Christmas has been a success. Different than the past several years, but the boys had a ton of fun and got a pretty good haul of gifts. Most of the time when the kids were opening gifts we were able to be on Facetime with Rod, Ileene, Demetria, Trent, and Finnegan. Owen and Milton adore Finnegan. We did dinner on Christmas day at the restaurant on base Torpedos and Tomahawks where we can ride our bikes. We also did a prime rib dinner with just the four of us and our mini prime rib turned out pretty good! We made sugar cookies using Ileene's recipe and then had a couple friends over to help decorate. The boys saw Santa at the Micronesia Mall and the decorations even included a really awesome train ride. I was able to find a gingerbread house kit at the local grocery store and with much thanks to a hot glue gun, it was assembled successfully. Tree purchased at the NEX on November 19th, selected by Milton. It traveled all the way from Washington State so there were some very dead needles. We bought it as soon as they arrived so that it could get some water and not sit out in the sun without any love. It did take up water and hasn't been dropping needles like when it was first opened up. The boys did pretty well putting up the decorations. My favorite ornament is the one Owen made in his art class last year of his hand outline in clay painted to look like Santa. Damon and the boys put up the lights by going on top of the roof. The difficulty is getting the lights to stay. I developed a new attachment method with command hooks and electric tape that seems to be working better than clear tape or hot glue. Our first Christmas celebration was the light festival in Hagåtña. The lights had a routine and then at the end of the music foamy bubble things were flying around that looked like snow. The boys loved the train they could play around with. And, no surprise, Owen managed to make a new friend after being there for 30 seconds. The plant sculpture lady is Guam's patron saint, Santa Maria Kamalen, who is believed to protect Guam from typhoons, quakes, wars, and other disasters. We also went to Merizo and painted a couple coconuts which were then put up on a big coconut tree display.
