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!