Christmas pictures!!!

Here comes the Christmas pictures. I have a scad of them to post! Sit back and relax.

This one isn't of Christmas. It's just one we took of Jonathan on the scooter and his helmet. :-)

David & Marilyn Middleton live about 25 minutes from us. They invited us over for lunch on Monday. We enjoyed our time of fellowship with them. Bro. Dave & Doug try to solve the world's problems. :-)
I thought this was cute. Ryan was eating his dessert on Middleton's back porch.

Our tree at night.

Regina got this cooking outfit for Christmas and she was more than happy to wear it to help me make candy. My mom sent us some chocolate and a few supplies so we could make our own candy (at my request). My mom has made Christmas and Easter candy ever since I remember. I decided it's time I carry on the tradition. Yes, those are Gibble's pretzels! My mom sent us those. I am a true-blooded Gibble fan. I worked for them, grew up close to them, lived close to the factory and will stick to Gibble's till I die!!

We made about 70 Krispy peanut butter cups. Yummy!

Also made 70 some choclate covered pretzels, and 20 some peanut clusters. We'll make more of these another day.

The Dominicans celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. They have a big supper around 9:00 or 10:00 or later. Their custom is to have a pig leg or the whole pig, rice and beans, this bread called telera, and other side dishes. It's somewhat unnerving to be shopping in the grocery store at this time of year and see a pig staring at you at the meat counter. They commonly sell the pig whole! Ugh!!! Since we are part Dominican, we have our Christmas meal also on Christmas Eve. I fixed a simple meal of ham slices, mashed potatoes, corn, this bread - telera, and a 3-layered Christmas jello.
Brandon got this book from a church that sent us gifts. He loves to read!

This is Ryan in Regina's cooking outfit that she got for Christmas. He said he was going to make bubble gum. :-)

This year most of our family sent us money to buy the children Christmas gifts. So Doug and I had a blast purchasing gifts for them. Here are some of the things they got. Brandon got this lego plane.

He also got a flight simulator for the computer. He wants to be a pilot and this is to actually practice piloting a plane. Can you believe it's only 5 years till he can get his pilot's license?? Time to start practicing!
Regina got this color explosion glowboard and loves it! She is our little artist.
Girl legos!

She got these stickers from the church who sent us gifts.

Some of the plates of Christmas cookies we handed out.

Oops! Can you turn your head sideways? Somehow this one didn't get turned around. The children received this Thomas engine from a church who sent us gifts. Thank you!
Jonathan got a pounding toy.

Tonka trucks!

There's just no toy as good as Daddy.

Ryan's gifts.

Tool box.

Ooh! This looks like fun.

Race track all set up.

My 2 little boys on Christmas Sunday.

They're here!

The Christmas gifts for some Dominican children I talked about on a previous post are here! I'm so happy they made it in time! Jan 6th is the day they receive gifts here - they believe the wise men arrived 12 days after Jesus' birth with their gifts. I hope they are as happy to receive these as I was to purchase them!

On Christmas Eve, we were invited to our friend's house, Luke & Hannah. They are missionaries. We have a lot in common with them and enjoy getting together.

Regina & Brandon enjoyed rollerblading on the girls' rollerblades.
Regina was using the bike helmet, so Brandon used this toy CAT helmet. :-)

Regina sure enjoys getting together with these girls. The 2 in the middle are Scheper girls who also were there. They are pictured with their mom and dad in the Thanksgiving post. The little girl on the right belongs to Luke & Hannah.

We did something most people probably don't do for Christmas. We sang Christmas carols and roasted marshmallows around a fire.

Church Christmas supper

I asked my neighbor to help me make pastelitos for the church Christmas supper. She used to sell them and they are oh so good! With her special machine that helps to roll out the dough, together her and I made 90 some pastelitos in about an 1 hour and a half!

They look like little "pies" that are filled with a chicken mixture. Then you deep fry them.
Pastelitos ready to be devoured by a hungry group of people. I also made a HUGE dish of rice and vegetables, but I forgot to take a picture. :-(

Helping to set up the room by carrying chairs.

Ryan was determined to carry a chair by himself.

My little helpers waiting for the crowd to arrive.

Part of the crowd.

Before we ate, Doug shared a short message.

The food! Yum!
Yolanda (pictured below) brought a crew of people.

Yolanda, who came to the Lord earlier in the year, has really been faithful to church and very excited. Recently, she has been bringing her whole family to church, minus her husband. We were delighted to have her children and husband attend the Christmas dinner. Pictured from left to right: Saul (son), Ninoska (daughter and very hungry for God), Katiuska (daughter), Yolanda and husband.

This was the whole crew of people that came with Yolanda.

Christmas decorations

Here are our Christmas decorations. This is a manger scene that our neighbor, Ally, made for us. She bought the figures and handpainted them and then made the stable out of styrofoam and natural items. The roof is a type of "pod" that grows on certain trees here.

This is the bannister upstairs. It was fun having bannisters to decorate this year.

This was my snowman Christmas arrangement. The little snowman figure on the shelf says "Love will keep us warm". The snowman decor at least helped us to imagine we were cold. :-)

A picture of the snowman arrangement above our 3 foot Christmas tree.

Christmas lights

One of the things I like about living in this community is the beautifully decorated houses with lots of lights - maybe no different than in the U.S., but for here, it really seems extravagant.

This is our house - not extravagant - decorated with lights. By the time I took this picture, one set of lights on the one pole broke. Oops!

This is the colonel's house in our community.
I loved that the community put up this manger scene as you drive out. Notice the guard's "house" behind is painted blue with silver to give a night effect background.

Our neighbor lady decorated her fence with these sombreros. I thought it was neat.