~Our MERRY Christmas! =) ~

~My main Christmas gift is setting in our USA house.  2 different people gave us Christmas money and told us to spend it on ourselves!  So, Phillip added some money with it and got me a dishwasher for our USA house.  YEA!
Our kids won't know what to do with a dishwasher, since we have WASHED EVERY DISH BY HAND since 2004! =D

Since we are fixin' to have to:
Sort,
Sell,
Give away,
Pack up to take home to the USA,
or Pack up to store (to take back later) Every. Single. Thing. In. our. House. here. ...we didn't give our kids large gifts for Christmas.
These 3 little boxes are "Nerd" candy boxes that have "I OWE YOU's" in them for Kimberly, Sarah, and Noah.  Some things we plan to buy them when we are back in the USA.  =)~

~Not sure which one of our kids took this picture, but thought it was cute.  Some socks stuffed with goodies ready to be opened Christmas morning.~

~Elijah and Mary enjoying some of their candy.~

~I took my 3 tiered dish that Phillip made me long ago, and added things to it to make it a "Christmas tree" centerpiece for our Christmas table.~

~I found fun paper plates and napkins to use for Christmas day.~

~My other gift from Phillip this year was these fun Glass glasses with Christmas trees all over them.  They came free if you bought a Colombian brand Pop.  We don't drink much pop/coke so we are enjoying our glasses and giving most of the pop away. =)  It's a fun Colombian souvenir.~

~Then after breakfast we did "What God wants for Christmas" that the Beckers got us in 2006.  It is a neat devotional/activity with a story book with it.  It has several gift boxes and each have a figurine in them.  Each person in the family takes a gift box and describes that person that's inside their box, and their part in the Christmas story.  An angel, Shepherd, Wiseman, Mary, etc.  The last gift box tells you what GOD wants for Christmas, and it has a mirror.
In other words He wants US...YOU AND ME...for Christmas and all year long too!~

 

~Elijah looking in the mirror in box 7.~

~Then we had a nice little time of prayer together.  I couldn't resist snapping this pic of Mary and Elijah kneeling and praying. ~

~My Sweetheart and I sitting below the "Mistle Toe."   Thank you, Daddy and Moma for the Mistle Toe and for my fun white blouse you gave me earlier this year.  I enjoyed wearing it for Christmas!~

~Mary didn't go shopping for her brothers and sisters...she just gave them COLD CASH! =)
(It's not often that you see 1,000 & 2,000 dollar bills on your Christmas tree. =D  The 1,000 pesos is worth around .50 & the 2,000 around $1.00!)~

~Elijah opening a gift.~

~Phillip sitting in the corner sipping his Argentine Mate.  Our family is about 4 cultures mixed together.  American, Costa Rican, Colombian, and Argentinan.  (and even more cultures when you count all the different states that Phillip and I grew up in.  TN, AK, IN, LA, SC, SD, OH, AZ, MI, etc.  =)
Phillip only wanted one thing for Christmas...which I'll show you later.~

~Kimberly got cash from her brothers and sisters.~

~"Nurse Sarah" showing Mary how to use her new doctor's kit that Sarah got for her.~

~Elijah got me a yummy box of chocolates!~

~Elijah, Mary, and Noah with their sock monkeys.~

~Mary got a little baby boy doll THAT'S BIGGER THAN SHE IS... that laughs.  It's funny.~

~Mary with her doll and C.H.E.A.P. stroller that will hopefully last these last 2 1/2 months or so that we are in Colombia. =)~

~Sarah got a neat doll that cries real tears after you feed her with a bottle.  She's wanted this doll for a long time.~

~The Hausmans and my parents, and my brother Lincoln all called to wish us a Merry Christmas.  It was fun hearing from/talking to them.
Then in the evening Kimberly and I whipped up some MOCHA LATTE to enjoy as a family...!~

~And we just relaxed.  (I so enjoy my fun Christmasy furry socks that the Beckers got me. =)~

~Silly Phillip came up and joined me for a "feet picture" too.  =D  These shoes were what he wanted for Christmas.
You see, his feet hurt him a lot due to working on/jumping and landing on HARD concrete floors at his RPS/UPS jobs back in college.  He was a hustler and worked very fast, but it cost him!
So after hearing/reading LOTS of good comments about 5 finger shoes, he decided that would be his Christmas present.  HE LOVES THEM!  He's a wall-flower, and doesn't often wear things that stand out or are different, but these help his feet so much, that he doesn't care.  He says that they are extremely comfortable and feels like he's going barefooted. =) ~

~Noah flying his helicopter from Elijah.~

Wishing each of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
May we draw even close to Jesus in 2013 than we did in 2012!