our first cayman christmas

So, I've definitely fallen behind on posting. Sorry! We've been pretty busy the past few weeks with Christmas and a quick trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I'm going to try and catch up, so hopefully you'll be seeing several posts this week and next!

Christmas seemed to creep up on us more than usual this year, probably because we didn't have any weather clues that December was approaching. No changing seasons - well, I guess it had begun to cool off just a little with those "Christmas breezes" but not much. It took a while to get used to seeing Christmas lights strung around a Palm tree... while wearing shorts and flip-flops. One of the things that has been especially hard to adjust to is how different the passage of time feels when you only have very subtle changes in seasons.

Cayman does seem to go "all out" for Christmas, though, perhaps in an attempt to make up for the lack of cozy Christmas weather. You'll see Christmas lights and decorations at almost all of the businesses and stores, lining the streets and roundabouts, and on many houses. 

We had minimal decorations this year - partly because we figured Joshua would pull down/destroy anything he could reach, and partly due to our sticker shock when we looked at Christmas decorations. We bought a small two-foot pre-lit tree and hung a few ornaments (that we had brought from the US), and sprung for some (kind of ugly) stockings. It was simple but we loved it. :)

On Christmas Eve we gathered with our church family for Sunrise's Christmas Eve service. It was kind of surreal to be on the beach singing Christmas carols at sunset... and it was just as lovely as you can imagine.

Afterwards, we tucked Joshua into bed wearing some Christmas pajamas (and turned the A/C down just a little so he wasn't too cozy:)) and watched It's A Wonderful Life. 

The next morning we opened presents and had cinnamon rolls - Joshua was a HUGE fan of his first cinnamon roll (without the icing). Almost everything he was given this year had wheels - so lots of trucks and cars. He was in heaven!

Sunrise had a Christmas Day service in the morning so we cleaned up and headed to that. It was a small gathering and very family-oriented, which was nice. After the church service, we had a few friends over for brunch and headed to Ryan and Katie's house for Christmas Dinner later on. In between, we called or skyped with our families... and Joshua began walking! The few days leading up to Christmas, he had taken one or two steps here and there... but nothing very consistent. On Christmas Day he took several three- or four-in-a-row ventures, so we figured that counted as beginning to walk!

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas. Since it didn't really feel like Christmas (we went to the beach the next day!), I don't think it quite registered we were missing Christmas with our families, and it was a nice opportunity to create new traditions as a family.