It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

We are now only two weeks away from Christmas and I think it is finally starting to feel a bit more like the holidays.  Shopping for our gifts is in full swing and the live Christmas tree arrived today!  Just having the smell of the Christmas tree helps make things feel a bit more spirited. Shopping for gifts takes significantly more time and effort as we are not familiar with the shops. Even simple things can be baffling and more complicated.  Take for example this evening when we went out to dinner we decided it was a good idea to pick up wrapping paper, tape and twine (more on the twine in a minute). Wrapping paper had to be purchased at Watsons, which is like CVS or Walgreens but only non-medication related items so cosmetics, basic household items etc.  They however sell gift wrap but not tape.  That of course would be sold at the bookstore!  Oddly enough bookstores here also double as a sort of stationary store so this is where you have to buy tape, binders, pens and pencils.
Now to the twine.  Store number three to get three items. The twine was necessary as after I spent several days searching stores for ornament hooks, someone finally took pity on me and explained that they don't sell ornament hooks in Singapore! Apparently here you use twine or string to hand tie a loop on each ornament to hang from the tree!  If anyone has pity for us, please snag some ornament hooks after Christmas and save them for me.  I will fly back with them in July when we come to visit so that we have them for next year.  Luckily, our wonderful helper Cecilia is tying each of the ornaments now so that we can decorate the tree tomorrow.

We are hoping that tomorrow is decently clear as we hope to get to the beach. We are in the rainy season currently so its been difficult to be sure that we can make outdoor plans as many days wind up being overcast for a large part of the day and then end in a huge downpour. Our back up plan is to finish the Christmas shopping.

Finally, I had another day off this past Friday and John and I took Halie to meet Santa.  You might be interested to know that although there are hundreds of malls in Singapore they don't have Santa!  I actually had to do some online research  to locate the one mall in Singapore that has a Santa in the basement for you to visit.  The line was nonexistent as you could only visit with Santa if you purchased a photo package. Halie did well at the outset and was quite curious to see him.  After a bit though she decided he was bit odd and tears ensued.  She rallied though and we got several nice photos.  No smiles as she was too serious being on his lap but I think the one we chose is adorable.  We hope you enjoy!