Christmas and The New Year!

We've always traveled home for Christmas, so spending this year on the other side of the world was sad, but we made the best of it. One thing I can say for Korea is that no where have I seen such a meticulous job hanging Christmas lights. The lights on post were beautiful, and the tiniest lights I'd ever seen.

Those aren't 'net' lights on the bushes, they are stringed....just crazy!

Decorating for Christmas gave me a great preview of how I am going to feel the rest of our time here. There are SO many things I swear I brought, but are no where to be found. Our stockings for instance, and Christmas lights. I specifically remember setting enough lights aside to decorate a tree and string on our balcony that I knew we would more than likely have, but when we got the tree home to decorate...no where to be found.  Which lead to a quick trip to buy some cheap lights and stockings at the PX. My favorite part of Christmas mornings are the stockings...you just can't have Christmas without stockings. A plus side to celebrating Christmas on this side of the world....Santa comes to see us first! ;)

You may notice the bottom of our tree has no ornaments! Tracker is very fond of throwing things in the trash can. I thought I was able to get them all moved out of reach before we had any casualties, but was proved VERY wrong when we went to pack the ornaments back up for next year. I had several empty boxes! Little turd!

Never in my life have I been so grateful for free shipping, Vonage, and Apple devices with FaceTime! If you have family far away...there is NOTHING better than FaceTime and iMessaging! To be able to text for free and see and talk to your family for FREE on the other side of the world is amazing! But everyone we know doesn't have an Apple device, and that's where Vonage comes in....$9 bucks a month for unlimited calling to the states is pretty awesome too.

This is where my mom watched the kids open presents from Christmas morning! It was a challenge finding a place to set her so she could see all of us....I keep telling Austin how much easier it would have been if we had a MacBook! ;) (And please, feel free to send all the warning emails you'd like addressed to Austin about how terrible tobacco is and why he should stop using it, just don't tell him I said to...that won't help me get a new computer! ;)) As strange as it was having Christmas so far from home it turned out great. And to no surprise, everyone managed to spoil the heck out of our kids from thousands of miles away. 

New Year's was pretty low key for us. That happens when you've got a few little ones! We spent the night watching movies, doing our best to make it to midnight. The kids and I fell asleep, but Austin woke us up so we could ring in the New Year! (All but Tracker that is! We know better than to mess with that guys schedule!)

Next year I will be sure we are somewhere we can see the fireworks. We were only able to hear them and see the flashing of the sky, and holy cow. I have never heard anything like it. It was what I would imagine a war zone sounds like! Solid banging and popping for a good 30 min. Absolutely crazy! It was SO LOUD! I can't wait to actually see them next year!