Our First Christmas in Manila

 Our tree on Christmas morning-you have to get a little creative with where to hang the stockings when there is no fireplace.

 Santa's leftovers from his snacks

 They were just a little excited!

 This is a Philippine flag-the boys each got one for their room and we have a larger one that hangs on the playroom wall-now I need to get an American one and teach Ashley the pledge to it since I don't think they will teach her that in her preschool here.

 A cool lego building set from Aunt Ann in Colorado-Ryan has already had lots of fun with this!  Thank you!

 One of Scott's favorite gifts-we have been forced to (I mean enjoyed!) watch MANY magic shows since Christmas morning

 Here is Grammy being a good sport and letting Ashley do her hair on Christmas morning.  This was another gift from Aunt Ann-I had to explain to Ashley what a hair straightener was and she forgot what it was called and the next day called it a "hair chomper"

 2 angry birds-we didn't even know what these were when we came over here-but they are VERY popular here!

 Ashley reading a book with Grammy sporting her new butterfly wings

 The token picture of the usual photographer to prove that I really was there-I was opening my cool new books about dive sites in the Philippines that Bev and Greg surprised me with!  More trips to plan!

 What is behind Dad's back?

 What are they??????   The kids' first pets-2 teddy bear hamsters-both male we were told

 All 3 of the kids were allowed to choose their favorite pair of names from the list Greg and I made up.  Those 3 were put into a hat and the winner was . . .

Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader!

 
Here is Darth Vader enjoying some Christmas morning breakfast.


 One of Ashley's favorite gifts a bed for her new Cinderella baby doll!

 The hamsters got a car for Christmas-called the hamster dragster-they run in the yellow wheel and it makes the car "drive" around-we just have to be careful and not let them get near stairs and wreck their car.

 Give Ryan a truck and he is a happy boy!  We joke about he and his cousin Ian that if you put enough trucks and trains in a room for them each to have several, you could lock them in a room for a month and just slide food under the door every once in a while and they would be happy!

 My friend Katy, that I have known since I was in Kindergarten, started the tradition of birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas morning when her kids were small-what child doesn't think it is awesome to be allowed to eat cake for breakfast????  Thank you for an overwhelmingly popular idea to celebrate the BEST GIFT of Christmas!  and there was also breakfast casserole for my dear husband who only eats breakfast food for breakfast!

 I was too slow with the camera to catch Scott enjoying his!

 Ryan and his Daddy both having a ball!  It really is hard to tell who enjoys legos more-his whole plane was put together before noon on Christmas day!

 My mother, grandmother, and I agree that it is not really Christmas without a few new books!  Here we are enjoying one that I bought a new copy of here in Manila that was a childhood favorite of mine.  It is titled Pantaloon and is about a dog who wants to work at a bakery.

 Even though it was cloudy and thus the water chilly-we swam on Christmas day-just as a matter of principal-I can now say that I have done that!  We swam on New Year's Day too!

This was our Christmas dinner-that night sitting around the dining room furniture from my parents house!  It was fun-we, grown ups, had ham, broccoli casserole, and macaroni and cheese-not from a box!  Hope you and all your families enjoyed a very Merry Christmas!