
granddaughters

My parents and brother (John) flew in on Christmas Eve which was a fantastic present for our family!  We so appreciate them making such an effort to come all this way.  We appreciate it so much that my brother and mom didn't even warrant a photo on Christmas Day (so-oooo sorry about that!).  My dad made one shot.  Oops.  And they were like Santa and his sherpas.  They brought not only presents from them but many things I had sent to their houses as well.  And great thanks to the several packages that made their way all the way here (special kudos to Uncle Dan/ Aunt Susan, Cousins Joel and Sherry and Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Bob).  It took some advance planning to pull all that off!  We also love receiving the many holiday cards we have - again, took some planning (and a few extra pennies) to get a card all the way over here.

Here are a few (and I mean only a few) pictures from our fun day.  And it was really fun.  Anna's new toy kitchen that Santa brought was a huge hit!  As was Jane's new pet puppy (not real!) named Lizzie who came with a leash and can walk, bark, etc.

Plus some carolers who came to our house Christmas night - what a nice surprise!