New Traditions

I'm not going to lie, last Christmas was hard.  Even though we happen to live closer to the place of the original Christmas and in a culture more similar, last year Christmas just didn't FEEL like Christmas.  We missed our families.  We missed roaring fireplaces and snow heavy branches.  We missed our moms' hot cider, surprise spread, and ham/cheese buns and the our church's potluck and concert.  We missed Christmas carols on the radio, everybody planning Christmas holidays and Christmas parties. We missed seeing Christmas decorations everywhere (even Dad's gigantic and tacky blow up Frosty on the front yard).  We missed Christmas gift exchanges with family (even the infamous 'Dancing Santa'), late nights up playing board games with family and munching on an endless table of snacks as the girls giggled alongside their cousins.  We missed putting a dash of egg nog in our morning coffee. Our Christmas was wrapped up in the nostalgia of the past.

Our first Christmas here we spent a lot of time mourning our lost traditions but we also pushed through and made some new ones in our new home.  The funny thing is that we didn't even realize we had!  Two weeks ago as we prepared to go to the annual Christmas Bazaar (a Christmas craft fair that supports over a dozen local charities), the girls were super excited.  They excitedly reminisced with each other all that they had done and seen last year and we realized we were creating new memories. It was a simple thing, but for us it was a moment of great encouragement to see our kids embracing new traditions and knowing once again we are going to be okay here.  In fact this Christmas season we are reminded that we we will be more than okay. We are not alone.

 Immanuel.  God with us.

 Iz with her face painting at the Christmas Bazaar

 Santa was a little too skinny but the girls didn't mind

They all wanted to put the star up together.

 A even found some great 'Real Plastic Snow' at the  'yard sale' portion of the bazaar.  It is now littered across our living room floor much to the amusement of our local friends!

The Christmas Pageant - REAL CAMELS! A wonderful new tradition for us to look forward to each year.

Christmas Pageant at our International Church

The girls had front row seats and loved it especially because they used a real baby.