Christmas in Quarantine

Well everyone, I apologize for the very long delay in updating you about our Christmas festivities. The last couple of months have been really rough. When we returned from Maui, the base launched right into a big exercise which exacerbated the effects of our jet lag and rendered me too tired to blog. Then, a week later, we all came down with a short but nasty stomach bug. That was the first of a marathon stretch of illness in our house that put a definite damper on our holidays.

In the winter time here at Osan, illness spreads like wildfire in the housing towers thanks to all of our small kids living, playing, and going to school together - then coming home and touching the elevator buttons, or coughing or sneezing on their neighbors while in the elevators, or unknowingly infecting friends at play dates then coming home and getting the whole family sick. Last year, we managed to escape most of the crud by becoming semi-hermits and not allowing sick people to be around Kaden. But this year, staying holed up inside is just not an option. Our active toddler will drive us all crazy if we stay home all day, every day. So, we figured we'd just live life normally and accept the germ-sharing as a necessary evil as he's building his immune system. All I can say after six back-to-back viruses is that he better have a darn good immune system when we leave here. We just can't seem to get well and stay well. Just when we think we've beaten one thing, Kaden brings home another bug and the whole cycle begins again.

On top of that, James had an unexpected small heart operation in December that will hopefully cure his tachycardia. So I was sick, and trying to take care of a very sick baby and a weak and sore husband as he recovered from surgery. It was not fun, but thankfully our friends here took good care of us and God gave me just enough energy to do what was necessary to help us all survive.

Thanks to our family being under the weather, we had to cancel almost all of our holiday plans. In some ways, that's a blessing. We often rush around from event to event at Christmas time and are so busy that we feel like we missed out on the true meaning of Christmas. So this year, we spent most of our time at home, snuggling our baby, watching Christmas movies, and resting.

We did manage to make it to our squadron's Christmas party (in the 12 "healthy" hours between the end of the stomach bug and the onset of Kaden's bronchiolitis which landed him in the ER with bad lethargy, no appetite and a week-long fever of 103*). It was fun to get dressed up and spend some time with friends.

Looking remarkably healthy and excited to eat after all 3 of us had the 24 hour flu...

   
 After dinner, we played a few silly games. Our squadron commander dressed up like Santa and we each got to take a group photo with him. haha. The big event was our white elephant gift exchange. People were very creative with certain gifts. Below are a few examples:

Putting Ryan's new "selfie stick" to good use with a group photo

The Cienski's had a blanket made with their faces on it. Creepy.

They won the gift we brought back from Maui. Hilarious!

 Thankfully the bronchiolitis and sinus infections had run their course and we felt up to joining our close friends for a Christmas Eve party at the Piper's house. The candlelight church service on base was after the babies' bedtime so we held our own small, in-house service with some carols and scripture reading. Then we enjoyed a big potluck meal. After dinner we went home and put the babies to bed. Thanks to skype, we were able to keep an eye on our baby monitors from the Piper's apartment, so the party could continue with a talent show and desserts. It was a fun, much-needed night out.

 

One tradition we've started is letting Kaden open one gift before bed on Christmas Eve. (It's always new pj's so he looks extra cute and festive in pictures on Christmas morning.) So when I took him home from the party, I sat him down in his high chair and let him open his first present.

 A few snuggles with my favorite little boy, and a quick peek at the loot under the tree, then I tucked him into bed and returned to the party!

Caleb and Jordan won the raffle for a work of art by Cortney

The McWilliams family serenaded us with a duet

Christmas morning, Kaden woke up to find a whole bunch of packages under our tree and stockings full of gifts! We knew he was a bit too curious to be trusted around our Christmas tree this year, so we put it in the dining room behind baby gates. But he loved looking at the twinkling lights and ornaments on the "Chwis tee". He's already a big fan of the magic of Christmas!

We bought new stockings this year, and recruited friends to help us fill the ones for us so we also had some surprises!

We knew Kaden would be getting lots of presents so we didn't put much in his stocking. However, he LOOOVES his big matchbox cars. We probably could have stopped there and he would have been content with his second Christmas.

He received lots of new books, which were all a big hit!

Mischievous boy, convinced that presents are for climbing.

