An RT Christmas

One word can describe Christmas here in RT - relaxed. Our RT Christmas kicked off two weeks ago as we sat out front listening to Jimmy Buffett's Christmas album while decorating our palm tree with lights.

This was followed up by a couple of weeks worth of Christmas parties. Marie and I have much more of an active social life here due to the ready availability of babysitters - and they are cheap!! The cheapest (free) and the kids most favorite sitter of all is their Aunt Ce-Ci who comes up from Dhahran to help us out when we are in a real bind. Parties in RT (and Aramco in general) are quite extravagent by my simple standards. I remember when I came to visit my in-laws in the late 90's and they threw us a party I was blown away that for a minimal cost the housing office will come out and cover your entire yard in "Persian style" carpets and put up tables and chairs for you. It is quite impresive to see.

By the time the Christmas party circuit had finished we were ready to settle down to a "warm winters nap." The weather had been perfect. 70's and sunny day after day. And then it was as if Father Christmas (shout outs to our British RT family) had flipped a switch and it got cold. Now when I say cold I'm not talking Philadelphia in January cold. We're talking highs in the 60's. But at night and in the morning it is down right frigid. We're talking temps in the low 50's. I know. I know. I am a big wuss. It only took me four months to get thin skinned. But I can't drink my morning coffee outside anymore not to mention I have to wear a long sleeved shirt to play golf. But once again I digress.

Christmas Eve was thankfully chilly. My Christmas wish was for a cold and cloudy day. Just the way I like Christmas day to be. The cold came now all I needed was clouds. A tall order. Cheri came up by bus on Christmas Eve afternoon. We decided to start a new Christmas tradition and eat Shawarma for dinner. As usual it was fabulous. I am pretty sure my foodie wife plans on dedicating an entire blog entry in the near future to my new favorite food. We then attended a Christmas Eve service and came home for a quiet family night together. The kids had received packages of gifts in the mail from all their grandparents so we let them dig into those on Christmas Eve. We then all sat down and watched a Christmas special. Quite a different night from what we were use to in the states.

Chirstmas dawned cold and.....sunny:( Oh well one out of two isn't bad. The temperature was in the upper 40's! The kids came down to find Santa Al Clause does in fact visit Saudi Arabia. We spent the night before tracking Santa's progress on the NORAD website as we have done for three years now. As you can see from the picture Sarah is still a firm believer. I love her to death and this picture makes me want to cry because I know our Christmas' with Sarah as a believer are numbered.

Jack on the other hand is 7 going on 4. Happy as can be and living large. He was so happy with all his gifts but couldn't understand why Santa would buy him games for his PS2 that would not work. Little did Santa know that if the PS2 was bought in the states games purchased here would not work in it. Smooth Santa. Real Smooth. One sign of Jack's impending maturity is the fact that he actually got excited about getting clothes as a gift.

Anna would have been just as happy to sit and rip apart wrapping paper all day. She loved her new shoes as you can see from the picture but Dora ruled the day. Now that I think about it Dora rules everyday at our house. It is all she ever wants to watch.

The day wore on in a very relaxed and lazy fashion. The kids played with the neighborhood gang out front. I took a nap and then mid afternoon took the dog we are watching for a walk on the beach. As I walked up the beach in shorts and my new Ocean City hoodie the wind picked up and to my great surprise the grey clouds came rolling in from off the Gulf. My Christmas wish had been fulfilled! Cold (chilly) and cloudy. Meanwhile back at the house Marie and Cheri did what they do best - talked. Ok - that is not fair. Marie worked her tail off preparing an amazing Christmas meal while they talked. It was awesome!! She did the Turkey in the chickenizer. For those of you who do not know what that means I will give you a hint - "Set it and forget it". The Turkey was amazing. The sides were perfect. The weather was Christmas-ish. All we were missing was all of you. So on that note I attach the below video clip: