Ho... Ho... Ho... Hoping You Had a Great Christmas!

It's been a great few days.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's some photos showing what we've been up to over Christmas.

Friday December 21st~ 

(am) The ZOE kid's Christmas Concert. Very cute!

(pm) The Christmas Party of the century.  This was absolutely one of the nicest and funniest nights ever.  We love our ZOE family.

Saturday December 22nd (more here)~

(am) Everyone at ZOE was placed into three different work-project groups.  We wanted to go out and bless various organizations in our local area.  Our group met at a school to clean mat-flooring with bleach and detergent.  

By the end, our clothes were totally stained and our knees were red raw, but we finished the job in under three hours and we had a LOT of fun!

(pm) After showering off the bleachy smell, we headed out in to our street to deliver the goodie bags we'd prepared.  We had the opportunity to speak with several of our neighbours and strengthen our relationships with them.  
The 20 or so monks, gathered at the end of our short street staring at us going door-to-door, made us feel a little overwhelmed, but we completed our task and even wished the monks a merry Christmas! 

Sunday December 23rd~
(am) We headed to a local shopping centre and participated in a Christmas Carol Flashmob!!  So cool.  I had goosebumps.  Four levels of people all singing carols made it sound almost angelic.  This was an amazing experience.

(pm) We had some of the Thai children in our street over for a Christmas movie and little Christmas party complete with yummy chocolate home-made goodies and hot chocolate with marshmallows.  The children really enjoyed this special time with their friends.

Monday December 24th~
(am) We celebrated Christmas a day early this year.  We had a lovely time reading the Christmas story together and opening presents (most of which had been sent from our family in Australia).  
Feeling very blessed! 

(pm) At lunch time we headed off to stay at a hotel near ZOE for the night.  Squeezing in a quick swim and rest first, we then headed in for a big potluck dinner and super-fun evening hanging out with our huge ZOE family.  It was SO nice to see some of the newest ZOE children enjoying their first ever Christmas!

Tuesday December 25th~
We planned to go to church at ZOE on Christmas morning (hence the reason we stayed overnight so close) but as Eliana got dressed that morning she pulled a muscle in her neck and was in an enormous amount of pain.
With no immediate improvement, we changed our plans and "had" Christmas church sitting on the beds in our hotel room.
After a slower start to the day than anticipated, we packed up and headed back home.
The rest of the day was spent gathered around Eliana on the couch, eating yummy food and having a Christmas movie-marathon.  It ended up being the most relaxing day ever!  
Loved it.  We may've even started a new tradition for Christmas Day afternoon!

And that brings me to today... we were so excited to welcome another Missions Awareness Trip team run by Graeme Smith at the airport this morning.  This team has lots of familiar faces as well as several of our family members on it.  
Hoping they're not too busy doing ministry in and around Chiangmai to hang out with us- just a little bit!!! Hint, hint!

So from our home to yours, we hope you had an amazing Christmas Day too.  Thanks for all the Christmas messages.  
We loved hearing from each and every one of you.
Love to you all, the Crossies :)