Corniche Beach - Abu Dhabi

Corniche Beach - Abu Dhabi

Sunday, January 22, 2012

A VERY Overdue Summary of the Latest Holidays

I don't know how I've waited so long to sum up our Christmas Day and New Year's Eve activities here! We can call it writer's block....but laziness might be a more suitable word =)

Anyway, here's what went down:

Christmas Day
1. Call the grandparents on Skype so they can experience our Christmas morning (their Christmas Eve night) with their precious little grandbaby.  The best part here was that we actually got to wake Lila (something I KNOW not to take for granted when the next 12 or so Christmases come and she will be bouncing on our bed at 5 A.M.).  We ushered Lila out into the living room - wondering aloud, along with Grandma and Grandpa, if Santa chose to overlook those last few tantrums she threw before the big day and decided to pay her a visit anyway.

BEHOLD!! The magic that is Santa!!



2. Show Lila how to tear the paper....and SET HER LOOSE!!  If any of the presents in the way were not actually intended for her....well....they were hers once she finished!



Still a little sleepy, but loving it!!


3. Take stock of the haul....

4.  Delicious dinner with friends.  We were invited to a neighborhood potluck (not our actual neighborhood, mind you, but a very friendly one where all those who didn't make it home for the holidays could gather).  Lila was a terror - hence the lack of photographic evidence for this step of Christmas.

5. Jeremy's AMAZING turkey dinner at home.  We knew we needed something to taste like home....and Jeremy did a wonderful job of making sure that happened.  He made everything and it was all perfect! The lack of photographic evidence here can be attributed to the fact that we were too busy stuffing our faces with deliciousness to stop and grab a camera =)

Boxing Day
The celebrating continued the day after Christmas when we got to take Lila to Atlantis for the day and catch up with some of our good friends.  Sadly, Lila started feeling ill - but was a great sport, trying out the pool, playing with her buddies.  When we got home after she slept for the entire 2 hour return trip, I noticed that she had developed a wicked fever.  The poor little girl was such a trooper, I had no idea how sick she was!!  Three days of runny nose, coughing and fever later, she was back to her old self.
Ready to hit the pools in her precious swim cover-up.  Little did we know she was probably feeling sick and  ready to be done even at this point in the day.  What a trooper!!

Last but not least - New Year's Eve!!
 We stayed in and invited another family over to ring in the new year with us.  Fantastic food, Just Dance, and warm, cheerful spirits of the adult variety all lead up to a failed attempt to watch fireworks (that never came) from our rooftop.  Aside from the fact that our entire reason for going to the roof never materialized, we had a wonderful night with terrific company.  It made a perfect finale of sorts to the holiday season in our new home.

Here is a clip of Dalila showing everyone up on Just Dance.  We've  got nothing on her moves!!