Christmas in South Africa

We spent Christmas in South Africa this year. We were sad to be so far away from family, but excited to start new traditions. Christmas Eve was spent with friends, participating in their traditions (french onion soup, sushi (also one of my families traditions), and a white elephant exchange). It is so nice to have such a great group of friends here to spend the holidays with!

That night we took Piper to drive along the one street in Pretoria that is known to have houses decorated with Christmas lights. I can say it doesn't quite compare to the crazy decorated houses at home in the US, but it was fun to see people here getting into the spirit!

Christmas morning was great! Santa (and our family from home) must have known that Piper was a very good girl this year, the tree was overflowing with presents! Because we didn't get her to bed till about two hours after her bedtime, she slept in till 8:15am. When she finally got her sleepy head up and came downstairs she was so overwhelmed by all the stuff under the tree she didn't even know what to do. 

We slowly worked through some of the presents while my parents were still awake and we had them on skype. But then Piper needed a break for some breakfast and downtime. 

Another break! Outside to play with the new scooter. I love our compound, all the kids were out playing and showing off their new toys and us parents could just sit, chat, watch the kids, and enjoy the morning! 

The aftermath...Piper didn't finish opening all of her presents until the following morning. 

That afternoon the Bensons (Nikki, Kent and Luke) came over and we had a great family dinner (home made tortilla soup and taco's made by yours truly), and then a night full of wii playing! Perfect Christmas!

p.s. I was determined to be in the pictures this year and participate fully without hiding behind the camera the whole day. I set my camera up on the tripod and used my clicker to take a picture every couple of minutes. It turned out great! We have full documentation of the morning and I'm actually in the pictures, but not focused on picture taking just enjoying being with Piper and Paul!

If you want to see more pics from the morning go to my smugmug gallery here.