Christmas Past..

Yes. Christmas seems like forever ago and I didn't get the chance to blog about it. Surprising to most people is how public this holiday is celebrated here in Oman. These are the bags from the local grocery store! Most of the supermarkets have Christmas trees (fake of course) for sale along with all the lights and decorations. It hasn't always been this way. Five years ago my Mum would have to send the traditional Advent calendars for the Kiddos. She did this again only for us to find the exact same ones in the store the next week! Omanis understand that many of the foreigners living here want to celebrate, so they do their best to make sure the stores have a small selection of Christmas items.
When my Sweet and I first married we could only afford a $5 tree from the local thrift store! It has lasted 14 years. This year the 18 months in storage in our last location finished it off. After spending hours puting it up with all the decorations it leaned to the side with the base having cracked! The Kiddos were so disappointed so we went out that night and bought another one! There is no way we could have done that the last time we lived here.

Farewell old tree!

My Sweet had to teach on Christmas Day so we rearranged our celebration a little but still had a good day. We surprised the Kiddos with a swimming pool. Someone sold us one at a ridiculously low price. Lesson learned. If it's cheap there's a reason. It burst after one day wasting so much water and breaking the poor Kiddos heart. They did get one day in it. It may be able to be repaired but we are reluctant to waste more water trying. Such a shame. 

Farewell Pool!

It seems to be the year of things breaking-so far its been my computer, the crock pot, the tree, the pool and all the Christmas lights! To top it off, my camera broke after only having it 18 months-on Christmas Eve of all nights! Luxuries for sure that we were blessed with, that we can happily live without.