This week’s post will finally bring me back up to date with our monthly activities by covering the month of December 2021, Christmas, and all our other family hijinks!
Christmas!
This year I was more than ready for Christmas to arrive! I had bought and brought over all the Christmas gifts during our trip over the summer. And Varun had a short trip to Houston where he was able to pick up even more Christmas goodies for all of us!
First things first, we had to decorate the tree. Even though you saw me in the midst of putting it up last post, here is a picture of the final tree, with the girls posing in front of it.
The rest of the month was filled with other Christmas-themed activities. We watched plenty of classic Christmas movies together, most of them more than once.
And, of course, we had to make the traditional family Christmas cookies. I was able to find a large jar of molasses last year, so the Gail Girl Cookies (Molasses Cookies) were easy to make. Thanks to Varun’s trip, and a leftover can of pumpkin, I was able to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. And, this year for the first time since we moved here, I was able to make some Mint Chocolate Cookies, one of my favorites from growing up. It was, again, thanks to Varun’s visit back to Houston where he picked up 6 packages of Andies’ candies for me. We discovered this year that Sara Gail has Varun’s taste and hates the flavor of mint chocolate, whereas Abigail, on the other hand, is like her Mommy and absolutely loves it! Finally, I added a new type of cookie this year, since the girls love the salt dough craft so much: Sugar Cookies! I didn’t have many Christmas-themed cookie cutters, but the girls had fun all the same cutting out the cookies and then decorating them afterwards, during a Christmas movie marathon, of course!
We did have fun with salt dough this month too, since we had a long break from school. The school let out for the holidays on December 16th and didn’t resume until January 6th, which was a long three weeks for me, and the reason why there aren’t quite as many pictures as usual. I just didn’t have the time, or energy, to take as many pictures this Christmas because my hands were so full with taking care of the girls. Since we weren’t traveling anywhere and his colleagues were, Varun didn’t get to take much time off this holiday season. So, the burden of keeping the girls constantly entertained was on me, and I did the best that I could to keep them occupied and happy. So, salt dough! They had lots of fun with the cookie cutters in the salt dough too, but I also wanted to try this holiday craft that I had come across on Pinterest: Santa Salt Dough Hand ornaments. I thought it would be a nice keepsake to show how small their hands were this particular year!
Then, the magical day finally came! As the girls were getting ready for bed, Santa stopped by for a visit as the three girls snuck down the stairs and out of sight to see Santa in his nice, traditional costume. Then Varun and I spent the rest of the evening getting everything else ready for the next morning. I had spent several different evenings getting all the presents from everyone wrapped, then we worked together to put them under the tree. Next, the stockings were hung on our bookshelf with care, with some magical snow as evidence that St. Nicolas had been there! Varun and I had a lot of fun with the “magic” snow, to show the girls where Santa had come in and left from.
The next morning, the girls came downstairs to discover all the magic snow on the windows and floors and walked into our frigid living room to open their first gift that would keep them warm all day: feety pajamas from Patti. The reason our house was so cold was because, since Santa is not used to the heat here in Ghana, he leaves the air conditioning on at the lowest possible setting all night long. It might seem really silly, but for me, having grown up with white Christmases most of my life, I love being able to snuggle up warm and cozy on Christmas day, even if I start sweating within seconds of stepping outside my door.
The girls were thrilled with all their gifts, and I was happy to be able to watch A Christmas Story at least once that morning, although the internet was slow to non-existent the rest of the day. And while it is certainly magical to watch young children’s joy as they open their gifts on Christmas morning, it is also accompanied with lots of “Slow down,” “Wait to open another one,” and finally, “You’re going to be bored if you open them all too fast!!” The girls didn’t heed our advice and unwrapped the gifts just as fast as they could!
All in all, we had a nice, relaxed Christmas just of the four of us here in Accra. In the evening all the adults in my family were able to do a Zoom call for our annual Secret Santa Book Exchange and catch up on the day’s events in our family across the globe. Even though we didn’t get to spend this Christmas with our extended family, the girls were very happy to receive all their gifts from Santa on time, and I was happy to be spending Christmas with the three people closest to my heart.
