Family Gift Exchange 2012

New Year's Eve - the very last day of 2012. 

Michael and the older ones tried to view the Hobbit again. This time the film worked through all the reels. 

I treated Stacia to any restaurant of her choice. She chose Burger King -  she loved this very rare treat. We then went shopping for a few treats at the commissary and BX.

The kids weren't totally SURE when we'd open presents. They know we have separated a family gift exchange from our celebration of Jesus' birthday, they know we "always" open gifts before the Twelve days of Christmas are over.  Michael and I decided New Year's Eve needed some jazzing up this year (and I'll blog about it before bed tonight - 1 Jan - or die trying - LOL ).

What you need to now for THIS post is, Stacia  was chosen to pick a clue from this bag... We told her she needed to read the message.

  She deciphered  "Gift Time," and said it wasn't much of a clue. ::snort:: She figured it out a bit later than the older ones.....

We opened gifts from Bre (which weren't here when we opened the ones from Krista and my folks). 

She made these necklaces for each of us - to fit our interests. Arielle's had a toothbrush and toothpaste on it! ::snort:: 

It was a blast to watch the excitement of the younger two to GIVE.....so much fun!  They had shopped at the AWANA store and could hardly wait to have us open our gifts.

Opening our "girl's gift". 

Sparkly confetti - which is a family gift - and we're sure to use!

The girl's gift was glitter gel for cheeks - can't really tell. 

Ear muffs! 

Gloves I can wear ALL day and work in. 

PRECIOUS! Zander said, "I figured everyone was getting tired of your old ties!" 

Arielle learned to knit this year...and she's done socks, hats, pillow covers, tie, gloves, scarves.... I can't figure out what happened to the photo of Stacia's scarf...and she didn't make Michael anything yet.

Pillow case cover - which I quipped would make a great hat....

Then discovered she MADE me one! 

We got the kids each a gift....Arielle's main gift is a series of books, but we're waiting to work out the "kindle issue" before we buy them. We did get her a t-shirt from the mall.

Wii game

 Gundam model 

Playing with my toys and not moving on! ::snort:: 

She was surprised - and I'm not sure HOW - as she's begged for this for months. 

Nail stamps - she's happy. We'll all  The girls will have fun with this.

Finally found them! 

Complete Series of Red Green. We started watching these in MT and have not been able to keep up as many spots don't carry them. 

Two definite themes emerge when you consider my gifts.... I'm COLD and I'm learning a new style of cooking....

 I am SURE this will make my stir fry meals much less of mess to cook....and look how shiny! 

YES - a good variety. I asked each giver if they'd try whatever I made from their gift...AND WROTE THEIR NAMES IN THE BOOK  to assure their compliance be sure I remember which book is from whom. 

There were other gifts as each of us bought for each of the others - but you get the idea. It felt just right this year - though we all felt something some ones were missing! 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Day Six of Christmas

Day Six of Christmas! It was a joy to spend the last Sunday of 2012 with our chapel family tonight. 

The day began, however, with a lazy a.m. (doesn't often happen on SUNDAY) and then lunch at the mall. We checked on the Hobbit showings for tomorrow.  We also took some time to look around.

Arielle wanted us to get some sticky pics made...when we got to the booth the signs  said, "No males." That was a bit disappointing - though  I'm not sure they would have liked the whole experience anyway. Stacia and I did. 

You come away with a strip of photos. They print on sticker sheets and are used to decorate all manner of things over here.  I scanned them into the computer and cropped them so we could all have the photos we want. ::snort::

We also succumbed to the temptation of trying to get Stitch out of the machine......We miss Jared (Stitch). 

Hope - 

gave way to despair. 

After chapel we had family circle. We discussed two names of Jesus tonight - Mighty God and Prince of Peace. 

Our clue tonight was: How can I be tired - I didn't go anywhere! The younger ones raced up the stairs...Nolan and Arielle thought it out.

One at a time, all  "found it!" It was hidden on the elliptical and is a new game. We're pretty sure we'll enjoy it...BUT....

All the instructions put us off....Yuuki even tried to help with set up. 

Michael took over reading the instructions while the rest of us did as told.......

When Arielle and I fell asleep, we decided to try to read the directions between now and tomorrow and play it tomorrow night. ::snort::  We could have used the elder Gherkins' help tonight. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

HOBBIT & Girls' Night

The day began rather lazily with an hour of Hobbit reading, snow play and then Michael took Nolan and Arielle and ran to the base to get our mail and do a commissary run.

Zander and I got two more hours of Hobbit reading in....Yes, I do tend to move my mouth as the kids read.

At one point Zander broke into song....I had Michael capture it when he got home! ::snort:: Priceless. 

Four hours of reading today; ten hours of reading total - and SUCCESS Zander reads the last line of Chapter 6 of the Hobbit. He can go to the movies tonight with Michael and the kids. Opening Night of the Hobbit on base!

And so the three older kids and Michael left to watch the Hobbit. Stacia and I settled in for the a fun night. Due to the timing of the shows - today, Sunday (one showing right when we have chapel), Monday (evening) -  we can't go to the onsen as planned while the others go the movies. We don't want to sit in the onsen for an hour and then sit on the curb for two hours waiting for our ride. ::snort::

We cleaned up dinner dishes, wrapped a couple of presents, did each other's nails, popped some popcorn and watched Looney Tunes all night. I had told her she could pick ANY movie she wanted - one that the other kids don't like to watch with her. I thought we'd be watching a princess movie. ::grin::

I was told this is the Puppy Eyes look

Meanwhile - at the base theater, it's a packed opening night! 

One and a half hours into the film the movie picked up in the wrong place, all the action was going backwards and the people were upside down. Yep. It would seem that it may not have been rewound after showing in Yokota. In any event, what a disappointment!  They couldn't seem to fix it. The theater gave passes to another movie...but...um....it shows Sunday during church and Monday - well we'd had family plans for New Year's Eve..... 

We're looking into Shimoda mall - but the website is showing different times on two different computers for the English showing. If anyone has the cinema's number, we'd love to have it. LOL  And yes, I'm open to ideas of another great outing with Stacia - we'll have approximately 3 hours. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...