Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Twas the night before Christmas... We took the cushions from the benches and made a little bed under the Christmas tree to watch a Christmas movie, eat my homemade pizza and read our Christmas story. 

The next morning we awoke to see what Santa had brought (only what was in the stockings- he doesn't get a lot of credit :) and also what was so lovingly given to our boys from their grandparents and wonderful supporters. We started the morning with our Christmas story from the kids Bible and then opened gifts, ate cinnamon rolls and homemade apple cider, played with the toys, puzzles, watched a Christmas movie, and skyped with a lot of our family. 

The boys were so stoked on their cubby vests! We have been doing Awana Cubbies for Sunday school at our house on Sunday mornings. They are so excited to memorize verses and earn patches. Thanks to their Auntie Joanna Franke and Grandma for getting the vests for them. 

It was a blessing to Skype with my brother and see how big my nephew Randy is getting. I think he looks like my dad :)

We spent the morning as a family, then by noon the gates were opened and we started decorating and getting ready for Babu and Jesus' birthday party! 

We had around 100 people come, like last year and ordered food for 150. We got to bless some of the families with leftovers too. The ladies and I served the food....

....and some of the girls passed it out. The window service worked great! Cody took off a couple of the bars and we kept traffic out of the kitchen. 

My sweet husband blessed me by relieving me in the kitchen to mingle and dance with friends. They worked hard and made packages for the people to take home

We inherited a kitty and she thinks Cookie is her mom. And Cookie nurses her just like she is her mom. Too funny! We got video of it! 

Local Church Christmas Program

Some of our Bible Study Guys and girls performed dramas and danced at the Christmas performance that the local church hosted

I taught four of my girls a hip hop dance that they rocked! They ended the Christmas program with it. They did a great job! And it was a lot of fun teaching them the dance this month

Christmas Gift Goodie Plates for Our Oikos

 We decided this year to make homemade goodies for our oikos instead of buying gifts for all of them 

Koda, Kenai were a big help, but kept sneaking the candies :)

 After I finished making everything, the boys all helped me to sort out the goodies on plates.

We made 30 plates to give out. It was a lot of fun, just a little difficult coming up with yummy treats that you can make without an oven. We were creative though, and thanks to google, filled up the plates 

This is my precious friend Kavitha. She is a Muslim woman, and her husband is very high up in the mosque. We have built a strong friendship and I love her so much. I know that Papa is working in her heart and will continue to reveal truth to her. She is open to believing, but is so confined by her husbands role in their faith. When he is not around, we've had some great conversations about faith. Please continue to pray for her and her family

Bible Study Christmas Parties

Cody and I had Christmas parties for our Bible Studies. We had lots of food and did a gift exchange (they all spent $2 on each other) 

This was the gift that one of Cody's boys made for him. What a great artist! 

December Fun

Cody taught the kids how to do jump rope for fun

After cleaning yard, sometimes Kenai will come out and I'll push him on the swing. We have fun times together. Love my boys

Cody spent some of the month going out of Kumar's fishing boat and helping them make their living for the month. This was a good day, but all fishermen have struggled most of the month with no fish

We took Pontus out to celebrate his birthday this month. Happy Birthday Pontus! 

Yes, its rainy season. Time to take showers outside- haha

The monkeys in my tree

Happy Birthday Danika

Happy Birthday to Danika! She had a small party at her house with food and some dancing 

Cody and I made her a birthday cake 

All my girls! 

 Family shot- these are our next door neighbors

 Birthday girl~ 

Getting Ready for Christmas

At the beginning of the month, we made a quick trip to Colombo to pick up a package (that included Christmas gifts from my mom). Our Sri Lankan friend that lives in Colombo (the big city) was in Hawaii for a Christian Surfers conference and was able to bring back the package for us. 

We found a very beautiful tree all lit up to take our family Christmas photo

Back at home, the kids were stoked to deck the halls! This year we purchased a fake tree to have every year, instead of cutting down branches to make a tree. 

I decided to try and make my first stockings and get out the sewing machine. It was a lot of fun! I had to create the atmosphere and the kids and I used our imaginations and came up with our own pretend fire place and mantle for our stockings.