Christmas 2011

The International school has a 3 week Christmas break. 3 weeks! Prior to this break, the thought of 3 weeks alone with my kids left me shaking in my Hans Solo boots. The good news is that aside from a nasty bout of mastitis (for me), we had a great holiday. The 3 oldest kids were more than content to hang out at home, which- for the most part- is exactly what we did. It was perfect for me and Clara.

Christmas was a low key, but sweet, family affair. On Christmas Eve we headed to downtown Basel to enjoy this season's Christmas markets one last time. Tragically we found them all packed up and abandoned. We quickly switched to plan B which entailed dinner at Papa Joes American Restaurant. This place is about as un-Swiss as you can get. Its loud, crammed with tacky decor, and serves things like chicken wings, fajitas and burgers. Think Applebees, Chilis and Joe's Crab Shack. We loved it. We rounded out the night by acting out the nativity story. Clara was perfect in her reenactment as baby Jesus.

On Christmas morning the kids woke up to find their booty from Santa. Santa in Switzerland is a little tricky because the Swiss don't really acknowledge him. Their version- Samichlaus- comes on December 6th and delivers sweets and fruit. The tricky part is trying to explain to Sam and Luke why Santa visits us, but not some of the other kids at their school. Whether they bought our explanations or not, they were thrilled with their gifts...more lego...yea...

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year we went to church, which really was lovely. It was especially nice to see all of the church members on Christmas, who we consider to be our family over here. We feel so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives.

After church we went home to open the rest of the presents, and then to skpe with our families. During our calls we received one more Christmas present....the news that my little brother Joe proposed to his girlfriend Vanessa! We are so excited to have another sister/aunt in the family! Congratulations!