the tortoise

Slow and steady wins the race, right?  While we like to claim that we were conforming to the Cypriot culture by opening gifts on New Year's, the truth is we didn't have gifts to open on Christmas day.   And we were just exhausted.  Before the move, our parents had bought and wrapped our gifts and we packed them away on the Slow Boat to China.  With the arrival of these boxes also came Santa.

It was way more than the gifts that we were able to enjoy today.  I was able to cook up a scrumptious breakfast with our new pans (first ever use!) and baked up some frozen Ikea cinnamon rolls in a glass baking dish we have been without.  Then we laid out everything on the snowman platter I bought with Mr. F's mom last year at the Sale to End All Sales.  We ate off of our beautiful Christmas china and patted our mouths with red snowflake napkins.  Until three days ago, we didn't have any of these things.

Plus, it really felt like Christmas.  We went out to a couple local malls yesterday, which were bursting at the seams with last minute Cypriot shoppers.  Seeing this, we decided to open our own parcels this morning.

We woke up leisurely, showered, made breakfast and cocoa and then hunkered down on our tiny little sofa.  Santa filled my stocking with chocolate pretzels and a red tin car while Mr. F got a new puppy, of the stuffed variety.  I wish I had a picture of his reaction.  You would have thought it was a real dog he was so happy!  

It took us two hours to open our little hoard of treasures from home.  I loved feeling like our family was there with us as we unwrapped the gifts they had chosen for us.  We really are two of the luckiest squares out there for being blessed with such wonderful families.

Now we're trying to figure out what to do for New Year's Eve.  Laundry, ice cream, and gyros?  Sounds like a plan to me!

Sending you wishes for a very Happy New Year from one belated Christmas in Cyprus!