It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We put our Christmas tree up a few days ago--we decided to go with a fake tree. They do ship real trees onto Guam, but they have to be fumigated and quarantined for a while, so they are a little pricey. Plus, we heard that even after all of the processing, the trees sometimes introduce non-native animal species to the island. So when we decided to go with a fake tree, we put up our old fake tree, which we got a few years ago--the cheapest we could find at Target. Below is a picture of it. We decided this year maybe we would do a little bit better since we have more time to be at home and enjoy it.  Below is also a picture of the new fake tree.

Along with putting up the tree, we have been doing Advent this year. The last few years we have been unable to find a good Advent guide. My dad used to make great ones each year--more elaborate with different colored candles instead of the traditional 4 candles of the same color plus purple in the middle. The different colors stood for different Advent themes. Well, this year my dad made another Advent guide. My parents promptly sent one to us, and it got here just in time for the start of Advent.  

The outside just doesn't feel like Christmas, but when we look at our tree and do Advent as a family, it definitely feels like Christmas is coming soon.

our old fake tree in our messy living room

the new tree

the new tree

Samuel is 6 months old!

Our little baby is 6 months old already. 

Some of his developmental milestones at 6 months:

He babbles mamamamama, dadadadadada, among other things. He sits alone. He is trying to crawl--he puts his face on the floor and gets his legs up under his body and pushes. Sometimes he's up on his hands and knees but hasn't gone anywhere yet. He is not eating any solid foods yet--I have tried a few times and he doesn't like it yet. Oh well, he's clearly not starving!

Here is a new picture.

Thanksgiving

Samuel sitting. He can actually sit independently...the boppy pillow is there for backup
Samuel and Mommy after bedtime bath
Learning how to get places. It won't be long before he's crawling.
Samuel doing one of his favorite activities...watching Daddy play guitar to him. This is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen.

Well, we had our first Thanksgiving on Guam. We actually had two Thanksgiving meals, thankfully separated by more than 6 hours, so plenty of time to digest!! We managed to forget our cameras for both 'Thanksgivings,' so we have no pictures to share of this monumental event :)

I will post pictures of Samuel, though (looking at his pics would be the only reason to visit this page anyway, right?).

We did have a great day. We were never lonely for company, but it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. Maybe that was because it never did get cold here (I kept thinking that it would somehow be cold on Thanksgiving day, even though the weather's been in the 80's every day, just like usual), or because we had no out-of-town guests and were not with family. Either way, it was different but still good.

We had Thanksgiving with our church first. We had the meal at church, and everyone brought food to it. To that we brought a turkey (yes, a turkey...we did it!! We are now officially grown-ups!), gravy and cranberry sauce. Along w/ all of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings, we also enjoyed a lot of local fare that some brought. After the meal, we all sang Christmas carols. How fun!

Then in the evening, we had Thanksgiving with our neighborhood. This one was held outdoors between two of our neighbors' homes. There was a bounce house for the kids, so again, not your traditional Thanksgiving! To this we brought mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. 

Samuel did well today. He did seem a little bit scared of the large groups of people we were in at first. I had to comfort him for a little bit before I entirely released him to be held by the girls at church that love to carry him around.

Well, we have so much for which to be thankful! Happy Thanksgiving!!