Christmas Eve in the Tropics

Gabi and Rania were both very excited that Christmas Eve finally arrived. Ever since our amazing neighbor, Auntie Nani dropped off gifts for each of the girls, Gabi was wanting to know when we would open presents. In an effort to break up the present-fest and hopefully give the girls a chance to play with their toys, we figured we'd open some gifts on Christmas Eve.

While Gabi was very excited to get her new cash register from Auntie Nani, and she also got a jump rope and a super fun Polly Pocket car set, but it had too many small pieces to risk opening it at the grandparents' pad. She was also excited about a whole mismatch of bracelets and necklaces that will work super for dress-up. You can even see the dress-up purse in the picture at the bottom of this post.

The most hilarious moment of our Christmas festivities was Rania receiving a beautiful stuffed animal -- a cat. Gabi has a huge collection of stuffed animals and Rania tries to take them from her sister. Gabi isn't too willing to share, and usually tries to put Samantha, Namey, Whitey, Charlie, and Brownie far away from her sister. Even when she goes to the bathroom or has to obey, she'll emphasize, "Don't let Rania get it."

So it was especially ironic to see Gabi so jealous of Rania's new stuffed animal. Within a few seconds, she wanted to trade Samantha (her favorite stuffed animal) for the new one. She tried to whisper in Rania's ear -- "You don't want your kitty cat, right? -- Daddy, Rania said she didn't want it." After all of these ploys didn't work, she then insisted that Samantha would be lonely if Tiger (the appointed name of the new Kitty Kat)wouldn't sleep with her.

My goodness -- what insights into the selfishness of our own hearts.

We did enjoy our Christmas Eve service at St. Andrews. It is always so important and meaningful to sing the great Christmas hymns and hear the powerful message of the incarnation. We're also excited that Tracy & Reeve will be returning soon, though we're happy that they are having fun with family in Toledo.