Christmas Trees and Camels

The Navy Base here had a beautiful tree lighting ceremony this weekend. They had Santa, camel rides, and lots of fun stuff going on to kick off the Christmas season here. There is another big Muslim holiday this time of year so Christmas is pretty much isolated to the Navy Base and certain sections of some stores. It is like a sigh of relief to walk onto the Navy base and get some of that Christmas atmosphere that I crave. The Muslim Eid holiday is also a big celebration for them and they decorate public areas with lots of lights, so I just pretend they're Christmas lights!

Michael and Mary Ellen loved to look at all the decorated trees and lights. They also really loved being that close to the camel!

The poor camel must have been 100 years old. I think it took him 5 minutes to actually lay down like this. But isn't he cool looking? I love all the woven carpets and fringe they have on him.

This was as close as we got to getting M&M to actually look at the camera. Do you blame them? They had the sparkling Christmas tree on one side and the camel on the other!

We found every Christmas tree they had up! M&M just loved looking at them. They're chewing on the candy canes Santa gave them. Yes, I said SANTA! I was a little nervous how they would react to him, especially Michael who tends to be our sensitive one. But it didn't seem to faze them in the slightest! M&M were in the stroller and Santa and Mrs. Claus were walking around handing out candy canes. They took the candy cane and started chewing.

Next week we have "Breakfast with Santa" at the Ambassador's residence, so we'll see how they are when they actually sit on his lap!