December in Abu Dhabi

December in Abu Dhabi has been amazing. The weather is absolutely perfect: sunny and in the 70s all day. It's almost embarassing to talk about wearing flip flops to holiday parties, but this makes up for the harsh days of August. This is the time of year to do all kinds of outdoor activities.

December 2nd is National Day, like the 4th of July in the States. Our balcony has a great view, so we decided to have a National Day party to watch the fireworks. Here you can see five barges in the background loaded with fireworks. Best seats in all of Abu Dhabi! 

This is the view from our apartment of the Emirates Palace Hotel. Festive lights cover the big buildings and main streets of Abu Dhabi in the days leading up to National Day. The national colors are red and green which is a nice segue into the Christmas season. In fact, Abu Dhabi embraces Christmas too. Lots of Christmas displays in stores and parties at the tourist hotels.

The Emirati love to decorate their cars for National Day. Then they all cause grid-lock on the Corniche Road, honk, and make their engines backfire by hitting the brakes and the gas at the same time. Constant noise all weekend, but it's all in good fun and, as far as I know, just one weekend out of the year. The UAE turned 39 this year. I wonder if it's going to be an even bigger deal when the country turns 40.

Breakfast on the balcony for the kids that slept over after the National Day party.

Typical waterfront activity for this time of year. You can just see the tail end of a helicopter that was also passing by on the right side of the photo. The Heritage Village is on the breakwater in the background.

Boats on the other side of the Marina Mall breakwater.

Hannah at Hiltonia.

Mackenzie at Hiltonia.

Waiting for lunch at the water's edge. Marina Mall is in the distance.

Here's a picture taken at the Heritage Village. Our building is the low long one just to the right of Hannah.

I was going to bribe the camel handler to take the camel around the buildings and onto the beach so that we could get the perfect shot of camel, girls, and our apartment in the distance. But then I lost my courage. Maybe next year.
Happy Holidays to all!