Merry Christmas

Santa apparently knew what to leave at our house.  Isaac got a play kitchen.  Hopefully, this will let him "help" cook without grabbing any actual kitchen knives or pots.  Claire got one of the few things that actually matters to her...food.  We also gave her a new play mat.  Isaac gave her a plush duck for Christmas, which he's tried very hard to get her to play with.  He pretends the duck is licking her face like we do with his stuffed puppy.

This morning was probably the last Christmas for a while that we were the first to get up.  I'm not sure Isaac realized he was going to open presents until we handed him the first wrapped gift.  We were able to get up, make coffee, make cinnamon rolls, and feed Claire before I went to get Isaac out of his room.  It'll never happen again, but we enjoyed it immensely.  He's currently engrossed in a Charlie Brown movie that was left in his stocking.

Last night, we had a really good turnout at the Christmas Eve Service on SHAPE.  The road condition was listed as "black," so we were pretty unsure how many people would make it.  The praise band didn't get to practice until an hour beforehand because several of them had been snowed in.  Hopefully the service was a worshipful time.

Dinner is marinating in the fridge now, so everything is ready for friends coming over this evening.  Nothing to do for the next few hours but relax, watch some Christmas movies, and nap after a late night last night.



Let It Snow...

The last week has been a bit busy.  I played catch up the first half of the week.  Wednesday, I helped lead a "Lessons and Carols" service with a British chaplain.  This is the first time I've put on any type of clerical robe in several years.  Anyway, we were on the road the next morning to go to Landstuhl, Germany.  My assistant had surgery, and we wanted to go up to check on her.  The roads coming back were sheets of ice.  We managed to stay out of the ditches, but had a couple of slides that weren't a lot of fun.  The last couple of days were spent getting ready for some entertaining this week.  As you can see from the pictures, the snow from the last couple of days is beginning to pile up.

You can also see Isaac's new way of entertaining himself with the Christmas gifts.  He's ignored the gifts up to this point, but this morning he thought they'd make good blocks.  This would be funny except for the only reason he stacks blocks is so he can knock (or kick) them down. 

He wore me out in the snow this afternoon.  I tried with very little success to get him interested in a snowman.  However, his favorite snow activity is making me get a running start before diving into the snow.  My head still hurts and we came back inside three hours ago.

I've added some pictures to the photo albums, including some of Claire.  To the left is her first attempt at eating solid food.

Brussels Christmas Market

This morning, we caught the train into Brussels to spend a few hours at the Christmas Market there. Every large and small town has begun having a Christmas market, which normally consists of venders specializing in Christmas junk, regional specialties, etc. It's a German tradition that has spread into more and more of Europe. Brussell's market is supposedly one of the better ones.

This was also our first experience using the train system to travel. (Thus the picture of everyone sitting on the train platform). We'd used buses once, but stuck to using the car for the most part with the kids. We'll definitely use trains for any trip we can within Belgium.

Otherwise, it's been a busy week. I've been a bit sick, which has made Emily's week that much busier. Last night was the children's Christmas Party with our FRG. They made ginger bread houses. Isaac ate an entire plate of candy that was supposed to go on his house. He then had a plastic cup full of sweedish fish and candy corn, which he brought home. I'm kind of unsure how we got that cup, and really hope he didn't take it away from some other kid. He continued to argue with everyone who tried to tell him he was in Belgium. Since the second weekend of November, he's refused that he could possibly be in any European country besides Germany. It becomes an intense argument if anyone tried to convince him otherwise. (On a related note, Em no longer thinks it would be a good idea to put him in the Belgian school system).

Isaac obviously was not a fan of Santa Claus.  I don't actually think it was Santa as much as me making him leave his plate of M&Ms (Yes, a plate of M&Ms) on the table so he could see Santa Clause.

Cold Weather

Starting a couple of days after Thanksgiving, we had a week with high temperatures that never reached freezing. On top of that, we had several days with light snow showers. You can see in the picture that it never really got thick enough to matter. It was just enough to make the yard look pretty and the roads to be a pain.

The ice on the sidewalks forced me onto the exercise bike or to treadmills in the gym, which I always hate to do. I'm supposed to start marathon training in a week or so for the Paris Marathon in April. I dread to even think about the training.

Otherwise, there's not a lot going on. We finished Christmas shopping last week. The tree is up. The house is decorated. Isaac has developed a great love for "A Charlie Brown Christmas." We have to change it's hiding place almost daily because once he finds it, he'll find a way to climb to whatever shelf it's on.