Christmas 2010

As Jared and I were wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, I was devastated to learn that Van's big main Christmas Present was missing. We ordered him "Cabela's Big Game Hunter" when I found a good deal on it in August, along with a Wii. When I ordered the game I didn't even think about the "gun" causing problems with the pouch, but was informed by a friend that she had a package flagged for illegal shipping after she had ordered water guns from the states. So when the package with the game and "gun" arrive through the pouch with no problems, we were super excited. We tucked the game and the Wii into the back of a closet so they would not be accidently discovered before Santa had a chance to bring them on Christmas. So there we were, Christmas Eve, pulling presents out of the closet, and the "big Game Hunter" game had disappeared. The Wii was there, but no game, no gun.

So Christmas morning arrives, and the kids excitedly ran down the stairs to see what Santa had left for them. Both kids were pretty good about taking turns, finding presents with their names on them, and handing presents to each other. When Van and Ava opened the Wii, Van flipped out! He was so excited, and the first thing he said was, "Awesome! Now I have to find the present that looks like "Big Buck Hunter" because I KNOW Santa brought me that game to play on the Wii!" :( We had to explain to Van that Santa told us that the game must have fallen off his sleigh, because he had meant to bring it to him. Van was disappointed but replied that he understood. He is such a good kid. So we finished opening presents, Ava was super excited about all her new little Princess dolls and dress-up clothes. After the excitement of opening presents wore off, Van immediately wanted to set up the Wii. Jared pulled it out of the package, and Van grabbed the remote and little thingy that pugs into it. The waited patiently as the wii booted up, and..... nothing. An ERROR message flashed across the screen. WHAT!?! So Jared got another game.... ERROR, DISK COULD NOT BE READ. Tried the third disk, same thing. So he put in the Wii sports disk that came with the Wii. It started, Van played for about 10 glorious minutes and the stupid thing shut off. ARGH!!! What a freaking disappointment. After the Christmas weekend we called the company we bought it from and they said since it was outside the 90 day return policy, there was nothing they would do. Anyway, I think the only member of the family not disappointed was Ava. So Christmas night I got a phone call from my friend Nune. She has been helping us find a healthy kitten, a harder feat here in Armenia than we would have ever imagined. She found one!! So we were able to have a good end to a not so great Christmas!! We named him Zeus. The name of his Breed is a "Turkish Van." Although the Armenians claim that this is impossible, since the Van region is Armenian, not Turkish. (It was 'given' to Turkey by the Russian Tsar after World War I) Anyway, Van thinks it is pretty cool to have a cat whose breed is the same as his name!!

Christmas Morning!!

So excited to see what Santa left!

Waiting patiently for his turn to open a present

Van's reaction to his new air-soft gun!

Opening her new Princess Castle!

Opening the Wii

Jared's gift from me - a 60 year old camera in amazing condition,
complete with 4 cartridges that will take actual pictures

My gift from Jared! I love it!

Playing with her Princesses!

Helping Van put together his
awesome new Battleship game!

Looking for the hidden pickle...

Ava won the prize this year!!

Armenian Snow white...

Complete with hooker shoes!

Zeus, our new Turkish Van Cat

He is so tiny, he weighs 1/2 a pound!!