Not Exactly a White Christmas

It seems a bit odd to write about Christmas when it is now March but better late than never...
After a lifetime of summer Christmases with barbecues by the beach, swimming and enjoying the sun, we knew that a winter Christmas was going to come as a shock. Bagdad didn't get any settling snowfalls this winter and the temperatures generally stayed pretty mild so we didn't have to dig ourselves out of any snow drifts or anything like that. The climate is much like Orange (New South Wales) in lots of ways. We didn't get any snow on Christmas Day but Prescott got fairly regular snowfall all throughout winter. From early December on there was snow laying on the ground in Prescott so at last we could relate to all those well-intended but mis-placed Christmas cards in Australia that feature fir and pine trees covered in snow. One weekend in mid-December while the Grans were visiting us from Perth and New Zealand respectively, we were invited to a Christmas caroling party at the home (in Prescott) of one of the company's vice-presidents. It had been snowing all that day and the whole town was carpeted in white which reinforced the city's campaign to be "Arizona's Christmas City". Lots of people decorate their houses and businesses with lights, decorations and so on, really getting into the Christmas spirit. Singing Christmas carols while the snow fell outside was a really nice way to spend an evening. We stayed the night at a hotel in Prescott where there was a big display claiming to be "The World's Largest Gingerbread Village". It was definitely big, a display at least 20 metres long of all kinds of gingerbread houses and buildings, adobe houses, cathedrals, you name it, and of course a model train running through the middle of it all.

Christmas Day was a very special one since we had both Grans and P home to make the day very focussed on family. P has been away at work the past 2 Christmases so it was his first Christmas at home since N was a baby. We had to teach P the Santa protocol: biscuits and juice for Santa with a note from us, plus carrots for the reindeer and stockings hung up where Santa can find them. No getting up in the night or the reindeer will get nervous and won't land. We did a drive around Bagdad to see all the houses decorated with lights for Christmas. Some people had gone to incredible lengths (and presumably, expense) to light up their homes for Christmas and for such a small town there were so many very elaborate displays. Christmas is a lot of fun when you have little children in the house and it was so great for us all to be able to share the time together.