November and December were a whirl wind of school activities and the holidays. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner and invited some lovely friends of ours. They are from Romania and had never experienced an “American Style Thanksgiving”. I assured them they had eaten all the food before but we had a great time.
Just a note all those wine bottles are not even close to full. I had attended a ladies wine tasting a couple of days previous and my friend sent me home with some extras.
Harrison always ready to eat.
Ben had wanted to carve the turkey before Vlad an Oana got there and I insisted he wait so they could see the whole experience. They were very glad they got to see the animal in all its glory. It was a fun night and they invited us to their home the next week to enjoy a Romanian dinner with corn on the cob, patte, cheese, lamb, delicious bread, and fermented vegetables it put our dinner to shame.
We decorated for Christmas. It feel bitter sweet watching the kids hang the ornaments. They have gotten so big.
For Hanukkah we hang these envelopes. In each one there is a special request of each night of Hanukkah. Play a family game, dreidel competition, audiobook or service like pick up trash or write a thank you card. It is a fun tradition. This year they hung on this mystery tree I rescued fro the dumpster and share their space with our Agama lizard.
No hearth to hang our stocking but our Drexel china cabinet and Command Hooks did the trick. I don’t know how we would survive without Command Adhesive Hooks. We have dozens of them around the house. The stocking will go with us to Europe.
It is fun that 3 out of 4 kids play instruments now. It led to some impromptu Christas carol sing alongs.
Roger competed in the David’s Cup Fencing Tournament for the second time and did very well taking 3rd place again. The two who beat him are serious fencers practicing at the club 3-4 days a week. He felt very proud doing so well with his once a week lessons.
Example of Nigerian engineering. I always feel equal parts awe, because they can make anything work, and fear as I am sure if I die here it will be from a fire or structure collapse.
The winners and the judges.
Roger had quite a following. A group of girls who had traveled from much further away in Nigeria came and asked his name and how long he had been fencing. They cheered him on from the side all the way to the finals.
Roger and Harrison performed in the middle school guitar concert. Roger on acoustic and electric guitar and Harrison on violin playing Viva la Vida. I sadly have zero photos of Harrison playing as I took video and it didn’t come out. They did an amazing job though.
Harrison on Roger got to go camping with the Boy Scouts. I don’t know if I will ever get used to barber wire and armed security but I am really glad they get to go camping.
Ben got this great shot of new mattress transport Naija Style!
Harrison and Roger had their first Court of Honor for the year. They both advanced a rank. Harrison from Tenderfoot to Second Class and Roger earned his Scout rank. Good job boys!
Some friends left for Tunisia. Their replacements will be the third Marine deck commander we will have had since arriving in Lagos. The time has flown by it is crazy.
I had my annual thyroid ultrasound and lab tests and a celebratory meal was had with a friend when the results came back clear. YAY!
Oliver is in 3rd grade. That means recorder time. He enjoyed learning and once he figured out how to not make it squeak he was really quite good. This was the face he made when he saw I was there for his show. LOVE!
Ben’s consular section work party was held at our compound the day we left for our December vacation. A few weeks before hand they had fabric available for purchase so we could all have matching outfits made. It was a very fun and very hot day. We do really enjoy most of the people Ben works with. You can really see in the last picture how tall all of the kids have gotten. Dannica is just taller than me and Harrison is only an inch shorten than me. This was the end of a very very busy but lovely fall in Lagos.
