Christmas Day In Saudi

It was finally here... Christmas Day!!!   We had been greatly looking forward to Christmas Day for weeks and it was finally here!  

Saudi does not celebrate Christmas, so it was any other normal day for everyone outside of the compound.  This meant that it was a work day for Brent, so we strategized ahead of time how to do our celebration.  We had been out late the night before, so we decided that instead of waking the girls up extra early, Brent would go into the office early and then come home a little early to celebrate. 

The girls and I spent the day enjoying each others company and playing!

I even attempted to do pictures of the girls together by the Christmas tree.  It was quite entertaining to say the least!  I never got one of them both smiling, but I love what I got!

Once Daddy got home, the festivities started!  Before we opened presents, we let Savannah have a "yummy cupcake" in celebration of Jesus's birthday.  Savannah made us all laugh when she told us, "It's Jesus's birthday.  Eat yummy cupcake!"

After her delicious treat, we opened up presents that Santa had gotten the girls.  Savannah had been eyeing some presents under the tree for weeks, so she was so excited when we told her that she could finally open them!  :)  Each time Savannah unwrapped something, she wanted to start playing with that toy and had no interest in opening anything else, so we had to coax her on to the next thing.  It was so much fun to watch, and we got so much enjoyment from watching them open their presents!

After presents, we all got changed into our "Festive Pajamas" and headed over to our friends the Fords home for Christmas dinner with our "Saudi Family."  We had an absolutely fantastic times with old friends and many new ones as well.  It was an extra special dinner because we knew it would be our last Christmas with the Ford family since they were moving back to the US.  We also suspected that it was quite possible that this would be our last Christmas in the Kingdom, so it was extra special all around!  The kiddos had a great time playing and enjoying each others company.  We had a fantastic time celebrating the Lord's birth over a great spread of food!

At the end of the night we took some group shots to remember this special day.  Here are all the kiddos!

All the moms!

Our wonderful family on our first Christmas as four!

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Merry Christmas everyone!