merry christmas

Wishing all of our family and friends, near and far, a very merry Christmas!  We hope that your day is filled with love and joy, cozy pajamas, warm drinks and turkey.  

Thinking of you all. 

cookie party

Yesterday we had some of the kids over to decorate cookies and had such a fun morning! There were sweets galore - cookies and sprinkles and icing and hot chocolate. I tried to sneak in a few healthy items too - grapes and cheese and Christmas oranges - but the cookies 

were the star attraction.

Jacob was more into cookie eating than decorating and munched around with his little sticky fingers all coated in sprinkles. Our French friends haven't ever decrated Christmas sugar cookies and 

were pretty impressed.

These eggnog sugar cookies are my favorite for the holiday's and I make them every Christmas.  

 Before

After

Just look at these cute cookies!

The big kids hard at work

While the three little ones make good use of the toys

How pretty are these cookies one of the Czech mom's brought over!?

christmas choir

I'm happy to say that Jake shares my love of Christmas music, hooray!  Every morning after breakfast he says "dance, dance" and drags me by the hand to the computer, which is my signal to start the Christmas music.  Then he bobs and dances around.  What could possibly be better!?

If you need something to get you into the Spirit of Christmas, all you need to do is follow this link.  My lovely friend Alyse shared it with me and and we are so thankful.  It is the Fargo-Moorhead Master Chorale.  It couldn't be any more beautiful!  Perfect for cozy evenings, cookie baking and hot chocolate sipping.

When each song ends, Jake stops whatever it is he's doing and claps along with the audience.  He is a fan.

château de pierrefonds

We visited the Castle of Pierrefonds last week and marveled at the fact that it was first built in the Middle-ages.  The castle was originally built in the 12th Century, upgraded in 1393, ruined in war and then bought by Napoleon in the 1800's and restored.  It was huge and imposing and impossible to imagine how they built it so many years ago. 

As we walked through the castle's great stone rooms, I couldn't help but imagine how much work it would have taken to keep a castle warm in the winter!

family skate

We all went to the rink with Billy for the team's family skate.  Even though Bill didn't skate, Jacob got to play with hockey sticks, run around the dressing room and take a skate around the arena with Jake and Kaytie.  We all had a lot of fun.   

 

 

 

brussels

Christmas lights, crepes, chocolates, beautiful gilded buildings and a little light rain.  That was what filled our day in Brussels, Belgium.  The city was so festive and the Christmas market packed.  I was in search of wooden Christmas decorations, like the ones we've seen in Germany and Austria, but this market was instead all about food and gifts.  We enjoyed browsing the stalls while Billy rested 

his injured muscles.  

The streets were littered with beautiful little chocolate boutiques and decked out for the holiday season.  We coudn't resist bringing some Belgium chocolates home with us.  

o christmas tree and sinterklaas

We put up our tree and some decorations with Graham while listening to Christmas carols and sipping hot chocolate.  Our place is now looking warm and festive.  Jake thinks the tree is great; he loves the lights and thankfully hasn't been terrorizing any of the ornaments.  

Of course we tried to take a group picture in-front of the tree, but Jake wasn't in a cooperative mood.  I couldn't get a single shot of his sweet little face.  He is in constant motion and isn't about to 

pause for the camera. 

Then we cut, strung and hung snowflakes to make a snowflake curtain.  They make for a really festive and beautiful window. 

And happy birthday Saint Nicholas.  

This morning everyone woke-up with some treats in their shoes.  Something we've been doing since living in the Netherlands. 

bûche de noël

This was an impulse buy at the grocery store a couple of days ago!  And it turned out to be such a tasty dessert.  So what is Bûche de Noël?  It is a traditional Christmastime dessert here in France that is made from a very thin sponge cake.  It's then frosted with chocolate, coffee or caramel buttercream, rolled-up into a log, frosted again on the top and textured to resemble bark.  It symbolizes the yule log and when you cut into it, the rolled-up cake looks like tree rings.  They are often decorated with powdered sugar to look like snow, 

tree branches and fresh berries.  How sweet!

(Note that the box says: pastry, cream and butter.  Sold.)

 It was so good that I went out and bought another.  Chocolate this time, so we could enjoy it with Graham.

