Let the Parties Begin

We love Christmas and it's been so fun to share our Christmas traditions with our local friends here and celebrate Jesus' birth. For most of our friends, this is the first time they have really heard about and celebrated Christmas.
Here is a picture of Ryan with his friend from school, Shervin.
We built gingerbread houses with my friend, Aylin, and her family.
Owen and Mira in front of the Christmas tree
Friday night we had a Christmas party with a bunch of other Americans. We ate yummy food, read the Christmas story, had a christmas cookie contest, played Christmas Cranium and did a white elephant gift exchange. And thanks to some friends in America that sent a package full of goodies, we had all kinds of great Christmas decorations to make the party feel more festive.
Our good friend, Hande, came to the party to celebrate with us.
The kids sitting around listening to the story of Jesus' birth. Owen was sitting front and center and participated with enthusiasm.
Saturday morning, our friends came over for breakfast and some more Christmas fun. We decorated Christmas cookies and ate candy canes, yummy!
Here are Gamze's beautiful cookies.