I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much this year. I’m used to being around family, whether that means one or two grandparents or a house full of cousins. I was thinking that I was going to be really sad, lonely and feeling terrible for my poor husband having to put up with me feeling this way. The first two weeks of December were tough, but then I realized that it didn’t matter where we were or how many people were here, as long as the four of us are together it will be wonderful. Especially since we weren’t together last year. Brandon really wanted to spend Christmas afternoon at the beach and grill out. I wasn’t totally on board, but I wanted him to have his Christmas too. I may have pouted a little bit more, but this Christmas ended up being so very special and I wouldn’t have traded one second of it for anything. Brandon grew up spending most of his holidays without extended family since they were living overseas most of the time, so it was really special to get to see and experience the kind of Christmas he is used to. And the kids had just as much fun with it being the four of us as they do when we have everyone we know in the same room. Ok, enough talk, here’s the photos of our day together….
First we went to our friends, the Johnsons, house on Christmas Eve for a delicious dinner. Sophie was so cute and told me how to fix her hair and she had to have a necklace and a bracelet to wear too. She was also very excited to find out that Rachel had made pumpkin pie.
Sophie loves going to their house because Rachel always finds some kind of craft that Sophie can make. She was very serious about her gingerbread house. Her buddy Ben-Ben was being his adorable self too.
The dads were able to relax out back. I went out there too late and half of the dads had gone back inside.
After the Christmas Eve service at the chapel on base we told the kids if they got their pj’s on and we read a book then we would let them open one gift. Can you tell they were excited?
Ok, NOW we are on to Christmas morning. I’ll keep it short because there are a lot of photos. And I left some of them out too!
Forced photo in front of Christmas tree may end up with more crazy faces.
Christopher was really excited about the Star Wars Lego set that Sophie bought for him. They were so cute when picking out gifts for each other and could wait to give them out.
Christopher knew how much Sophie was going to love the Hello Kitty ornament he picked out so he went ahead and got ready for the hug he knew was coming.
Daddy got a ukulele. Now to figure out how to play it. He tried tuning it, but it won’t hold a tune, so I’m praying that it’s not broken.
They had so much fun at Legoland that we decided to get them a big box of the bigger blocks they could play with together. They love to build towers and tunnels and these work better and faster than the little ones.
Sophie pretty much squealed as she opened her gift from my brother’s family. It was full of jewelry and all kinds of girly stuff.
Christopher bought Sophie her own scuba gear. She could not wait to try it out that afternoon.
Christmas hug!!!
Brandon really wanted to get Christopher his own golf clubs. He thought C might enjoy it more if he had actual kid clubs instead of ones that were cut down to size. Christopher’s reaction was priceless!!!! He was even more excited than we thought he would be.
Giving Daddy a big hug to thank him for the new clubs. 🙂
Skyping with Mimi and Papa John.
Sophie wearing the new dress she got from her best friend in AL, Christopher playing with who knows what and Brandon taking a nap. It was a great morning.
At lunch we headed down to Gab Gab Beach on the Navy base. We had heard it was really nice and everyone was right. It’s my favorite beach so far. Mostly because you can park right next to the beach and palm trees line the water so we didn’t even need to put our tent up.
It would start to rain every now and then so I would go sit in the back of the van while Brandon and the kids played/snorkeled in the water. This was my view.
And here’s the view of the van. I cranked up our Christmas music while Brandon grilled out next to the van and the kids ran around playing and dancing. This will definitely go down as one of my favorite Christmases.
Brandon showing the kids the ribs and sausage we were having for lunch. I didn’t plan well at all, so we literally had ribs and sausage that Brandon bought. Ok, we also had doritos and cheetos. I forgot that I threw in an apple at the last minute. Probably should have eaten it because we felt pretty gross by bedtime since every meal we ate that day was either sausage or pork.
The kids found a butterfly and Sophie let them stick it on her shirt.
Before we left, we were all sitting on the beach playing and Sophie said, “Cover me up in sand!” so we did. I was laughing because we just kept tossing it on top of her and when we were done she looked like a walrus.
On our way home we decided to stop at Two Lover’s Point. We didn’t realize that you had to pay to go up to the edge and we didn’t have any money, so we just peeked around the corner. This was the better of the views I could get. If we had waited a little later it probably would have been even better. Next time.
Overall I would rate this as a wonderful Christmas. I thought I would really miss all the craziness and the chaos that usually occurs this time of year, but there was something so special about it being simple and quiet and just us. Merry Christmas from Guam!