New Year's Eve

Wow!  What a year - 2018.  Lots of blessings to look back upon - and despite being very, very delayed in updating the year in the blog, we do get a record number (284 as of now) blog posts from the year. 

Praise God for so many wonderful events.  While Tracy and the girls are enjoying Ohio and the surprises of showing up unannounced (Thanks, Uncle Scot), Reeve and I are here. Reeve is doing fabulous at working out and getting in a lot of basketball.  New Year's Eve included dad passing Reeve the ball for some shooting practice. 

Enjoying the New Candle

The New Candle Warmer should be better on health, help things last longer and is among the Christmas gifts for this year.  Sure looks nice!

Christmas Decorations

Good to see some of the favorite Christmas decorations hanging on our tree.  Merry Christmas!

Traditional Christmas Dinner

It is interesting to think of the traditional Christmas dinner  - and wonder where some of the famous things came from.  In talking with Doug's parents, not sure that all of these were long-established traditions since childhood, since Dec 24 was Grandma Beryl Woodward's birthday, which often dominated the Woodward family celebrations.

The twice-baked potatoes go way back to Grandma Anna Lea Willits
The ham we have always had ham, going back to the Iowa farm, often home grown.
The frozen fruit salad was from Aunt Elaine Penn - likely starting about 1980 during sabbatical.
The Oreo Cookie Frozen Dessert came from Riley & Ruth Case's house, who had shared the recipe from Tuckie Lindholm circa 1980s. 

The Swedish Tea ring also dates back to the Iowa farm and Doug's mom's childhood.

. . .the big relish tray has fallen by the wayside, apparently - but we do have the Christmas placemats and napkins which Doug's mom has lovingly made.

Christmas Morning Presents

Merry Christmas!  A wonderful chance to celebrate the ultimate gift of God's son by celebrating the wonders of commercialism. . .right?  It is a good time and great time with family before a bit of changes and divergence for our Christmas plans.  

Christmas Eve Stockings

Enjoying Christmas Eve.  Will Santa come?  (Or will we just spend time watching YouTube and Netflix?)

Family Picture

We notice that it is rarer and rarer that we get all 5 of us inside the camera frame - so enjoy this family picture. . .who knows when the next one might be?

Mandarin Buffet

For Christmas Eve, we definitely enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch at the Mandarin Oriental - what a fabulous meal - and good family event.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Morning

Merry Christmas!  A nice Christmas Eve morning, enjoying some down time, including checking the presents under the tree. 

Japanese Restaurant

After church, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, just on the 4th floor of Lot 10 - the self-ordering and the quick service is a wonderful treat - and good food.

Church

A glimpse into the worship for the Sunday before Christmas.  What a great time to remember and reflect on the meaning of Christmas and the power of the Incarnation. 

Alumni Event

With many graduates back in town, it was fun to get together on the 3rd floor rooftop for some great memories and a gathering to welcome back our ISKL alumni.  'Once ISKL, Always ISKL.'  With a Back to the Future / Back to School Theme (queue Karen Palko and Brian Candler), it was a fun gathering.

MS Office Christmas Exchange

After everyone had left for the holiday, Janet, our fabulous secretary organized our Christmas gift exchange - which was such a nice and wonderful time to wrap up a very busy first semester. 

Crazy! Locked in our Own House!

In one of the more bizarre instances that we've had, the door handle completely broke when we were in the TV room.  The handle would turn, but would not catch on the switch to open the door.  Bizarre.  Thankfully, it was Tracy and me (Doug) inside, not one of the kids.  With Reeve's help, he passed through some tools and we ended up completely dismantling the door handle in order to get out. .. .though that took more than an hour.

What!?!

 In the end, we basically completely destroyed the door handle, pulling it a part a piece at a time. Nothing like pliers and some force when the latch is busted and it is hooked inside where the door opens. 

 Also, bizarre, that in an instance like this, one of the tools was going to YouTube to see how door handles are constructed and what it is that 'hitches' to open the door when the handle is twisted (a flashlight on one's phone also helps!). 

Thankfully, we always knew we could exit through the fire door that was in that room, should things really get crazy and we became in need of food, water (or toilet), or other necessities.

Wrapping up the Semester

Janet captured this picture as we are working to wrap up the semester and get the last bits in order before the holidays.  A great view into my office. 

The Mexican Restaurant

A nice meal out - and getting to go to one of our favorite restaurants in the Ampang area - and now a lot closer since our move in September. We definitely enjoy the Mexican restaurant near Jalan Ampang - so a good Sunday evening meal prior to starting the final week of school. 

Carols by Candlelight

One of the wonderful traditions at our church, HTBB, is the carol by candlelight that takes place the week before Christmas (or so).  What a fabulous - and beautiful tradition with such stunning music. 

A Birthday Lunch

After ice skating, the girls went out to TGI Fridays, where there were birthday celebrations (with the parents paying, of course). 

Ice Skating

Yes, ice skating in the tropics is definitely possible - with several - at least three - ice skating rinks in KL. We went there with many of Gabi's friends to help celebrate her birthday.  Rania also got to bring a long a friend.