I got James a Home Depot gift card to use on something fun for our new house in Shaw. He bought me a beautiful watch!

 

A new Christmas tradition: Star Wars pancake brunch after we open gifts!

 That afternoon we went upstairs and hung out with the Cienski's for a bit. We were unable to get a picture of the boys together at the Christmas Eve party, but wanted to make sure to document their growth. These two little friends love playing together and have developed an adorable friendship. It's amazing seeing how much they have grown in the last year! We are all very blessed.

Christmas night we had the Pipers over for dinner. I made a big pot of vegetable soup (my favorite Julia Child recipe). We savored a sweet and relaxing evening with our Korea family, before another wave of sickness hit the next morning. We were all down with another bad cold for the next few days, but rallied in time to host a fun New Year's Eve game night with some of our close friends. We played a new game called Quelf. I highly recommend it! Good times were had by all, and we were thankful to ring in the new year with good friends. The next couple of weeks were rough as a few more viruses and more chest pain (on James' part) kept us feeling crummy. But at least we had a few days where we felt well enough to celebrate our blessings and the true meaning of the season with our closest friends.

Escape to Paradise - Maui Vacation, Pt. 6

 Our final day in Maui was as close to perfect as you can get. We managed to cram a little bit of everything into our day without it feeling rushed or stressful. In the morning, we visited one final beach so Kaden could splash around in his beloved "osh" one more time. This beach was south of Lahaina on the west coast of Maui and was perfect for small kids because they stacked some rocks to create a shallow tide pool. James said he imagined this was the beach where all the moms took the babies while their husbands were golfing. haha.

Kaden had fun digging around with his sand toys and wading out into the water. I did my best to soak up all of the beautiful beach scenery: the palm trees, turquoise water, white sea foam where the ocean met the shoreline... We even caught a glimpse of a cruise ship docked off shore.

 After we were finished at the beach, we went home, showered off and took a nap. When Kaden woke up, we got dressed up and took a few family pictures (which made mommy very happy). Most pictures of the three of us from the trip were snapped on our phones using our new Korean selfie-stick (sort of like a monopod that acts as an extension of your arm). But I wanted one taken with my real camera so the quality would be good enough for printing and framing. These were taken in front of the banana trees by the condo's pool, and on the patio where I snapped all of our amazing sunset photos earlier in the week.

We had a little more Christmas shopping to complete, and so we drove south to Lahaina and had fun strolling up and down the main street and collecting souvenirs. I had a hard time exercising restraint since I just wanted to hoard anything and everything that might help bring the tastes, smells, and feel of our island vacation back home to Korea...

Thankfully, we had dinner reservations at Duke's Beach House that seriously limited my shopping time. We arranged to eat right at sunset so we'd have a spectacular view as we feasted on island cuisine. Just like our last trip to Hawaii, the sunset on our final night was by far the best. I had a hard time staying in my seat and enjoying my meal because I had to keep taking pictures of the changing colors in the fiery sky. I have a very understanding husband, guys. ;^)

 The palm trees, sunset, and tiki torches definitely created a great atmosphere. Our meal was fantastic too. We actually asked for a second basket of the purple Hawaiian sweet rolls to take on the plane because they were SO. GOOD. Everything was fresh, deliciously seasoned, and comforting. Unfortunately, we did not have room for hula pie this time. But that's probably for the best. James ended the night by buying me a red rose from the passing flower vendor. I can't think of a better evening out with my family!

Coloring on his placemat

 Before we knew it, it was time to return to Korea. Normally when we travel, we're sad but relieved to go home. We always have fun, but usually hit that point where we miss the comforts of our apartment. But that never really happened on this trip. Thanks to our fantastic condo rental, we were well settled and relaxed and could easily have stayed there for a long, long time... Sigh. Thankfully Kaden was good on the trip and we made it home without any problems. He loved watching the airplanes and trucks while we waited at the airport, and kept everyone entertained around us with his toddler antics. He is such a sweetheart.

 I know he won't remember his first big travel adventure to Maui, but we will treasure these photos and memories forever. It definitely made an impression. Months later, he still talks about the ocean and points it out in pictures or videos. I'm thankful we're moving to South Carolina so we can take him to the beach fairly frequently and continue developing his love of nature and sense of adventure!