Santa Came to Doha

Santa came to Doha this weekend!

The kids were so excited to wake up Saturday morning to find that Santa came early to Doha. We are leaving this coming Friday to come home to Texas, so we are on the expedited Christmas plan. The kids were thrilled with their gifts. Abbey got an Ipod (so very cool, I want one!), Cole got a laptop, and Will got a new Game Cube. The older they get, the smaller and more expensive the gifts! Cole and Will got legos and new games and Abbey got clothes. She changed clothes at least 4 times yesterday. The girl loves clothes and accessories and shoes. The boys played together all day with their new stuff. I think that was the best gift for me, to see them playing and having fun together. Abbey proclaimed it was "the best Christmas ever!", so I guess Santa did a good job this year.

We did have one Doha disaster. Last night, in my eagerness to get Will's new Game Cube hooked up, I forgot that it needed a transformer (wrong voltage) and when I plugged it in, it made a big boom. I think I killed it!! I was so sad and mad at myself. I am going to let Bill work on it when he gets home from work today.

Whatever happens, don't worry, I'm sure Santa can swing by while we are in Texas and drop off a new one. It is just one of those things that happens to most people at least once when they live here. We blew so many fuses with our Christmas tree lights, it was comical. We learned when the transformer started to smell like smoke we had better turn off the tree lights.

Last night we attended the Doha Players production of "Almost Dick Wittington" which is a British Pantomime traditionally done at Christmas. It was funny and the kids enjoyed it. What may you ask is a "pantomime"? Well, I didn't know either until last night. Here is what wikipedia says about it.......

The leading male juvenile character (the "principal boy") - traditionally played by a young woman.
An older woman (the pantomime dame - often the hero's mother) is usually played by a man in drag.
Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is, in theory, over the heads of the children in the audience.
Audience participation, including calls of "look behind you!" (or "he's behind you!"), and "Oh, yes it is!" or "Oh, no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to "Boo" the villain, and "Awwwww" the poor victims, such as the rejected dame, who usually fancies the prince.
A song combining a well-known tune with re-written lyrics. The audience is encouraged to sing the song; often one half of the audience is challenged to sing "their" chorus louder than the other half.
The members of the cast throw out sweets to the children in the audience.
Sometimes the story villain will squirt members of the audience with water guns or pretend to throw a bucket of "water" at the audience that is actually full of streamers
A slapstick comedy routine may be performed, often a decorating or baking scene, with humour based around throwing messy substances.

So, you learned something new today...

That was our weekend.....if you throw in a dinner party at OUR house, another dinner out with Bill's boss and some coworkers, soccer registration and tryouts and 2 baseball games. Whew!

Will woke up this morning all cranky with hurting legs (common ailment in our family) and I let him stay home from school. I told him he had to go back upstairs and get in bed. The little guy is still sound asleep and it is 9:00 am. I guess we wore him completely out!