christmas in guam part I

As you can see, our Christmas was warm, dreamy and delightful.

The water was blue as blue could be and the jungle surrounding the first beach we went to almost made it feel magical.

Minnie hadn't been to the beach for quite awhile so I was anxious to see if she'd like it or not.

The girl was in love. She was happiest in the water and would dig in the sand all day if you let her.

Little Bennett got one good splash to the face and that was it for him...no more ocean. Poor guy.

We spent one night at the mall enjoying the light show, unhappily sitting on Santa's lap, and riding lots of rides.

My dad felt like this was the only place that actually felt like Christmas in Guam because it was cool and every hour or so in the evening they'd have fake snow fall around the Christmas tree.

It really was hard to remember it was actually Christmas. It was just too warm.

We went on lots of drives to some incredible viewpoints and historic war memorials.

We met some sweet Koreans along the way who fell in love with Minnie and asked for a picture.

Minnie did not cooperate. Sorry sweet Korean lady!

Christmas Eve was spent feasting at the mission home with all the missionaries on the island and it was lovely.

The kids were rambunctious, as usual, but it made for some great entertainment.

Turns out Minnie is a total bruiser and likes to pummel her older cousins.

Hopefully that doesn't persist for long.

That night we had the kids open their Christmas jammies and prepared a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

The boys were so cute and got so excited to put the plate next to the tree.

Christmas with kids is the best.

The only not so delightful part of the whole trip was how nearly everyone got sick with fevers and colds at some point.

Somehow the women were immune and kept the house running while the kids and men took their turns in bed.

I guess if you get that many people in one house you're bound to have some bug go around, but we survived.

Christmas in Guam part two coming soon!