Month 13 was filled with Thanksgiving, then the beginning of the Christmas season with tree decorating, Christmas markets, and lots of fun with friends. What a difference a year makes – last year at this time we were doing all sorts of legal paperwork and legwork to get legalized and settled, living with rental furniture and few of our own belongings, and feeling a little lonely and homesick. This year felt more like the holidays in our home with our won things and being able to spend time with friends. Some of our highlights from the month:
Shopping day exploring “La Belle Etoile,” the biggest Luxembourg mall, with Tasha, Megan, and Mandy (and their girls). Ingrid and Eliza had a blast riding the train, until it was time to get off. Tantrums ensued.
Meeting with Megan and our visiting teacher Erin at Little Britain (a small store that imports British and American food and other items) for brunch. I was excited to find, for the first time here: Crisco (for my Thanksgiving pies), Brianna’s poppyseed dressing (we use it on chicken wraps) and A&W root beer.
Rainy afternoon at the bus and tram museum with the Oates, Wares, and Mackays. One of my favorite (and free!) ways to get the kids’ energy out on a rainy day.
Rainy / snowy afternoon play date with the Oates
The “Big” 20-week ultrasound (done here at 23 weeks). Everything looked great and there weren’t any concerns. So grateful to have a healthy baby! We held strong and didn’t find out the gender. As we finished, I was thinking that I didn’t have to ever close my eyes so I wouldn’t see the gender, and I mentioned this to the ultrasound tech and she said “oh, I saw the gender”. I may need an anatomy lesson.
Hearing Eliza put more and more words together in her sentences, like “mama, dada more wa-wa me” (Mama, dada is getting more water for me”)
Our first visit to the Luxembourg Christmas market on Thanksgiving Day. We mostly just walked around and looked, and enjoyed Brats and a grilled salmon sandwich. We told the kids to look at the rides and decide which one they wanted to go on when we went back later in December (this idea wasn’t very effective; when we went back, it still took them FOREVER to decide).
Celebrating Thanksgiving with our American friends on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Trip to Ikea to pick out our Christmas tree, then decorating it after our Thanksgiving celebration. It was fun to hear the kids ask about all the new Christmas ornaments we’ve acquired on our travels since last Christmas: Bruges, Belgium; Strasbourg, France; Tulip Festival in Holland; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Mont St. Michel, France; Switzerland; Paris, France; and Luxembourg. A week after putting it up, we noticed the tree was dry and the tree stand was leaking. Nate asked me to hold up the tree for a bit while he took the stand to fix the leak. An hour and a half, and four tired arms later (Nate and I took turns holding it up), the hole was finally fixed and the glue dried.
Opening Christmas PJs (imported from the US when Nate went to Seattle for work in November), Christmas pillowcases from Grandma (also brought back by Nate), and their Lego Advent Calendar on December 1.
Girls’ night at the Luxembourg Christmas market. Grompères, window shopping, and chatting.
Catching Eliza, several times, sitting in the living room just staring at the Christmas tree.
Eliza’s 2nd birthday!! Haircuts and park day on her birthday, followed by waffles & smoothies for dinner and present-opening. We had a small gathering with friends a few days later for cake and ice cream.
Winter sickness. Eliza had a bad cold and an ear infection, and didn’t want to do anything but sleep and cuddle on my lap all day.
Day trip to the Strasbourg Christmas Market (more on that in the Christmas Market post). We made it back just in time for the ward Christmas Party. We enjoyed celebrating Christmas with ward members, seeing the nativity acted out, singing Christmas Carols, and filling ourselves with desserts.
Farm Park get-together with friends on a Tuesday afternoon. The sun set, it got dark, and all our friends left, but the kids still wanted to play just a little bit longer in the one lit spot in the park.
And a few random pictures around the house from the month:
Eliza eating her yogurt. It’s always really messy, but this day was especially bad. And Bennett had a comfortable reading spot until Eliza came along with her book.
Hide-and-Seek and 2-year-old tantrums.
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