Is it still called dinner if I haven't stopped eating since breakfast?

Eating lightly, but still.

We got up on Christmas and invited Larry over for a gift exchange. Brent wasn't feeling well, and even in the minutes as we waited for Larry to arrive, he deteriorated until it became obvious that he would not be joining in the day's many festivities. I was so disappointed, as I love holidays and I love spending them with that guy.

Brent knows me well: I got a blender (YAYAYAY!!!) and a necklace he made himself using a perfectly triangular green rock we'd found in Playa Venao last month. Love it.

He went back to bed, and I went to Don and Jill's for brunch. This is a yearly tradition at their place, and it has grown to include a large number of community members. The food was excellent, and I lingered until after 1:00pm, drinking entirely too much coffee.

The next stop was back to Cat's place for Christmas dinner. We had a smaller group that evening, and we'd all agreed to wear our pajamas. I made Mom's date balls and the most delightful key lime fudge.

Merry Christmas Eve, now with sand toys.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Cat's place in Gorgona to enjoy a beautiful sunset view of the Pacific Ocean, the company of great people, and a killer meal like only Cat can prepare.

(Seriously, when it comes to hostessing, there is no better role model.)

We each brought a white elephant gift and played a gift exchange game.

I'm a huge fan of gift exchange games, as you might remember from my Sinterklaas experience in 2006. This one was a little different, but every bit as fun.

First, we all drew playing cards. The number on the card indicated who was first, second, third, and so on. The first person was allowed to choose a gift to unwrap. Each person afterward was allowed either to choose a new gift, or to steal one that had already been opened.  However a gift could only be stolen so many times before it forever belonged to the last person holding it.

With so many couples present, it became incredibly strategic, as one partner stole a present so that the other partner could steal it from them, and so on. We kept a close watch on the bottle of rum, and we came home with it in the end. That, and a bucket of sand toys and other random dollar-store items.

Other gems that our friends took home included five rolls of colorful duct tape, volleyballs, and blow-up pool toys.

Tropical Christmases

It's funny how, even though I've never been a fan of the snow and cold, I like it when Christmas is in the winter.

Maybe it's just because it doesn't quite feel like Christmas here. Like in Argentina, there aren't so many decorations and specialty food items around to constantly remind you that Christmas is approaching. Even though the malls here did the big Black Friday nonsense, locally it has all been much more low key.

That's not to say we don't have some lovely gatherings planned. I do love the holidays, wherever I am.

The case of the too-short vacation.

Not that we really need a vacation from Panama, but it's always nice to be home.

Less than two weeks, though, just isn't enough. Even in the holy-freaking cold.

I arrived and went straight up to South Dakota -- Brent drove me to Cheyenne, and Mom picked me up there. Unfortunately, Jack and Avery weren't able to come visit with the little boys, so I wasn't able to see them.

A few lovely days later, we did a similar swap in Cheyenne and I returned to Denver for a few days with Brent and Jody.

Whenever we plan a trip, we try to schedule it around work commitments as best we can. Brent wasn't wanting to miss a lot of days at the chiropractic office, because it really kills momentum, and with the holidays it's all a little bit screwy anyway. So we booked this short little trip, 12 days, and it just went so crazy fast. Anything less than two weeks just isn't enough, especially when you're splitting time between two places. Next time, we'll stay longer.

The holiday season is full of gifts.

First gift. MOVING DAY!

Our Australian friends Dave and Vicki lived in a lovely condo in a small complex just across the street from the beach. Turns out, they were leaving on December 1, exactly when we needed a new home. So today, we moved into our 2nd floor three-bedroom lofted condo. We love it. And, naturally, we are wildly relieved to be out of that other place which shall no longer be named.

The rest of the condos here are owned by Panamanians from the city who come spend the occasional weekend here. So, we pretty much have the place to ourselves.

Second gift: TRAVEL DAY!

Coming up on December 5, we are going to visit the States for the first time in nearly a year...