Christmas 2015

Family. Friends. Fun. Our Christmas this year lived up to our expectations and hopes. We had several days together as a family and enjoyed spending time with friends as well.

On Christmas Eve, we met up with the Mullins and the Oates to go ice skating at the rink on the plaza in downtown Luxembourg. The boys were really excited about it, and the weather was great so we shed our coats and enjoyed being outdoors. Bennett and Ryan tried out sitting on the seal, pushing the seal, holding our hands, and skating solo and did a great job. Eliza skated with me and sat on the seal for a little while, then decided she was done and wanted to go inside. I felt awkwardly off-balance with my 6-month belly the whole time, so I mostly hung out with Eliza and pushed the seal.

        

After ice skating, we went home and prepared for the evening. We had the Oates family over for a great dinner with ham, potato casserole, rolls, and an apple pie and chocolate satin pie for dessert. We acted out the nativity, watched the nativity video, and let the kids play for a bit. It was a peaceful, happy Christmas Eve. We were grateful for good friends to spend it with, and I loved that the simplicity of our evening helped us focus on the birth of our Savior.

After the Oates left, the kids put their Christmas PJs on and searched the living room for the books we had wrapped and hidden for them, facetimed with our families, left out cookies and carrots for Santa & his reindeer, and headed to bed. Nate and I put some finishing touches on our wrapping and put the kids’ gifts under the tree.

  

 

Christmas morning, the boys woke up a little after 7 and we convinced them to hang out upstairs until almost 8, when Eliza woke up. I was worried that with just our little family, we would quickly open presents and be done, but the kids enjoyed playing with each of the toys they opened and taking their time. They checked out their presents from Santa and stockings, and we let them each open one present before we ate breakfast. I had them open a present from my parents that I knew was personalized hot chocolate bowls from the Brittany region of France, so that we could use them for our breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate, and chocolate cereal that we never buy for the kids, but that they love. We finished opening presents and played games, put together legos, and relaxed until about 4:00, when we went over to the Oateses’, where the kids watched a movie and we made Bruschetta and had Raclette for dinner. We went home and facetimed with our families again before the kids went to bed.

 

            

On the left: Eliza wearing the Christmas dress my mom made for me when I was little. On the right, me at the same age wearing the same dress (I’m the one on the right).

 

Our traditional pictures of the kids with all of their Christmas gifts.

   

We had a wonderful Christmas with our little family. It is an adjustment being far away from our families for the holidays, but we really enjoyed being together and I love being a parent at Christmas – I loved seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces as they opened presents, loved seeing them learn / learn better the story of the Nativity, and loved the little Luxembourg Christmas we shared together.

Christmas Markets 2015 {Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Aachen, Köln}

One of my favorite parts of living in Europe around Christmas time is visiting Christmas markets. I think Nate mostly goes for the food, but I love seeing the style of the different booths and all the Christmas ornaments, nativities, and décor. We made the most of the Christmas markets this year and visited as many as possible as a family, in addition to a couple of times I went with friends (without kids to keep track of and a stroller to push).

Luxembourg Part I (November 28) – We made our first stop at the Luxembourg Christmas market on Thanksgiving Day. Nate and I shared a delicious grilled-salmon-on-baguette sandwich and a brat (or some other form of wurst – there are tons of different ones and I can’t keep track), and the kids had “hot dogs” (also some form of wurst). We looked at the different booths and told the kids to check out the rides so they would know which one they wanted to ride next time we came.

 

Girls’ Night at the Luxembourg Market (December 2) – Our Relief Society “Out to Dinner Group” went to the Luxembourg Christmas market. The 6 of us enjoyed our grompères and perusing the stands at a more leisurely pace than with kids.

Strasbourg, France (December 12) – We made the 2.5 hour drive down to Strasbourg on a Saturday to check out their Christmas market. They have several spread throughout the city, and to get from one to the other you walk through small pedestrian streets all decorated for the holidays. I kept thinking how beautiful the streets would be all lit up at night. Nate made the most of the food stands and we all shared a cheesy crèpe, some grompères, and a couple other things that I can’t remember right now. There was a small market in a beautiful setting in the shadow of the cathedral, a couple others in small plazas in the city, and unfortunately we went to the biggest one last, when it was the most crowded. I was looking for ornaments and a spinning nativity pyramid (not sure what the official name is for them) and it was almost impossible to make our way through the crowds with 3 kids and a stroller, so Nate took them on a carousel ride while I looked around. We headed back to Luxembourg so we could make it to our ward Christmas party that night.

The first plaza we came to had some little Christmas trees for sale – the kids (especially Eliza) loved running through the aisles and hiding

  

  

 

The Santon nativity figures selling at one of the stands, and the crowds of people. (Santon nativity figures are, according to the Wikipedia description,  small hand-painted terracotta nativity scene figurines produced in the Provence region of southeastern France. In a traditional Provençal crèche, there are 55 individual figures representing various characters from Provençal village life).

 

In the photo on the right, can you see Eliza’s little head poking out of the…flying Christmas tree bell?? Not sure what that thing is.

 

Aachen, Germany (December 18) – On a Friday afternoon, I met up with my friends for a little girls’-night-out trip to the Aachen, Germany Christmas market. The five of us drove the 2.5 hours through little Belgian towns to the tunes of Justin Bieber, This Girl is on Fire, and Taylor Swift. The Aachen market is between a large cathedral and a beautiful Rathaus (no rats, that’s what they call the city hall in German). I fulfilled the dream I’ve had since last Christmas of owning a little nativity pyramid, and loved looking at the scenery, food, and goods for sale, all while enjoying the company of great friends. We each tried something different for dinner, stayed until it closed, hit up a gas station for treats, and listened to Christmas music and chatted on the way home.

  

There were a lot of these candy shops with the most amazing displays in the windows

Candlelight dinner on Sunday with the new nativity pyramid. Unfortnately Ryan’s water bottle somehow made an appearance in the picture.

 

Köln / Cologne, Germany (December 19) – After getting home from Aachen late Friday night, we woke up early Saturday morning and drove up to Köln, Germany for its Christmas market. We had loved going last year and were excited to see it again. Our first stop was the Dom (Cathedral) – we walked through the inside, then met the Oates on the plaza in front. We walked through the main market right by the cathedral, stopping to smell the food and look at ornaments and decorations. Tasha and I window-shopped as we walked to the next market – our favorite from last year, which was decorated with little elves skiing and riding ferris wheels.

 

  

At the second market, we ran into the Mullins and let the kids run around for a few minutes, then perused the market and the next one, trying to keep the kids entertained by pointing out all the cute elves. We let the kids ride the Ferris Wheel, and they ended up on the opposite side from the Oates, so it was quite entertaining for the boys to wave to each other each time we came level with them (on the opposite side). The boys watched the ice skaters, we ate grompères, and decided to head to one last market, which had mostly food, but also a nativity and the hard-to-find-in-Europe public bathrooms. Deciding we had seen what we wanted for the day, we walked back to the car and headed home.

   

 

 

Luxembourg, Part II (December 23) – A couple days before Christmas, we headed to the Luxembourg Christmas market one last time. We hold the boys they could choose one “ride” – there are a couple of carousels, a ferris wheel, a little train ride, and some trampolines. They went back and forth forever trying to decide – each one we came to, Ryan was convinced he wanted that one. They almost got sucked in by a little carnival-type game where you fish for ornaments to win prizes, and it took a lot of convincing to get them to move on. They finally settled on the trampolines, then we waited in line almost 45 minutes for their turn. They loved it though, and both of them got brave enough to do a flip. We headed home that night having had our fill of Christmas markets for the season, but having loved all of them.