Well, we've been busy. I hope you'll forgive us for not posting recently, as time is a flyin' here. In fact, we've almost been here 6 months already. Woa! Hard to believe, we know.
We've been enjoying our slide into the holiday season! Our town may speak predominantly French, but we can feel the holiday buzz in the air and have been enjoying the new lights, tinsel and festivities as the end of the year approaches in our little village.
We've been doing our share of holiday fun too. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had our first party to celebrate the coming season: Thanks-Swissing! We celebrated with good friends, cheer, a semi-traditional dinner and games.
And then, the snow came...and came!
I made a whirlwind trip back to Seattle for work while the girls played in the snow. Now we are in full preparation mode for the holidays!
First, the selection of a tree. I had scoped out a nice, tall tree on my way through the village the other day and when Sarah and Lucia came to town to pick one out with me I proudly showed them the glorious tree, and sat back grinning. It was perfect. How could they not love this tree? Meanwhile, Lucia had found her own tree, a scraggly, sub-5-foot one that I had kicked out of the way on my way to the Christmas tree of my dreams.
"I want this one, Dada." She said.
"How about this one," I said with all the excitement I could muster.
"This one, Dada."
You all know how this turns out, right? The three year old wins, as she should, being her first Christmas where she is caught up in the excitement of the holidays. But, what could have been...
Here she is making her closing argument:
And the proud owners of a 50 franc bush:
The next day we got out some paints and went to work on our ornaments. I dare say we have a young artist in our midst!
(Warning, per usual: these images may contain nudity. Shocking, we know.)
All three of us joined in the fun and made some great memories to put on our tree this year and for years to come:
Then we put on some French Christmas music and proceeded to decorate the shrub! (The French holiday music lasted 4 minutes before Sarah said, what is this crud on the radio? It was no Frosty the Snowman, I'll tell you that.)
For the first year Lucia was really into it, so we all had a great time. It's funny how these traditions come full circle when you have kids. I forgot how special and fun it was to decorate the tree when I was younger. I hope she will feel the same.
We are excited to spend the holidays this year in our new home, in our new country. They say snow is on its way again this week, so it might be a white Christmas for us here. We miss you all and wish you the best for the holidays.
In our free time we managed to come up with a little holiday dance for you all. Enjoy:
Swiss Kids Holiday Dance 2010
Joyeuses fêtes (happy holidays),
Sarah, Jaime and Lucia
That is too funny!! I'll bet you have to play that for her umpteen times a day!
ReplyDeleteThe tree looks great and what fun to decorate with an excited 3 year old. It is fun when the kids are old enough to get into the spirit, isn't it? I have fond memories of those days.
So get out your sleds and mittens and enjoy the snowy mountains out your window and walks through your village lanes. I will imagine you there now that I have seen first hand the beauty of your countryside. Peace and love to you all. Nana
The kids and I enjoyed the dance very much! Reina and Luke in particular were so hysterical that they nearly peed! Thanks for the laugh... we miss you!
ReplyDeleteThe tree looks great... I had also picked out the perfect tree in record time, only to have Luke say he didn't like that one (in a very loud and near tantrum voice). So we walked in a circle through the rows of trees until I came to the same tree and said "what about this one Luke?" He said "YES! I LOVE IT!" ;)