Jamacian Christmas & Happy New Year!

Started off our trip in the wee hours of the morning...or very late at night...however you look at it! We left the house about 2:15 am. The kids were asleep before we left, but wide awake on the ride over because of their excitement. Mom, however, was tired, and I did shut my eyes a bit!

We got to Jamaica in time to settle into our room for the evening. It was a suite so we could all stay together. Wonderful. It had a view of the bay and the mountains. Beautiful. We did stay with one Christmas tradition...we open one present on Christmas Eve...and it's jammies. Here's a picture of us in our new duds.

Here are a few views from our hotel...

Here you can see the lighthouse waterslide (only Shianne and Brandy went down it) and the pool we were generally camped out by.We were excited to learn that the hotel provided a church service for Christmas Day! So we were there raring to go at 8 am. It was a good service...the kids weren't really into it but Brandy and I loved it. It really made it feel more like Christmas. The choir was wonderful. We discovered that Christianity is more widely accepted in Jamaica than it is in the States. What a blessing for them. The hotel manager said they were going to start offering church every Sunday morning so that their employees wouldn't have to miss church because they were at work.

Then off to breakfast buffet (of course, what else would it be?) and beach day. The kids had a great time...except they kept asking if we could go to the pool instead. They liked the sand but NOT the salt. So that ended up being our only day at the beach, the others were spent beside the pool. Mom and Dad would have liked another day on the beach, but we had a great time anyway!

Jaden enjoyed his first time at the beach!Our little mermaid...I was hoping Jaden would take his naps by the beach or pool so one of us wouldn't have to spend the afternoon in the room...and he did pretty much every day! What a sweetie. Had to have his blankie of course!

Something cute...Sierra and Tye met Santa by the pool on Christmas Day. We were actually back in our rooms getting showered up, and we saw him from our balcony. So the 3 of us went down. We stood in line for quite a while to get their picture taken and get their little gift. This was the first time ever I've had my kids picture taken with Santa. (If you're a kid reading this, stop reading!) We don't do the Santa thing. We don't believe it's bad, but think it's takes the focus off of the real meaning of the season. The girls would ask, and we would say that Santa was pretend, or that Daddy was Santa. Tye however, refuses to believe that he's not real! Too cute. He was concerned before we left that Santa wouldn't be able to find us. I said, I thought you didn't believe in Santa? He said he didn't. I said, I thought you didn't believe Santa was real? He said, he's not, but what if he can't find us? LOL

So we go to see Santa. Well, our Jamaican Santa was black, with no big belly, a no beard. Tye looks at him as if contemplating and says...he doesn't look like Santa. I said, maybe he's Santa's helper. Hmmmm...he said...maybe they're elves! I did purchase the picture they took, but I haven't scanned it yet.

Ah...after the beach...all cleaned up!

( I'll post more later!) HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wishing you God's great blessings in 2008.