An uncertain Christmas time:
Bereft of opportunities to continue past year's traditions
(no one wants to spend Christmas day on the beach here!)
Unsure of what we would like our new traditions to be
Cautious of over or under planning in the face of wider family traditions and plans
(there seemed to be quite a bit, yeay!)
Left with not a lot of time to think let alone prepare
(school running until the 19th)
Yet we found delight
in the expansive windows to paint
in the unexpected finds of Christmas decor left behind by the previous tenant
in the girls being in the church Christmas choir for Christmas eve service
in having wider family festivities to carry us along
in having visitors from afar
in the rare treat of a thoroughly white Christmas
in daily mini services for the 12 days of Christmastide as celebrated by the more liturgical church traditions
in having no less than 3 Christmas day celebrations!
We celebrated Christmas
with our own family on Christmas Day (church and visiting)
with Mom's family on Boxing Day (games and presents and feast)
with NiNi and YeaYea on the 28th (presents and fun and food)
That's a lot of feasting, festivities, and presents!
one set of very successful presents that had to be explored immediately
We hosted a wider family carol sing, but one family couldn't come (the one with all the musicians unfortunately) so Jasmin and Dad were unexpectedly called upon and they did marvelously considering they had no warning or practice!
Another beautiful piece to this uncertain Christmas break was a visit form a long-time friend of the girls... whom they hadn't seen in-person for at least 4 years as her family left Penang before we did.
And, of course, lots of family photos, showcasing the lovely people and the fantastically amazing place God has placed us for the time being. (Notice that white Christmas snow didn't stick around very long...)
