Christmas afternoon...

 A little relaxing time outside.

 Enjoying the beautiful view!

 A spider came to join our Christmas celebration too! He is helping us kill some bees around our house!

 The people call this a banana spider.

 Then we played a couple games of Croquet before our Christmas dinner.

 Our Christmas dinner was just as amazing as our Christmas breakfast... ham, cheesy mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, brussel sprouts, rolls and apple pie for dessert! I was very excited to find a ham at the store for our special day, they are a rare find! Julie and I made this pie together... so yummy even though I used apple juice concentrate instead of sugar. :)

 And of course Christmas isn't Christmas without snow... so we made a bit to play with. :)

Christmas Cookies!

 I made some gingerbread men cookie dough and some sugar cookie dough for our big Christmas cookie party! Here the guys are hard at work... rolling and cutting and mixing up different colors of icing.

 Such concentration!

 Beautiful cookie, Julie!

 Jonny made this cookie especially for Jacob. Since he is their boss they made him as a boss... a list of things to do in one hand, pointing at the job ahead with the other hand and telling them that the job has to be done "nice and smooth". :)

 We made a plate for each of the staff families and singles on campus.... well, each of them that normally live on campus. We had fun singing Christmas carols and delivering cookies to one family. The rest of our staff is in the states or on break somewhere in PNG so we put the cookies in their freezers for later.

 Here is the plate of cookies that everyone made for us... even two chef ladies. :)

Jacob and I, Julie, Diemo, Marco and Jonny with our finished cookies!

Jacob's creation...

 Jacob enjoyed making a crib for our co-worker's baby in his spare time over the last few months! He just has a few finishing touches before he can move it into their home!

Our co-worker, Bobbi, and little Levi, born Oct 30th. Drew and Bobbi and family returned home to the the US to have the baby and will come back to PNG in Feb!

Staff Christmas get-together!

 Pete carving the meat...

 Waiting for the arrival of all the yummy food!

 Jacob & I, Julie, Jessica, Micah, Josh, Kelsey, Diemo, Jonny, Marco, Pete & Lesley, Janie &Jack enjoying Christmas goodies! This is our current staff on campus but many of us are away are not quite here yet. We look forward to Drew & Bobbi and family returning with their new little one! And Janie returning from home assignment! And two more families arriving in January!

 We had to watch a traditional Christmas movie, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

 The fun times of a White elephant gift exchange!

Village Christmas Tournaments!

 This year, all the villages around us decided to organize a sports tournament of basketball and volleyball.

 Everyone made up their own teams and gave a bit of money to play. The winner of each sport gets the money in the end!

 Linet, in the purple t-shirt, works in the kitchen!

 It was fun to watch my friends play... the ladies I work with in the kitchen... here is Piku!

Momore playing with the kids on the side lines...

 Many ladies come just to sell bananas, cucumbers, scones, etc to all that gather to watch and play. Julie and I like to sit with them and "story" and work on our bilems (string bags)!

Christmas Party with the Ladies

 Every Christmas I invite all the ladies that work in the kitchen to come for a little Christmas party! It is always a fun time!

Suzanna and Piku had a great time playing tic-tac-toe with my Christmas tic-tac-toe board. :)

 Soon Linet and Loli were playing too. :)

 Loli, I call her Mama, because she says I am her child... she works in the kitchen cutting fruit and veggies for us.

 Utu also helps in the kitchen with veggie and fruit prep... a great worker!

 Piku is trying out one of those metal puzzles, the ones you have to try to get apart. Piku washes the laundry and Ninike, on the right, washes dishes in the kitchen.

 Julie also washes dishes in the kitchen!

 They tried the rubix cube but that didn't last long... then they just watched Jacob fix it. :)

 We made some rice with tin fish on top for a late lunch... it is one of their favorite dishes!

I also baked a loaf of banana bread for each of them to take home for Christmas! Another favorite!.. Starting on the left and going around is Utu, Efeke, Sone, Rose, Julie, Suzanna, Piku, Ninike, Loli and Linet... I'm so grateful for all their work they do in the kitchen!!