Expat Life: Being Thankful Throughout the Holidays (even though you are far away from home)

I know, I know…..it’s way past the time of being “fashionably late” in writing about the recent holiday season of 2014, but lets be honest, when was the last time a 3rd trimester mom of a 17 month old was on time for anything?! Let alone remembering her own name! So there ya go, my excuse for not getting this post out any sooner and for being uber late in posting at all since the beginning of December. Anyway, with all the pregnancy hormones raging inside of me its given me pause to reflex upon this past holiday season while living across the world from our families- it was our 3rd year now being apart during it all, but thankfully with an awesome network of friends here in KL, we managed just fine and really enjoyed ourselves despite the sadness.

It all started with Halloween, which to me signifies the start of the Holiday season anyway. It’s the big kick off towards 2 months of gluttony and the start of when I really begin to miss the slow cooker meals, the cozy cold fall nights in front of the fireplace, the pumpkin farms and corn mazes and hayrides, the apple bobbing, the 2nd and exciting half of football season (American football that is), and on and on. Oh how I miss being in America during this time. Nothing like it in the whole world. But that being said, we came pretty dang close this year to making up for being so far away!

This year for Halloween with Ava being then 15 1/2 months, we wanted to dress her up properly and take her around our neighborhood for some trick or treating. We are really very lucky in that the neighborhood we live in here in KL is about 1/2 local and 1/2 expat so all the expats get together and coordinate a trick or treating around the 100 or so homes. All you have to do is put the given balloon up on your front door to signify you want the kiddos coming to your door for their candy requests- it’s a load of fun and we were so excited to really participate this year with a kid of our own :). We invited some friends over who live in condo complexes and who have kids around the same age. It was a blast. We started off with cranking the a/c up super high in our house and cooking up some chili and cornbread along with wine & beer & of course pumpkin cookies for a treat. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on candy for the trick or treaters since its all imported (but well worth it!!), and we had football on the TV (recorded) and got the kiddos all dressed up for their 1 hour to shine and SWEAT in the tropical heat- haha! They were absolutely adorable and we had a blast!! It was the perfect kick-off to our holiday season staying around Asia.

Right after we came off our high from Halloween, we were lucky enough to jet off to Phuket, Thailand with some friends for a low key and relaxing weekend away with our babes, who are about 9 months apart. So much fun relaxing in the sun, swimming in the pool, going to the spa, golfing, laughing….I wanted to be sure and squeeze this one in before I got too big and being with The Darley’s was the perfect remedy to my little blanket of gloom I had fallen under. You can read all about our weekend away here.

After Phuket, we were lucky enough to have some family visit us for a quick 10 days. David’s brother and his wife joined us for a time while traveling around SE Asia and it was nice to show them around our adopted “hometown” and give them just a little idea of what life is like on the other side of the world. We played tourist and stuffed our faces with delicious meals. So fun :).

As Thanksgiving drew closer, I began to get sadder, mainly in thanks to my raging pregnancy hormones now in the midst of my 3rd trimester, but thankfully we had already planned a quick weekend getaway to Bangkok, Thailand where our dear friends The Lembright’s, recently moved to from KL, so that helped to brighten my mood tremendously. We spent an awesome 4 days with them- so much laughter, so much fun, so much exploring…..and a wonderful traditional thanksgiving dinner to kick it all off! Loved our time with them. There is nothing like friends that have become like family when you live on the other side of the world from your “real” family, and in this case with both of our families being American living in SE Asia, it was really nice to spend the American holiday of Thanksgiving with them- sharing with one another our thanks and blessings while we enjoyed to the fullest our short time together again. You can read about the whole weekend here.

Following this amazing weekend away, along with a truly amazing month of November with friends AND family, Ava and I flew back to KL at 30 weeks pregnant while David flew onto the states for some end of the year mtgs. It was really so sad to begin December without him- putting up the tree and decorations alone, missing a few early Christmas parties….but such is the expat life. Thankfully my amazing group of friends rallied around Ava and I and kept us busy those 12 days David was away. We baked, we shopped, we lazed in front of the tree…..what a special time. When David returned, we kicked it into high gear (well, a relaxing high gear) as Christmas came upon us. We dined out with friends, we attended Christmas parties (even my OBGYN invited us to his Christmas party- how cool and yet crazy is that?!), we did some last minute shopping, and we even managed to find a Santa booth for Ava to get pictures taken! That was one for the memory books for sure! She was hating it and it gave us the best gift- a picture of her screaming on Santa’s lap, bless her little heart. We even quietly celebrated the 1 yr anniversary from the time of Ava’s horrible head trauma accident from December of 2013. We have so much to be thankful for this year!! So much good health, a new baby brother on the way, an adorable toddler, and friends & family near and far that make life worth living!

As Christmas Eve drew upon us, we prepared ourselves for a quiet time at home, not to mention I was getting bigger and slower and hotter so it was fine by me! Well, last minute plans fell upon us and got us so excited for one final year-end push of celebrations! We were able to spend lunch with our pastor and his wife, whom we adore, before they left for a 3 month sabbatical back to the USA, we were invited to join some friends at their place for a fun Christmas cheer and dinner before our Christmas Eve service, and on Christmas day after the chaos of morning gifts and skyping with family back home, we had a handful of friends over for a potluck Christmas dinner! What a joy and how blessed are we to be given these awesome friends at such a pivotal time of the year and in our lives! God is so great and it was so fun to celebrate the birth of Jesus with them all.

After all the excitement of Christmas, I was pooped! We quietly rang in the New Year of 2015 at home: no sitter available for Ava and at 34 weeks pregnant with her little brother, lounging around quietly with my hubby, reflecting on what an amazing year 2014 was and how exciting 2015 will be for us, was the perfect antidote for my holiday blues.

I’m incredibly grateful to live in Malaysia with my husband, daughter, and soon to be son for this crazy season of life. We’ve formed friendships that will take us to the end of time and created memories to look back upon and cherish for years to come. What a joy the 2014 Holiday Season turned out to be!! Sometimes its hard to get “into the spirit” when you live so far away from home, but Kuala Lumpur truly does an amazing job with decorations, music, events, shopping bazaars, and more, which helps to ease the blow so much you get lost in the joy of it all! Add that to the friendships that become like family and you’ve got a holiday season filled with love, laughter, well wishes, and cheer!

Until next time, count your blessings during the holidays, no matter where you live & welcome to 2015!! ~

Kimbra