Well I can hardly believe it! It has happened again this year. It happened last year and the year before that and will probably happen again next year. One minute we are putting up the Christmas tree, it is Thanksgiving weekend. We watch Elf (tradition), then Santa Clause 1, 2, and even 3. We make out our Christmas list, work on cards and are totally into the holiday season. Then without warning, it is over! It is time to send the kids back to school and take down the tree. How does the month of December go by so fast every single year? I guess it is just one of those things we had better learn to live with!
This holiday season was wonderful. It started Thanksgiving weekend when we were able to join the Buck family in hosting some marines and sailors for dinner. That weekend we also put up our Christmas tree. I just love that time together putting up the tree. The kids recall when they were little and I wouldn't let them put on any breakable ornaments. Now that they are so big (ha!), they can do it all. Decorating here is very different than when we were living in Texas. Here, as in Holland, we have one tree as opposed to 7. There is not a Department 56 village to put up, there is not a Santa Claus collection or a snowman collection. It is all very simple. The decorations we have were all purchased in Holland, Germany, Dubai or on our travels. I did not bring anything from home. The first year away from Texas, we really missed our things. Now, we just love our new stuff and recall the vacations where we collected our treasures.
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| The Tree! |
This holiday season was filled with parties. There was a cookie exchange, two gift exchanges an ornament exchange and a company party. It was all so festive. I loved it! Of course as with every expat adventure, there were highs but also some lows - more on that later. The high was the opportunity to host 10 sailors from the John C. Stennis for Christmas Eve dinner. We made two turkeys, a 10 kilo ham, and all the fixins'. Our dear friends, the Oswalds, joined us for dinner and helped prepare lots of side dishes. It was truly a feast. We had purchased lots of fun Dubai items, wrapped them up and had a gift exchange. What a great day. The kids just loved meeting this exceptional group of young people. They had so many questions about what it is like to live on a boat and why would they do it! Just an incredible experience with new friends made.
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| Sailors from the John C. Stennis |
I do have to add my little low for the holiday. My dear friend, Emily, and her family moved from Dubai to Singapore. Emily and I met shortly after we arrived in Dubai. We became fast friends and made a point to get together once a week for lunch. Emily's children are quite a bit younger than mine. She has three beautiful girls and a very handsome young boy. My Sarah fell in love with the "Bryant babies" and felt as though she finally had little sisters. She and I were both very sad when they left for their next adventure. The upside is that the Bryants do call Texas home too. Actually, their home is about 5K from our house, so we know we'll see them this summer.
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| Sarah's "sisters" |
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| See you soon, Emily (and Lilly!) |
During our winter break we took a trip to Oman. We stayed at a wonderful resort that was built right in the mountains. The boys took a diving trip while Sarah and I kept an eye on the sunshine! The highlight of the trip was our dolphin watching excursion. We saw hundreds of dolphins! Just wonderful. Kevin was thrilled too that he was able to connect with a boy (guy!) that he was friends with when we lived in Holland.
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| Dolphin Watching |
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| Hotel Tree |
The rest of our holiday was spent at home, relaxing, going dune bashing, to the camel races, and normal things like movies and eating at the new Hard Rock Cafe.
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| Hard Rock Dubai!!! |
So now, here we are. It is 2012. The countdown has begun for many things. First, we wait for March 1 to hear about college acceptances (positive thinking) for Kevin. Then we begin planning our return move home to the States. It will be bittersweet, but that is for another day.
Happy New Year to everyone. May your lives be filled with happiness and love this year and always.
Carol
