Merry Everything!

We had a fun filled weekend holiday of merriness!

On Sunday night, a group of Mission families and friends went caroling...

there were 40-50 of us out and about...

it was so merry, it was blurry!

Merry Everything from niCLO & Hubs!

Merry carolers....we were given candy, beer and cookies for our talents, it was a lot of fun!

On Christmas eve, we had the day off(Thank you, Mr. President), so we decided to organize our house and I baked a bit for our Christmas day celebration. We were on such a mission to get organized, we forgot to eat breakfast so we were starving by the time we had lunch. Instead of ordering in, as we always do from Foodshop 45, we decided to walk...

Do not put your garbage here, the only time we have seen a sign like this in Hanoi....otherwise we see garbage on the street everywhere

Chai masala from Foodshop-amazing!

Our standard samosa order

Set menu for lunch; Chicken curry and Paneer Tikka Masala

Full order of Tandoori Chicken, did I mention we were starving?

After lunch, I attempted to make green bean casserole. No, this is not another "Nic vs. the stove" episode...it was more of a "Nic vs. Ms. H" My housekeeper comes on Mondays and while I asked her to not make dinner that day and only BUY me green beans and onions to make green bean casserole, she was set on making it herself. She even had a recipe to make it from scratch! She was not impressed with my Campbell's mushroom soup, and insisted that I should put some thyme in the casserole(I didn't)--but it all turned out pretty delicious. We went to a Merry Carpness: A Slovak Christmas Eve. Our friend's boyfriend is Slovak and wanted to have the traditional Carp Christmas. Therefore, Merry Carpness was born on Christmas eve. They DID indeed go and buy the carp and try to keep him alive in the bathtub, but alas, Hanoi tap water killed him before the night was over. 

We had a gift exchange....

The amazing spread of food BEFORE it was cooked...

Slovak potato salad

Me and Ms H's green bean casserole

My amazing plate of green bean casserole, baked cabbage, potato salad, stuffed chicken, fried carp, squash and potatoes!

We had SO much fun playing games and drinking eggnog and mulled wine. When we came home, we ran into two colleagues outside our buidling. One of them recently bought a new "toy."

Doesn't that look like fun?

The best part of this "ride" is that the owner filled the front with toys and drove all around Hanoi handing out presents to children all night! 

We went home and tried to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation(a tradition in the Hubs family), but we were too tired to make it through the entire movie. We went to bed and I woke up at 4:30am too excited to sleep! Hubs didn't feel the same, so after a few hours, I went back to sleep also and we rose together to open presents...

We must have been good this year, at least Santa thought so...

My dad sent me this book from my childhood, it seems pretty accurate :)

After our gift openings, I skyped with my #1 blog fan <HEYYYY JSWOLL!> and we went and got massages in the afternoon(my present to Hubs). Later on, we went to dinner at a dear friend's house.

This is the centerpiece I bought :) Not bad, Vietnam.

I brought the Christmas goodies sent from my Gram and Aunt, they were a hit!

Amazing spread by many talented chefs and Turkey and Ham from Donkey Bakery

A happy plate is a full plate:

Green bean casserole, turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and salad

the desserts!

I made the peanut butter balls and pumpkin pie bars, but there was also fudge, cookies galore and MORE!

After dinner, we had a white elephant exchange, which was pretty hilarious....

I would show you some of the gifts, but it was a white elephant...

:)

It was VERY MERRY! 

Yes, we missed our families and friends, however; we were surrounded by the spirit of Christmas: wonderful people, love, laughter and most importantly-we had each other. 

Love was all around, and that's what it's all about, right?

I am so grateful to have such a wonderful partner on this grand adventure.

I love you Hubs!

We hope you had a very Merry Holiday and wish you a Happy New Year!