Merry Christmas - A Week Late But Its the Thought That Counts!

Yes, I know Christmas was over a week ago...
Yes, I know you have been waiting...
Yes, I know no excuse will be good enough...

So now that we are all on the same page, I do sincerely apologize! It was my intention to blog, blog, blog during my two week break from school. Oops! I missed the mark by a long shot.

Let me begin by saying:

Merry Christmas!

Although we were not present to wish many of you this in person, our thoughts and prayers were with you. Christmas was different but when Jesus is your Savior and Lord, Christmas is  Christmas no matter where you are in the world..

In the Dingus family, we tried to hold onto some of our holiday traditions, as well as create some new ones. Looking back, I think we were successful.

We still decorated the tree as a family! We were even able to feast on a special meal-- including the traditional pineapple cheeseball and Apple Snickers Salad. To create these family favorites, a little bit more thinking and planning were required but well worth it!

Something we hope begins a new family tradition was our participation in a live Nativity scene outside a local mall. While we were not actually in the Nativity , a group of us sang carols as shoppers passed by. Notice the coats, hats, and gloves. While it was not cold enough to snow, it was a windy blustery evening.

Unfortunately, Abbi was fighting a nasty cold and was unable to come with us. Hopefully, we will be able to participate next year so she can share the experience!

On Christmas day, we opened our stockings and gifts. Of course, I had to take the traditional "all the kids in front of the tree" picture. Nick obviously feels he is much too old to participate. Ben is tolerant while Abbi and Jacob still find pleasure in this tradition or maybe pleasure in pleasing their nostolgic mom. Either way, they look happy!

So the strangest thing about Christmas in Taiwan is that it isn't a national holiday. To all of our neighbors it was just another work day. But the court yard of our building was outfitted in blinking Christmas lights and our elevator that tells us good morning and good afternoon (in Chinese of course) every day was programmed to say Merry Christmas in both English and Chinese. I can honestly say I have never had an elevator wish me Merry Christmas!

Since my oven is so tiny and turkeys outragesouly expensive, we opted for another new tradition- Chili's. Yes, we went to Chili's for our Christmas meal. We had received several gift certificates and decided the best time to redeem them was Christmas Day. And I am so glad we did. We went between lunch and dinner and pretty much had the place to ourselves. AND the food was delicious! Expensive but worth it!

So our Christmas was a combination of the old- band concerts, office parties, homemade cinnamon rolls, Christmas music playing in stores  and new- missionary Christmas brunch, skyping friends and family, shopping Christmas day.

Because it really isn't about where we are or who we are with... Its all about JESUS and celebrating the most miraculous birth that has ever taken place in human history!

I Am Blessed!