CHRISTMAS TIME

It's so weird to be in the Middle East and try to feel the Christmas spirit in a Muslim country. However, this year we've done so many Christmas-related things that it doesn't really feel that weird anymore. A couple of weeks ago we went to a Christmas Fair at one of the schools here and it was so much fun. Alan went on a camel and a pony ride, he took a picture with Santa Claus, he went on some go carts that they had, and after that he decided he wanted to have his face painted in the ugliest way possible; they painted really thick eyebrows and the ugliest curly mustache, as you can see in the picture. Anyway, we had a blast laughing at him while he was jumping on the inflatable castle.

We've also been to a couple of malls where kids could take pictures with Santa, but our kids refuse to either look at the camera, or smile or at least stop crying. We ended up buying a picture where Alan had the biggest fake smile because I had to tell him Santa wouldn't bring any presents if he didn't smile (of course all of this in Spanish so that Santa didn't realize he was being threatened :) ).

Last night we went to a hotel/mall where they had something called Winter Wonderland and it was soooooooo cute. They had a huge Christmas tree in the middle of a lake that faces an amphitheater and they had a show with dancing snowman and a representation of Happy Feet. They also had a choir singing Christmas songs and even an ice rink for whomever wanted to skate. Once again there was a face painting stand and Alan decided to be Spiderman this time.

I love this time of the year and we wish we could be with family to make it even more special. But I love the fact that at least now we have our own little boys that get to enjoy everything with us.