Holiday Festivities

Our Christmas holiday was absolutely eventfully uneventful, if that makes any sense at all!  We had a great time but it wasn't due to any type of planning on my part.  This year, I planned almost nothing. I didn't even plan a meal! But somehow we filled the Christmas season with food, fun, and friends without even really trying. 

First, Jen and I did our holiday baking day (with Wyatt as our helper).  We spent a good chunk of the day making cookies, bars, candies, etc.  Wyatt loved helping us cook, and partaking in the treats along the way!

After Tommy completed a 10-day exercise on the northern part of the island, we took a family trip to Ishigaki Island, which is a Japanese island south of both Okinawa and mainland Japan.  We went there for the express purpose of layingon the beach at Club Med, but mother nature had other ideas.  I believe it was around 50 degrees, very gusty winds, and not an ounce of sun the entire three days we were there!  Alas, laying on the beach was not meant to be.  However, gorging our faces in the all-you-can-eat-and-drink yumminess that is Club Med was amazing.  The staff loved on Wyatt and gave him a special award for being the best dancer during the live music.  He was all about shakin' his groove thang!  We also took a cab into town to check out Kabira Bay, which was beautiful despite the weather and is the first place in the world to cultivate black pearls.

We also enjoyed the holiday party put on by Tommy's unit.  Wyatt especially enjoyed seeing Santa (for the 3rd time this year) and taking his turn busting open the pinata.  Then, our playgroup had a fun little Holiday Cookie Swap. Wyatt loves his playgroup, or his "friends" as he calls them. The moms had apple cider and yummy treats while the kiddos played and swapped Christmas cookies at the end.  We came home with a bunch of holiday goodies!

We had grand plans to visit the Botanical Gardens for a Christmas light show and some yummy food with friends on Christmas Eve, but unfortunately my car ended up in the middle part of a car sandwich on the morning of the 23rd.  Tommy took the car in yesterday and they told him it was undriveable... so now we have a loner car.  Anyway, I digress.  I went to Labor and Delivery after the accident so they could check the baby and blasted if I didn't start having contractions while I was there!  That resulted in an overnight stay, and based on the lack of sleep I got there and my sore head/neck we skipped the Botanical Gardens.  No worries, though, all the tests were fine - mom and baby are both doing well. 

Tommy and I were both excited about playing Santa Claus. In fact, Tommy was more excited I think than even Wyatt was!  We had Wyatt draw a little picture and write a letter to Santa, which we left out with some cookies that magically disappeared by morning.  We spent the morning opening gifts and calling family State-side.  Then I did go ahead and make a big Christmas meal, which I hadn't really planned on doing. Later we took Wyatt to his very first movie in a big movie theater!  He did really well - it was a Princess and the Frog.  It was really fun!

Afterward we stopped by Jen & Kyle's house and hung out with them and another friend of theirs. More yummy food goodness and an enjoyable (somewhat late) evening for us resulted in a cranky "hungover" Wyatt the next morning, but it was very relaxing while it lasted!

We also took a trip down to the southern part of the island with Jen & Kyle.  We actually went to an indoor ice skating rink and it was so much fun!  We got this little fire engine car thing on skates for Wyatt to ride in, and I followed behind it pushing him, which helped me keep my 7-month preggo body supported. It was so fun and gave us a little tiny taste of cold for the holidays! 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dinner we had afterwards.  Although the sun had already set (thus no pictures), we enjoyed an absolutely stunning view of Okinawa from Thai in the Sky, an Indian restaurant on top of an otherwise-uninhabited part of a mountain that overlooks the water.  The food was amazing - we'll definitely be making a return trip there during daylight hours!!

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe, and merry Christmas!