Joyeux Noël!

So for the third year in a row I spent Christmas in a different country. 2007- China, 2008- USA, 2009- Belgium. And oh what fun it was! Experiencing the different Christmas's around the world is truly an amazing gift that no store could ever provide. Belgian's celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th. My host family and I ate dinner at my host aunt's house with the whole family. I got to enjoy Christmas dinner with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, sister, and parents. Although they aren't my "blood relatives" I can honestly say that to me, they are my family. I am so blessed to not only have a wonderful family waiting for me back home, but now I have an entirely new family in Belgium. I know that this will not be my last Christmas spent here. We ended up staying up, eating and drinking until four in the morning and even my 80 year old grandparents were as lively as the rest of us! Then for Christmas day, we ate Racklette (a melted cheese dish) and played Trivial Pursuit.

My family was too generous and Santa brought me a Swiss Watch (something I have wanted for forever). My real grandparents were too nice and instead of a traditional Christmas gift, they donated money in my name to a young girl living in Kenya in order for her to graduate nursing school. With my real sister Kayla living in Kenya, she too gave gifts of never-ending-love to her new friends in Kenya. Please, if you love Christmas spirit as much as me, go visit her blog, www.kaylainkenya.blogspot.com