A December to Remember

It has always sounded so cliche to say that time is flying by, but that is truly the way it is now. December flew by but with much anticipation as we anxiously awaited Christmas and our trip to Curaco. I'm thankful that it flew by because it means we are at the halfway point of this deployment and that we are spending time together as a family for Christmas. As a military family that is something that we cherish being able to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries together because so many of them a spent apart.

Before leaving on our trip we finished up the final days of school. Aurora performed in her school program with Christmas and holiday songs. She sang about decking the halls, put on her shades to rock around the Christmas tree, and demanded some figgy pudding. It was truly a delight. I had talked to her earlier in the day and reminded her to smile throughout the performance even if she was scared. She did an amazing job of keeping that smile plastered on her face :)

On the Wednesday night after school was out (and bags were finishing being packed and double checked) we had an early Christmas and opened gifts. The kids had so much fun and began to challenge it other to see who could open fastest :). It was funny watching them tearing into the presents and their smiles as they saw what was inside. After all the excitement it was time for bed before our big trip.

The day started early as we headed out the door for our flight. The kids are great travelers and had their different items to keep them entertained throughout the whole day of flights. We had our first stop in Dallas and the second in Miami. Logan fell in love with miami after seeing it from the sky. I thought it was really neat to see it as we took off cause you could see the outline of the United States well Florida at least :). We arrived, grabbed our bags, went through customs, got stamps in our passports, and then we greeted by the person we couldn't wait to see :). It's usually us waiting for James but it was nice to have him waiting for us. So far the trip has been great. It's the rainy season here so it has sprinkled a bit but nothing to deter us from the beach. Aurora made some friends while playing in the sand. I asked if she got their names and she said "no, but they are Dutch".

Christmas is here today and while we didn't open a lot of presents here, we have the best gift of all, family together. This is our December to remember with lots of wonderful family memories being made.