Christmas Cruise

The Singapore American School gives 3 weeks off for winter break.  This is really nice since so many people have a far distance to travel to see family.  Unfortunately, some of Fred's time off was while the girls were in school, so we only had 1 week of overlap.  This week was the Christmas week.  It was too short to fly back to the US, but we also didn't really want to just stay in Singapore.  We always celebrate with our extended family so just the 4 of us would seem pretty lame.  Especially with the girls getting older and not getting toys for Christmas- those clothes and other "boring" items just don't provide fun.  Additionally, there was no longer the magic of being home for Santa.

It was only a few years ago when the truth of Santa is was confirmed. I remember buying lots of gifts for the girls from Fred and me, Santa, and both sets of grandparents; I guess I got confused what gifts were from whom.  Katie and Jen opened a gift and I said something about getting a really good price on it.  Katie looked at the tag on the box and it was from Santa.  She said "I knew it and now it's ruined - you're Santa."  Later that day she proceeded to write in her new journal "The Worst Christmas Ever."  The magic of the holidays is so special when the kids are young and all excited about having been good and hoping to get what they asked for.

With the magic gone in our house now and no more toys it was looking to be a long Christmas Day.  Instead, we decided to take a Christmas Cruise.  Cruise ships are always fun and festive- they sure feed you plenty of food and food always makes things seem festive.  The weekend before Christmas we shared our gifts with each other.  When we were done Jen proclaimed, "I didn't get anything fun."  Those great days of being a child and making a new lego project or playing with your new littlest pet shops all afternoon on Christmas Day were over.  This year we took off for a 5 day cruise stopping in Malaysia and Thailand.

 

Getting ready to board on our Holiday Adventure

On Christmas Day we pulled into a port in Malaysia.  Malaysia is not not predominately a Christian country so there were not many decorations in the town.  Some stores were closed for the holiday, but we found many deals in Little India.  We ended up having lunch is a coffee house without any holiday decorations but it had WIFI- essential for sending those Merry Christmas messages.

  

Christmas Day in Malaysia.  In addition to shopping in Little India, and eating at a coffee shop we toured a Malaysian/Chinese heritage museum.  What more would you want to do on Christmas Day!

Beach walk in Phuket Thailand after a day of shopping.  I declared I could live here- this was our second visit to Phuket- it is so beautiful.

Ship Christmas Tree- how could you not feel festive with a tree this big and holiday music being pumped through this promenade all day long?

All in all it was a different (not bad nor good) but different Christmas.  The cruise was fun and the Christmas will be one we won't forget and glad we had the experience of doing something different- that seems to be what living in Singapore is making us do- always something different.