Sewing
This month I took on a very special sewing project: I wanted to finally use the fabric I had bought back when Saraswathi had visited to make dresses for the girls and their dolls!
The first thing I needed to do, which I had slowly been working on for the past few weeks possibly months, was cutting out each of the pattern pieces. My friend actually lent me a sewing tool specifically for this purpose, so that I could trace out each piece onto a different sheet of paper and then use that for the fabric. That way, it was much easier to get the two different sizes I needed for each of the girls without cutting out the flimsy pieces that came with the pattern.
After I had all the pieces cut out, for each girl’s size and the dolls’ size, I then had to cut out the pieces in the fabric. This was a challenge in and of itself because the fabric I bought was not the same print throughout the pieces I had bought. There were actually three different prints that went from top to bottom on the fabric. I used it to my advantage, though, and cut the pieces for the top of the dress in the topmost print, the middle ruffle in the middle of the fabric, and then the bottom ruffle from the bottom print of the fabric. I’m not sure that I followed the grain lines properly, but it made a beautiful design for the final dress!
Next was the really fun part: sewing them together! I worked on the dolls’ dresses first, that way I could figure out the pattern and be less worried about making mistakes. The pattern was actually fairly straightforward, if a bit tedious at times. I flew through the dolls’ dresses in just a few days!
Finally, I got to sew the girls’ dresses themselves. This part became a little more cumbersome because I wasn’t able to get very far on their dresses before the school break started. So, there were a few days when I brought the sewing machine down to the dining room table and had the girls play their games or watch TV while I worked on the dresses. But, I was able to finish just before Christmas day and the girls were thrilled! They absolutely love the dresses and wear them every chance they get!
While this project was rewarding, because the dresses came out so beautifully and the girls love them, it was still a bit tiresome. Needless to say, I will be taking a break from sewing, at least for now.
School
Even though the winter break did take up most of this month, the girls did have plenty of time at the school. I even got to go in for my own activity. The principal invited some moms, only a small number to keep in line with COVID protocols, to come to the school for a nice tea. The teatime included some fun and silly games to get to know one another, including the principal herself, and a few other teachers and administrators. It was a great opportunity for me to relax and get to know other parents at the school, and have a little bit of fun with some silly icebreaker games. We even got to take home some delicious, locally made cookies, decorated in the theme of our tea. And I got a preview of the stage for the girls’ Rainbow Wonderland show.
The show was the following week, and it went wonderfully! The school had arranged it so that only two “bubbles” would perform at a time, so there were two performances each day of that week. The girls had two different days of performances in the late morning. The teachers had even tried to arrange it so that students who were unable to be in the show could join live via Zoom. I think it worked out perfectly to have a small group of parents attend, because then the children had a small audience and less chance of getting stage fright. This was the first, live, show where Sara Gail performed perfectly! She wasn’t nervous at all being up on stage, or at least it didn’t show, and she did such a good job! During Abigail’s show, I even got a surprise performance from Sara Gail and the extra treat of seeing them both perform the same day! This extra performance wasn’t planned at all, the teachers simply asked the kids if they wanted to sing again, and they all agreed. I love watching my girls continue to grow and thrive at this wonderful school. It has been, and continues to be, such a heartwarming experience!
The rest of the school day mornings were filled with more fun and games on the playground. The girls are absolutely loving the few minutes each morning they get to spend on the playground together. Even though they both get a chance to play during the day, it is never at the same time. So, this time in the early morning is precious to them and me, because I get to see their creative imaginations at work on the playground too. Plus, the time on the playground is a great motivator to get the girls ready and out the door on time each morning!
Roller Skating
Since we did have such a long break with the girls at home, I tried to use up the time during the day doing lots of different activities. One activity that I really wanted to squeeze in as much as possible was roller skating. Ever since I got the skates for the girls, it’s been hard to make the time and get them out on the skates. Every time it’s a mission getting them in their elbow pads, knee pads, gloves, helmets, skates and then out the door. Then, once we’re finally outside skating, they both start complaining after only a few minutes! This time, I tried to make it more fun for each of them, and I set a timer so they couldn’t whine about going inside before the timer went off. Both of the girls are really starting to improve. Sara Gail can skate entirely on her own and she’s getting really good at it! Abigail is getting better at the technique, but still needs to hold my hand most of the time. And I am loving being on skates again! I loved it so much as a kid, and it’s a great way to get a quick, sweaty workout in!
