Christmas on an Island

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth."

- O Holy Night

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This year we celebrated our first Christmas away from family. You would have to put me as far from home as possible to keep me from coming home for Christmas. So I guess that explains why we weren't home for Christmas! We also figured you all would rather see us next Christmas when we have a sweet little girl with us. So, the Warrens settled into their little Okinawan bungalow and celebrated Christmas at home. It was neat to set our own traditions, especially since we are starting a family of our own this year. We did get to open presents with family via skype, which was really neat. I went a little crazy and baked every sweet thing i could think of, which wrecked havoc on my pregnancy weight gain plan ; ) Poor baby girl is going to have a sweet tooth before she even exits the womb. Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later (I mean, lets be realistic).

Don't worry we didn't eat all of that! Most went to friends, but you will notice a few cookies missing from the picture! We also had a little fun incorporating some Japanese influence into our new Christmas tradition of Christmas Eve dinner, featuring kobe steak.

On Christmas morning we opened gifts and then went to celebrate with some friends from Jonah's squadron. I'm very grateful for the friends we have here on the island.

When we got back home we opened more gifts and let Minnie dig through her stocking. 

She acts like we're going to steal one of her toys...but maybe that's because Jonah has a habit of stuffing them into the back creases of seat cushions to make her go crazy...

And finally a picture from the squadron Christmas party.

Merry Christmas from the Warrens, Happy New Year, and while I'm at it... Happy Valentines Day!!  : )