Christmas in Samoa

We arrived in Samoa on Christmas Eve night. Jethro's mom had no idea that we were coming she thought it was Joe and Kai and their kids. So she told me when she saw Ana at th airport she looked at her and told Lela "Hey that little girl looks like Ana" and then she saw Penina behind her and realized that it was Ana. She slapped the person standing next to her, I think it was Jethro's dad, she was so surprised and excited to see us.
As we drove home I was surprised to see how many people in Samoa go all out on Christmas lights. A lot of people ask Jethro what they use for a Christmas tree in Samoa, I even asked him that when we were dating, because its hard to imagine a pine tree on the Islands. But thats what they use, fake ones of course, in case you were wondering.
As I was putting the girls down for bed, Ana asked if we were going to put out some milk and cookies for Santa. I didn't even think about that, I asked Jethro if he thinks his parents have cookies but they didn't. So we told Ana that Santa gets so many cookie we were going to put out avacados for him instead. LOL She liked that idea and so we laid out a plate of Avacados.
The next morning was unorthadox for me. We got up WAY before everyone and because Lela and Reenie were sleeping in the living room with all the presents we waited for them to wake up. While we waited Ana and Penina hung out with grandpa, he took them outside to look at the dogs and walk around. Poor Ana kept asking when we can open presents. Finally everyone was awake and we had family prayer and opened presents.






After the fiasco of the morning was over we got ready to have lunch with the Fano side of the family. I was a little nervous meeting the Fano side for the first time after 7 years of marriage but they were all great and very friendly. It was especially nice to see Aunty Ofa and Tiana again. We had a typical Samoan lunch ham, chicken, beef, rice, mac salad and green salad, I blame samoan food for my curvacious body they rarely have vegitables in their meals!! (I know I know of course lack of excersice doesn't help either.)
After our meal and pictures with the Fano family we went to visit Jethro's moms side of the family in a nearby village. This is the family Jethro was raised with so his uncles and auntys are more like brothers and sisters to him. Jethro was so excited to get a chance to visit with them and introduce his family to them for the first time!! It was so fun to be there and see the house Jethro grew up in. Jethro took me for a tour of the land, I have it all on video and am sorry to say I didn't get one still shot of the place. It was amazing to be there I even teared up a little, it meant a lot to me to FINALLY see where and how Jethro grew up. We live in the area I grew up in so I get to share with Jethro and Ana all the places and things I did growing up and now Jethro finally gets to share that with us. It may sound weird but I have a better understanding and appreciation for the way my husband grew up there was so much I didn't know and realize.