We made the decision when we first came out to stay here for the Holidays so other people could go home to be with kids, etc. It turned out that no one from Joe's office went home, but most of Bev's did. We're not going to talk about what work was like. The actual holidays, however, were far more fun than we had any right to expect.We got away for Thanksgiving week - went to Germany and Brussels to visit friends and see the Christmas markets. Thanksgiving Day was in Frankfurt at our friend Matt's. His Mom was also in town visiting, so we got a fantastic home-cooked meal.
Brussels was a BLAST with our friends Emily and Ashish. What a great city. They have Belgium waffles topped with things like chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream on the side of the street. We also got Mexican and Sushi - two of the foods we mss most. We also drank in the clean air, the smell of rain, fantastic public transportation, and the freedom to just walk around.After Frankfurt and Brussels we spent a few days in Heidelberg. It's this incredibly beautiful town with a castle sitting on the hill above it. Oh - and the Christmas Markets. What a fantastic tradition!! Sure, all the stalls sell some variation of over-priced ornament.
But, people walk around drinking mulled wine, there are literally Christmas carols playing in the air, and shops/stalls look like they fell straight out of Norman Rockwell or Willy Wonka. It was perfect. Exactly what we needed.
Christmas itself was full of great friends and parties.
The week before, we had a Christmas Cookie-making party at our friends' Kelly and Sandro's apartment. Christmas Eve we had a Flag Football Tournament that our team ALMOST won. We would have taken it if the brackets hadn't been all messed up. We played 3 in a row, and the team we played in the final got 2 games off before they played us. We lost 4-3 and it could have easily gone either way. 
That night, we had a Clam Chowder party at Anne and Greg's apartment. Apparently Clam Chowder is a tradition in her family on Christmas Eve. I was seriously impressed with the cooking. Canned clams sound horrid, but they make pretty good chowder. Several people, including Lynn Chow, believe it or not, came to our place after to watch a movie, so we got to bed about 1am.Christmas Day was lazy and wonderful. We hosted dinner that night, potluck style, in our PJs. We decided Christmas Day should be spent in sweats or PJs. Oh, and Joe learned his lesson about sending out a Christmas list and the amazing array of presents he will receive if he doesn't. (Really Mom, where did you find kazoos and a calorie-counting jump rope???)
As wonderful as it was though, it was really hard to be so far away from our families. We did the Skype thing, but it just is not the same. Next year!!!
The crowning moment of the Holiday season was, no doubt, New Years. The Embassy had a huge party in one of our tents, a bonfire outside and a no-kidding ball drop. The party was fantastic. FBI donated the open bar, Embassy management brought in a bunch of food, Joe's section bought pizza and a few of our guys DJed. It was like a high school dance - the seniors (the core Embassy crowd) going crazy out on the dance floor while the freshman ("The Surge" or "Civilian Uplift") standing around the edges looking nervous. We went out to the bonfire about 11:30 and it was comical it was so huge.
The people trying to roast marshmallows had two or more unraveled coat-hangers twisted together in a long "pole" because you couldn't get closer than that without cooking yourself. They looked like they were fly-fishing. Now, I know the security-minded among you are wondering if it was smart to light the world's largest beacon. Possibly not, however nothing happened. I figure we were safe for two reasons - 1) The bad guys in Kabul don't actually know how to aim anything - they lean the rockets against rocks and they land wherever they land; and 2) It probably looked from a distance like the Americans had finally gone stark-raving mad. There's also the very real truth that Kabul is just not as dangerous as it sounds on the news. We have been here for 6 months. In that time we have had one vehicle bomb go off close enough to send us in "Duck and Cover" and two others close enough that we really heard them. We have never been rocketed. By comparison, our friend in Baghdad said they had several "Duck & Covers" on New Year's Eve alone.
Then, the Ball Drop... It was amazing. I have no idea how they set this up, but it was an actual lit ball that fell as we counted and 2010 lit up at the bottom. Our count was off and I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually midnight, but that is in no way the point. If Christmas is about family, New Year is about friends, and we could not have been surrounded by better people. It was joyous. There's no other word. Here's the video of the countdown.
