Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

At the end of November we set up our tree, put up some decorations, and set up our nativity set. (So glad we brought it - has been a great tool for sharing about Christmas.) A few days later we actually got to put decorations on the tree - had forgotten our lights broke last year, so we had to buy new ones!

In December we had baking parties and later Christmas parties the week leading up to Christmas. By the time Christmas came, we were pretty tired, so we took Friday off of school. (No Christmas break here.) Eric had lunch with some guys, and I ran errands. That night we got dressed up and went out to a nice restaurant.

They were having a Christmas buffet, and the place was packed! Good thing we made reservations. The funny thing though was that we were maybe the only foreigners there. I guess Christmas is a nice excuse for the city's upper echelon to go out for a showy meal. The meal was worth the money though. We had at least 10 kinds of meat and seafood along with many other dishes. Eric's favorite (not really) was the hairy crab. A regional specialty. (And yes, they give you plastic gloves so you don't get your hands dirty!)

After dinner we went home, sang some carols, and opened gifts. Oh, and we watched The Office.

On Saturday I made blueberry coffee cake for breakfast, and Eric went out and bought me roasted chestnuts! We spent some time on Skype, and just hung out. In the evening we made homemade pizza and watched a couple movies.

On Sunday we spent a lot of time Skyping with family. My cool brother who is hanging out in Quatar called first to wake us up. Then we got to talk to my parents and sister Shana in Minnesota. Next was my sister Melissa in California for like five minutes before she headed out the door. Finally we got to talk to Eric's mom and brother in Iowa. We're still hoping to talk to the rest of Eric's family in California and Iowa tomorrow morning before we head back to school. What a blessing Skype is!

We have three weeks left of class, and then about a week of finals. At the end of January we head to Thailand where we plan to have our baby at the end of February. We have friends who just arrived there, and they say it's awesome. Can't wait!

Christmas Party

We've had some Christmas parties this week. One of the biggest hits was a present game. You wrap a gift in many layers. Everyone rolls a dice, and whenever they get a six, they get to go try to unwrap it. But... first they have to put on the hat and gloves. Once the next person gets a six, they take the hat off the other person, and it's their turn to try. It was pretty funny!

Harry the Turtle

Meet Harry.

Friends of ours went back to the US for Christmas, so we get to watch their family's pet turtle. He came from another friend who bought him on a whim, kept him in a bucket with a little water, and occasionally would feed him rice - when she remembered.

Now though he lives in a deep tank with a filter and heater where he can swim freely or crawl up on his rock to meditate and practice yoga. Check out that balance.

Or he can just scratch himself on the filter.

Gestational Diabetes

Nope, I don't have it, but we had the test for it yesterday. I got to mix a little bag of white powder with 200 mls of water at 7:30 am, gulp it down, head to the clinic, and at 8:30 get my blood drawn.

The results were fine. Then it was up to the doctor's office for a lot of waiting. Eric had to wait outside while a friend came with me into the office where about 10 other women were also waiting.

The nurse measured me and listened to the heart beat. Then we put my little medical book at the bottom of the pile and sat for about 30 minutes. Finally it was my turn. The doctor looked over everything, said I'm fine, answered a couple of my questions, and sent me on my way. We found Eric out in the waiting room making a new friend who wanted help with English and headed home!

The only bad thing was after we got home I threw up. Yeah for 28 weeks!