Tag Archives: holiday

Arizona Christmas Lights

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When the snow is deep in Michigan, a not-so-white Christmas starts to look pretty good! Ben and I made the four-day drive from Detroit to Phoenix to see my family for Christmas.

Arizona may not have snow, but it does have enough colorful lights to create a magical Christmas vibe!

One of my favorite traditions is making a few evenings of Christmas light viewing. The Phoenix area has two major light attractions: Zoo Lights and Glendale Glitters.

 

 

Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo isn’t a great time to see the animals, unless you like a couple of camels and a creepy animatronic giraffe. However, the light show is fantastic! They even have the lights around the duck pond set to music. We thought that decorating the ducks with lights would really make the show! If I ran the zoo, that’s what I would do. I’d probably get shut down, but that would be one heck of a light show!

 

 

This yeti was not awkward, but my mom and I took a photo with it anyway (If you got that joke, then we’re best friends forever).

 

 

The other major Christmas lights attraction is in my hometown. Glendale Glitters is an annual month-long event! the historic downtown area is decorated in lights, and every weekend brings entertainment to the amphitheater. I used to be in shows there with a performing arts group as a kid.

 

 

Ben and I visited Glendale Glitters with my sister and our friend. It was a bit cold when we were there, so we browsed through the stores downtown. We were followed for a while by a creepy man in a pink sparkle shirt and pink skinnies, so we girls ducked into a comic shop to avoid him while Ben discouraged him from coming inside. I found this superhero inside, but Ben is my real hero!

 

 

This year, we missed all the Glendale Glitters shows and food trucks and vendors, but we still had a lot of fun. Street performers own the night, and many Glendalians take it upon themselves to provide entertainment. When we were there, we saw an impressive parade of decked-out trucks and ATVs blasting music. The procession wrapped around the whole district! The street was transformed into a show of blinking Christmas lights, waving kids, rap, classic Christmas songs and norteño, This is Arizona holiday culture!

 

 

Even more impressive was the UFO that lit up the sky that night. It silently flew through the western sky, lighting up the horizon and drawing everyone outside. It turned out to be a rocket launch from California, but it looked like the world’s biggest Christmas light display!

 

 

This is what an Arizona Christmas looks like: clear streets, clear skies, a little bit of Mexico, and enough light to illuminate the whole world. It was good to be home.

A Traditional American Easter 

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Apparently, American Easter is different than St. Maarten Easter. So, we had a lot of fun introducing R to American-style Easter celebrations!


I chattered all weekend about dying eggs. Anything artsy is fun for me, so I was excited to do some egg decorating with my family! R isn’t particularly talkative, so it wasn’t until Ben started mixing the vinegar and egg dye that R asked us what in the world we were doing! “Dying eggs,” I told him. His look of confusion prompted me to ask, “Have you ever dyed eggs?” “What’s that?” He asked. Ah ha! A new and fun thing to introduce my son to. Part of the joy of being a foster parent is learning about my kid’s traditions and sharing mine.


In St. Maarten, apparently, kids still hunt for eggs (which are not left by a bunny), but only plastic eggs. They get lots of chocolate, something I unfortunately forgot to buy! There’s also an underwater egg hunt, which I did last year.


As it turned out, R loved decorating the eggs. He didn’t really get the point, since they were just going to become deviled eggs in a few hours. But he had fun in the process!


Speaking of deviled eggs, those were totally new to R, as well. So was jello. I don’t know if jello is a part of your Easter celebration, but it’s always been a part of mine! R really thought it was strange– a little bit inedible, even– but despite his initial disgust at its look, he enjoyed it. He probably didn’t enjoy the rest of us staring at him while he tried it, but someone’s first taste of jello is an epic moment, people.


Also epic was the fact that my “bunny bread” didn’t look like a disoriented demon for the first time ever.

Aside from traditional Easter dinner, we also went to church in the morning. R usually goes to church on Easter, but our church is different from his other church. I’m guessing they don’t serve hot dogs for brunch at his other church!

That night, we watched “The Passion of Christ.” It was the first time for both R and I. Wow, is it good! It’s also really intense as tough to watch. It’s about as realistic as you can get as far as crucifixion goes. That movie made the whole Easter story come alive to me again! For R, it seemed to really cause him to think. He was on the edge of his seat the whole time, and had some deep comments during the film. During the whipping scene, he remarked, “Jesus could have stopped that any time he wanted. But he didn’t, because he wanted to die even for those people who were hurting him.” Wow, that is exactly what Easter is all about! No matter how rotten any of us has been, Jesus still made the choice to sacrifice himself instead of letting us be punished. He loves us that much.

Homemade Christmas Wrapping Paper

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Pinching pennies this Christmas? Or maybe you just like putting a little extra love into wrapping your packages. Either way, you’ll have fun creating and using this practially free wrapping paper for your Christmas presents.


What You Need: 

  • Paint
  • Paper. Butcher paper is a plus.
  • A potato or a glass
  • A knife (optional)


Potato Stamping

Potato stamping is super fun, and it’s a great craft to do with kids. It’s cheap, and not too messy. You don’t have to use potatos for your stamp; you can also use the rim of a glass, a fork, your hands, or other interesting-shaped items around your home.


