Christmas Day

It was a morning filled with bikes, dolls, and every imaginable doll accessory. We all had a very nice morning, and it was capped off with the girls chatting with all four of their grandparents.
A local friend had made and given the girls this house. Small toys and candy filled the inside. So incredibly kind.
The aftermath ...

Early Celebration

We had some friends come over to celebrate Christmas a little early. They brought a bunch of presents for the girls ... which served to confirm the thought that one of the best ways to love a parent is to love their child. We were so encouraged.
Megan's love language is clearly and most definitely gifts.
Sweet backpacks. And they can use those big, inflatable hands to smack each other without leaving bruises.

Show Time

Since October, the international school has been preparing for tonight's Christmas performance. This year, all three girls are involved, and they've been spending quite a bit of time getting ready. The girls were excited and ready to hit the stage.

Before we left, we took the opportunity to get some shots of the girls.
Lia waits to play the bells with her classmates. Under this placid look, she is totally excited. Really.
Then she spots me.
Meg and Val are appropriately dressed as angels.
Some of the audience seated in the balcony. There were many local school children in attendance. It was great to have them.

Christmas Tree

We battled an adundant amount of dust, but we finally got our Christmas tree out from under the guest bed. Doesn't everybody keep their tree there?

I don't remember if I wrote about it last year, but when we bought our tree, it came in three sections - two middle sections and one top section. It was missing the bottom section. Oh well. For the price we paid, I'm not surprised. But we think our little, two-sectioned tree looks just fine.

Lia enjoys reading by the light of the tree.
This year, we decorated it with all porcelain ornaments; they're colorful and bright. Here are some close-ups of the different varieties.

Soccer

Today was the last soccer practice of the season. At least a few of us in our family got in some extensive exercise the day after feasting. There was lots of action happening; everyone had a great time.
Now, I'm not an expert on the intricacies of soccer, but I would venture a guess that jacket-pulling is a definite no-no.
Here's a grin of a goal well done.
She's spent. Unfortunately, we didn't have any Capri-sun or orange wedges to help power her back up.
Cool down. Good idea.

Turkeys Time

We were expecting a decent crowd at our place so last month Lori ordered a couple turkeys from a local import store. When I asked Lori how much they cost, she responded with her own question, "You really want to know?" Translation - very expensive. So, "No, I don't." Based on the high value of these birds, we didn't want to mess them up with poor cooking. We chronicled the process with pictures.

We had two 13+ pound turkeys that were bred, raised, and neatly packaged in the good 'ole US of A. Before beginning our prep, we stared at the turkeys for a few minutes soaking in the reality that they came from the States. [Oh-oh, say, can you see ... ]
Adding herbed butter under the skin. Mmmm, say it slowly with me .... herbed butter.
Ready for the oven.
Bird #1.
Bird #2. I know what you're thinking - wow, their ovens are huge! Not quite. [Yes, it is an oven and not a performance-enhanced toaster oven.] The birds barely fit in there. The below oven is the largest we could find. The above oven belongs to our neighbors; they're in the States so I'm sure they don't mind. Just a wild guess but they're likely enjoying a somewhat larger oven. And yes, that's aluminum foil we put over the glass doors to help keep in the heat. These ovens aren't exactly air tight.
4+ hours later and a bird is done.
Thanks to a few videos online, I discovered how to properly carve a turkey. I asked Lori for some thyme to add to the plate, but we can't get that here. Bummer. My mom taught me about the importance of presentation. [Love you.]

Doll Picnic

The title pretty much says it all. The girls really, really like their dolls, and they have such a good time playing with them. As a man, dolls aren't quite my thing. Christmas will be bringing more of these lovable toys so I'm beginning to prepare myself.

Scooterific

Now that the snow has all melted, the girls outdoor entertainment returns to their scooters. We voyaged over to the east campus to scope out some new terrain that's scooter-worthy. Here are some shots of the action.
An onlooker took a lot of interest in the foreign kids or she just really wanted a scooter of her own.
We found the soccer field, but the doors to get in had no handles. Hmmm. A few knocks on the door brought a man that let us in. And even if I didn't know any of the local language, he made it clear that the scooters were definitely not allowed on the field. So the girls ran around on the field. Meg is clearly feeling woozy here. But a game of tag perked her right up.
We shared the field with a class of what appears to be the next generation of kung fu masters. We kept our distance.