Gymnastics
Sara Gail is still absolutely in love with gymnastics and is continuing her Saturday morning class. I always tell people now that it is a need more than a desire because she is hanging upside down on anything she can at the school playground. For the time being she’s only able to do floor routines, but she is still thriving! Depending on whether Varun is home or not I either take her by myself and squeeze in some reading time, or I take Abigail along with me. Unfortunately, they only start the class for 4 year-olds and up, otherwise Abigail would be in the class too. So, I do my best to keep her entertained while her big sister is downstairs doing her cartwheels, forward rolls, and back kicks. This month there was another market taking place during one of Sara Gail’s classes. There are always so many interesting and beautiful things for sale, but I try and refrain from getting something, at least not at every market. That can be quite the challenge though!
The coach told me at the end of Sara Gail’s last class for the year that she would be able to try moving up to an intermediate level class in January, so that will be a very exciting start to the new year for Sara Gail!
Hair
Since we had so much downtime at home this month, I had plenty of time to put the girl’s hair up in new and old (fun) ways! It is just incredible how long it is getting, for both of them! I am still waiting until the absolute last minute to get Abigail’s first trim, but I know Sara Gail will be due for another trim soon. I just love their beautiful, auburn locks!
Hanging at Home
The rest of our time this month was spent as the girls usually love to spend it, playing together at home, coming up with new games to play. They just love to tear our whole house apart, drag all their toys out of the playroom, and invent the silliest, most creative games ever! It’s just so fun to witness and watch, the things they come up with continue to astound me. Thankfully I do have extra help getting the house back in order when they’re done.
We also took some time to go swimming while we were on vacation. I still can’t believe that both girls are strong enough swimmers that I don’t even need to get in the water with them! They both love the water so much and have a lot of fun together jumping in and swimming around. Sara Gail does miss swimming with the team and her coach, but she seems to have put it out of her mind, for the time being. I tried my best to find an alternative, and I think I have an elegant solution, but I will discuss it more in next month’s post. For now, I just want Sara Gail to have fun in the water, without any other care in the world.
As I always do when the girls are spending lots of time at home, I made sure to load them up with plenty of arts and crafts activities. Of course, we did the salt dough and salt dough ornaments for Christmas, but I also printed up tons of activity and coloring sheets for the girls to do every morning. And I even found a special little statue that each of the girls could paint and then keep in their rooms (and Abigail broke hers within minutes of it drying). They were even lucky enough to get some arts and crafts gifts for Christmas that they had fun working on.
And then the girls got another treat when Varun got back from his trip to Houston. When we went to the Indian store as a family, Varun finally broke down and bought a game board and pieces that I’ve been asking him to get for years. It’s a game that he played for years growing up with his brothers and family in India: Carrom. Every time we go back for a visit, he plays this game every single night we are there. I’ve been wanting to learn how to play it for years, but I think having his girls old enough to finally learn and play it with us finally convinced him that it was worth the investment. It has certainly been a test of his patience, trying to teach the girls all the rules and have them play properly. But it’s been a really fun way for all of us to bond, and for him to pass something of his childhood onto the girls.
Let me conclude this month’s entry with a really stressful incident that Sara Gail is still embarrassed about. As I’ve written many times before, Varun’s trips away are taxing on us all, especially over the weekend. And even though his trip to Houston wasn’t overly lengthy, it ended up costing us our TV.
On one of the Sunday’s he was away, while I was busy in the kitchen with clean up and meal preparations for the week, Sara Gail tried to throw a ball to Abigail (in the house!) and missed. Part of her punishment was having to watch the TV with the lines in it, because we didn’t replace it immediately. We did, eventually, replace it, hoping that Sara Gail learned her lesson. Rather than just throwing the damaged TV away, we asked our cleaning lady if she’d like to take it with her, in case she knew anyone that could repair it at an affordable cost. She was very grateful, but hopefully the girls won’t try and throw balls around inside again, or at least any time soon.
That ends this month’s post about our daily lives and adventures here in Accra. I hope you come back next month to read about how our family starts the new year of 2022!
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