Christmas

So, Christmas!

gingerbread house at the fancy bakery

 I realise that this was like 5 months ago... nonetheless...

Val and I attended a women's brunch at the church we used to go to, where there was this fun activity to assemble aromatic bags of dried fruits and spices. Basically you simmer the bag in lightly boiling water to fill the house with a nice aroma. And they're really pretty!

Christmas morning, bright and early of course... this was the first year that we had the kids pick out gifts for each other and for other family members.

What she specifically asked for...! 

Painting the model solar system (it glows in the dark!)

The kids participated in the pageant at the church we attend now (the deciding factor is that Sunday School here is in English); they sang songs in English and Albanian.

I think this is the only photo I have of the tree... 

We seem to keep starting over with trees. But we found a nice set of wooden ornaments at a big box store, and we had these little "Christmas mouse" books that are kind of an advent calendar of sorts. We made a better star than the one you see here for a topper. At the end of the day the tree was much more ornamented than this, but for whatever reason I never did take pictures of it.

Part of the Christmas Village shops that popped up in Pazari i Ri