22 Days And Counting

With the arrival of our second son drawing nigh, Caleb and I are headed to Utah about 12 days before Christmas. So, this year we are having our own little nuclear family Christmas celebration on the 9th instead of the 25th. Of course, Caleb and I will celebrate again with Grandeur and Grandest and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends, but Kenny won't be with us, and will in fact be celebrating with strangers (okay, they are good friends, and the closest thing we have to family on this continent - except for Adrianne and family) so this is our compromise.

The Christmas bazaar at the American High School where we finished our Christmas shopping on Saturday.

Yesterday we put up all our Christmas decorations, which isn't much since most were acquired when we lived in a 1 bedroom basement apartment with a very low ceiling and wall to wall book shelves. Our paltry collection of ornaments and Christmas decor is dwarfed by our 12 foot ceilings and endless empty rooms in our current, courtesy of the American tax-payers, home. But, since Peru doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving all the stores have had decorations up for ages and windows all over town are decked with lights and trees in anticipation of Jolly Old Saint Nick so we are really just doing as the "Romans" do by decorating early.

Our very sad Peruvian artificial tree - high on our list of things to acquire when next in the States is a tree that doesn't lean to the left.

If you're like me, you have a favorite item(s) you can't wait to put out when Christmas rolls around each year. For me, may favorites are our advent calendar and nativity scene. We searched high and low for an advent calendar we both loved and finally found one we are over the moon for. It was pricey, but worth it and I LOVE IT!

This is not my photo, but ours only has 4 ornaments as of today and this
image gives you the full effect!

We did the same search for a nativity that was beautiful and unique and truly representative of the Savior and just couldn't settle on anything. And then on a trip to Portugal and Spain with the aforementioned Adrianne, there it was, shoved into a corner of a store window in Granada, Spain. Adrianne saw it first, of course, and we were both so taken with it that we each bought one, the only ones they had. The figurines are stunning in their design and the faces are so lifelike they take my breath away. Of course with Caleb approaching two, having both of these items out for display means a month long battle of "Mommy said don't touch", but I get such joy from our calendar and our creche that the suffering pales in comparison.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

A nativity in an Amazon Jungle theme we have acquired while in Peru.

Another nativity acquisition in Peru - notice the alpaca and llama flanking
the Christ child.