What a month it has been!! We celebrated our 1st Thanksgiving in Jordan this year. The kids had school on actual Thanksgiving Day and we made cupcakes for their classes. In addition, both of the kids were able to tell their classmates what Thanksgiving was all about and why we celebrate it.
We then had our Thanksgiving Meal with some of our friends on Friday. It was a great time of food and fellowship! Happy Thanksgiving! (a little belated).
Then December was upon us before we knew it and Christmas decorations were suddenly overtaking our house! We had celebrated Christmas with family in the States the past 2 years, so I went all out and made sure all of our decor was up!
And then December 12 was here and Randall turned 33!!! Thanks to some sweet friends, Randall and I went on a date to a movie and dinner the night before and then celebrated his birthday as a family on the 12th. Below is his "b-day cake"...Toffee Brownie Cheesecake Bars! Can you believe all of that is in 1 dessert?? It was delicious! And YES, we shared!
And so the creation of the Teacher Gifts began... Because all of Morgan and Micah's teachers are non-Americans, I decided to make them yummy treats. Thanks to pinterest, I filled the jars with pretzel/m&m/hershey kiss treats and white oreo fudge. I decorated each jar with the teacher's name and decorated an ornament for them.
The best part was giving the teacher's their gifts. All of Micah's teacher's hugged me and were so thankful! And all of Morgan's teacher's hugged her!
On to traditions... decorating sugar cookies (for their classes) and taking pics by the Christmas Tree!
Christmas Eve...
The kids had school on Christmas Eve Day, but Randall and I managed to sneak in a coffee date that morning. I had this "genius" idea that we shop for each other and then wrap the gifts and then we would actually have a"surprise" to open up from each other on Christmas Day. However, we ended up shopping for boots and bought a "need" rather then a surprise. It was a fun time together, nonetheless. (#maybenextyear)
We then enjoyed a quiet night as a family. Morgan read from Luke 2 and they each opened a gift. We played games and started watching White Christmas... A MUST in the McQueen Household.
Christmas Day...
Thankfully, we all "slept in" til 7am on Christmas Morning and woke up to stockings full of fun surprises. We were joined by Randall's parents, who stayed up extra late to watch the kids open their gifts. Thanks G.Pa and Grammy for hanging out with us!
We had a fun time this year with the kids as they were so excited to open gifts from all of their family!
And then Breakfast! It was definitely a quiet morning as we were alone this year (for the first time). But I still tried to make it special! I made cinnamon roll balls, basically each bite was like eating the middle piece of a regular cinnamon roll. Delish! And we went all out and had ground pork with eggs! Yes, we went all fancy and visited the "Pork Store". YUMMY!
We went back to our roots of 80% Paleo Eating... with Califlower Pizza Crusted Pizza... but with REAL Pepperonis for lunch! Had to make up for those cinnamon roll balls at breakfast! :)
We received an unexpected text, but a very welcoming invitation to join our friends at the park! So, we bundled up.. because its COLD here (Cold for us) and played at the park with friends.
We came home and took a plate of Christmas sweets to our neighbors, visited with them for a bit and were able to share the meaning of Christmas with them. And then we skyped with more family and had popcorn for dinner, while we finished White Christmas! (Popcorn is a food group, ya know???!!!)
It was a great end to a wonderful day, celebrating Jesus' Birthday!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Randall, Liz, Morgan and Micah
