how does he do it?

we now know
how does Santa do it? 
the answer:   time zones

we were excited to wake up
Christmas morn
and see that Santa found us
way down here in South Africa.
and what made it even finer was knowing
he hit us before
he hit our family and friends back in the States.
the kiddos thought this was very cool:)

excitement!

bristol loved her first Christmas!

And to back up a bit
the pics below are of...
An amazing family that invited us into their home and their Christmas Eve dinner celebration. A huge table was set up and beautifully decorated.
Plenty of yummy food was eaten!
Oh my, it felt so good and so much like being with family.
It was just what we needed this holiday.
We were blown away at their generosity and love.
Such a blessing!

Christmas Crackers- a South African tradition where you pull apart
these wrapped lil gifts and with  loud pop you find small treats in them! fun!
above are the kiddos working hard to pop theirs
and below, sis and i trying to get ours!

And the day after Christmas...
We celebrated
by having our new friends 
(some missionaries, some south african, all friends)
over to our new place.
All of these folks are away from their families this holiday too!

This is a pic of the girls 
(minus Bristol who was napping).
These folks are such blessings in our lives.
We never imagined finding such a sweet group of folks!
God is good!

And so,
though we missed dearly our family (and friends) back home
as we celebrated our first Christmas away-
we have been blessed here 
far away from them.