I will be sure to make this long after we leave France and add 

it to our Christmas traditions.

yay, no tears

Today Jake went in for his first professional haircut.  And guess what?  It was a completely different experience from our attempt at a home-cut.  There was no crying, no screaming, no arm restraining and no food bribes.  And another bonus, this time around Jake won't be terrified of the bathtub for three weeks (It turned out to be a big mistake to do the trim in the bathtub, even if he was sitting in a chair, fully clothed.  Traumatic). 

He got to hold a hair brush and hair clips and help sweep-up afterwards, which was probably the highlight of the experience.  He is such a little helper.  He didn't like his ears being touched but was too shy do anything but shrink down a little and look worried. 

The only bummer is that I didn't get any pictures in the salon.  He sat on his own in the chair and I was too busy holding on, making sure he didn't jump.  But here are a few pictures we took at home. 

Before:

 

After:

a few things

- Billy is back from another crazy, long weekend on the bus!  When we heard his keys in the door this morning, Jake squealed "daaad".

- Jake never gets to watch TV.  We never even have it on in the background and it actually isn't even plugged-in.  We have a little reading light plugged-in instead.  However Billy and Jake recently started a little morning ritual of watching hockey highlights on the computer in the morning.  He sits on Billy's lap, in total concentration and signs more when the clips end.  They are so sweet together!

- Today for Sunday lunch we are making French toast.  Just the regular kind, but this version is good too.  We have maple syrup, honey, caramel sauce and this strawberry rose petal jam for toppings.  The last few Sunday's we've been having delicious pancakes and hot porridge.

- The BC Lions play in the Grey Cup tonight and although I'm not the worlds greatest football fan, whenever the Lions play, I think of my Grandpa. I have the fondest momories of him and I love days like this when they come rushing back. So, go Lions!

- I found some Cheddar cheese in the grocery store yesterday, called Scottish Cheddar, and it is the best I have ever found in Europe!  It has me wishing I could find graham crackers here.  I ate cheese and graham crackers for lunch everyday of Elementary school.  Such an odd and delicious combination. (Just a little fact: I was a picky eater as a child.  I never ate a sandwich until the latter years of high school.  Sorry Mom, what a pain in the butt I must've been!)  If they sold molasses here, I would make these graham crackers.     

- Tonight we are planning on walking through the Christmas market for some hot beer and spiced orange juice.  Now if only we had a little snow.    

jus d'orange chaud

Our Christmas market starts today!  All the lights are strung and little red booths are scattered all throughout the downtown.  Now all we need is just a little snow.  I can hardly wait to stroll through this evening.  

 So here is something to add to your next holiday party or a cozy night at home: hot, spiced orange juice.  They serve it at the Christmas market here in France and it's truly festive and so delicious.  One of my favourite things to walk downtown for and stroll though the Christmas stalls with.  And this is coming from someone who doesn't drink orange juice.

Note: this recipe yields approximately 1 liter.  Also note that the measurements are kind of funny - one bottle, large glass... - precision isn't too important here.    

You will need:
1 bottle of orange juice (not nectar)
1 large glass of water
150 g of sugar
1 stick of cinnamon (or 1 / 2 teaspoon of powder)
1 star anise or some anise seeds
2 cloves
1 orange
1 lemon
……………………………………..

Wash and cut orange and lemon into slices, keeping the peel on.

In large pot simmer water, cinnamon , lemon, orange, cloves and anise for 5 minutes.   Add the orange juice and sugar.  Heat on medium without boiling. 

Remove from heat and strain (using cheese cloth if you've used cinnamon powder) over a bowl.

image via Canelle et Vanille

twinkling city

Paris is all lit-up for the holidays.

The windows and streets are glowing.

It couldn't be any prettier.

Kaytie and I went for the afternoon to do a little shopping.

We warmed-up with Chai teas.

Fast-walked all over Paris.

And brought a few macarons home with us.

It was the longest I have ever been apart from my sweet Jake.

It was such a fun day and perfectly festive!

If you feel like sharing my festive mood, 

here are a few Christmas songs:

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

Thanks to Kaytie for taking all the great pictures!  
The last one, the full view of Galeries Lafayette, I found on travelersmust.com.  
And it was a travel must, really spectacular.