Instructions

  • Pour paint onto a plate
  • Cut potato in half. If you’re really creative, you can cut interesting shapes into the potato. I did stars.
  • Stamp the potato into the paint. Don’t get too much!
  • Stamp the potato all over your paper. Be creative!
  • Let it dry.
  • If you like, you can use a sharpie to draw cool designs. Maybe you can make the potato shapes into ornaments or snowmen.
  • Wrap your gifts and decorate! 


Looking for another thrify idea? Check out this homemade newpaper Christmas tree— an eco-friendly alernative to the plastic kind!

What do you do to save money or be craft this Christmas? Let us know in the comments!

Saint Martin’s Day at the Airport

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saint Martin’s Day is the biggest day on the Island– aside from Carnival, of course! Princess Juliana Airport, which is in our neck of the woods, holds a family fun day to celebrate the holiday. R and his friends were planning to go, so Ben and I loaded up the little guy we were babysitting into the car and headed to the airport.

motorcycles

The air was full of festivity! Dozens of bikers in matching t-shirts zipped by, honking at us happily. Behind them, young biker-wannabees showed off their wheelie abilities on bicycles. The air was filled with the sounds of Caribbean music, and the scent of local flavors began to creep past our noses.

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Give a kid a balloon sword, and he’ll whack Minnie Mouse in the face with it. Guaranteed. What else do you expect him to do with it? Hold it gingerly and avoid smacking other people? Of course not! I’m the grown-up, so naturally, I had to ask him to do the impossible.

Balloon sword

However, when a king gives you the sword, you must wield it with honor to protect the kingdom.

balloon man

Even though the sword was pretty rad, the little guy was more enthralled with the bouncy house than anything else. There were two of them, so he ran from one to other for about two hours.

bouncy house

I could barely drag him away to watch the dancing and the singing of the Saint Martin National Anthem! The girl who sang the song was pretty awesome. We definitely enjoyed it, and even the little guy’s attention was captured. He sang along with his own version of the song: “O I love my paradise, nature beauty very nice.”

steel pans

The dancing was less interesting to him, but I was not about to miss it! There were a few different teams that performed, all of them decked out in patriotic colors.

The petting zoo was lots of fun! We got to feed the animals. The little guy loved the bunnies, but he said the pig was yucky.

pig

petting zoo

Between the animals, living statues, balloons, crowds of screaming children, and bouncy houses, the little guy was pretty pooped after three hours. I took him home.

living statue

Meanwhile, Ben hung out for a few more hours with R and his friends and the volunteer crew from K1 Britannia Foundation. They had a great time playing card games and munching on pizza and cake. I’m not going to lie, I was kinda jealous about the cake.

games

I’m sure going to miss Saint Martin’s Day next year! The parade in Philipsburg last year was super fun, and so was this year’s event at Princess Juliana Airport. Maybe next year, when we’re back in the United States, I’ll have to track down some island food and play the national anthem a few times.

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Caribbean Carnival Children’s Parade

American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The air around me pulses with the rhythm of the Caribbean. All around me, the crowd lining the street moves to the beat of the music. This is not America, where we stood stoically and watched parade floats drift by. This is the isle of Sint Maarten, and we are a part of the sound and color here.

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Today, it is a holiday. It is Carnival, and the children are marching in their very own parade. Miniature dancers twirl in miniature costumes, nearly unrecognizable in paint, feathers, and glitter.

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The winners of last week’s junior pageant are here, dressed in their royal finery. They wave to us with the queen’s wave, and we wave back.

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The parade is filled with the heroes of a child’s word– princesses, super heroes, minions, even Kung Fu Panda!

My personal favorite were the candy dancers. I loved their giant hoop skirts and sweet designs.

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Ben liked the Lionfish Dancers. Their costumes really did look like the fantastic “feathers” of a lionfish!

Although this event was not popular with the tourists, hundreds of locals turned out. Many of the other expat families also came to watch! Some American University of the Caribbean students’ children came to watch friends march in the parade.

If you want to see the future of the Caribbean, this is the place to come. All around me, I saw the future of the islands in the faces of the children. If we want to invest in tomorrow, we must invest in them! Perhaps the whole reason for the junior parade is to remind us of this.

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God Save the King!

Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, , , , , , , , , ,

A city flooded with orange…. food and drink…. bartering and bargaining. Why? King’s Day, or, as it is called in Dutch, “Koningsdag!”

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Source: RLT Nieuws

Koningsdag is celebrated on April 27, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander, the monarch of the Netherlands. Since Sint Maarten is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it is also celebrated here. It’s not quite as a big a deal here as it is in Europe’s territories. Sint Maarten’s Carnival falls during Koningsdag, so it is someone overshadowed by that event. Still, I did see a few photos of friends’ children wearing orange for an early celebration of King’s Day at school.

I asked a few of the local kids what they do during Koningsdag. Big King, one of the teens who volunteers with our little league team, told me that they eat Dutch bread and cheese. I should have bought some. Instead, we ate chocolate on bread for breakfast, which is pretty Dutch thing to do!

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Wearing literally the only orange thing I own for Kongingsdag
It’s funny to think that because we live here, we have a king and queen. It’s certainly different than the U.S., but you have to admit that it’s pretty cool to be able to take a day off to celebrate your king’s birthday!

Stuff Dutch People Like has a bit more on Konigsdag, if you’re interested.