Christmas...

We had a great Christmas week! Christmas Eve was spent at the Chapel's candlelight service - always a fun time of singing/playing christmas carols - and I even got to sing my "O Holy Night" arrangement! I think I've been singing that song for 16 years!!! The kids had opened several gifts already, which helped me get my baking done. I love for the kids to learn and watch, but it gets VERY stressful in our small kitchen with six extra hands :) "Santa" brought the kids rollerblades and Lauren a huge kitchen! They all had fun with that, which was hilarious because Lauren wanted them to leave her kitchen alone!!
Apparently the Friday after Christmas is a holiday, so Germany and Luxembourg were closed - the stores, that is! So, we decided on a day trip to Belgium. Turns out there are all these shops only 1 1/2 hours away!! The Christmas market was still up, so we had our last taste of Gluhwein in addition to lots of shopping. Living in Europe is quite a kick at times...we stopped at a random restaurant - forgot to mention that they speak French in Belguim. Quickly I thought back to my one year of French at Altus High School (OK) and managed to navigate a menu and order edible food! It's taken several trips to France, but I finally have my confidence up for French!! Don't worry ya'll, come visit and we can manage Spain, France AND Germany!!
We are just thankful...we sent out an email letter and picture cards will hopefully be sent out before January is over, but God has been so good to us. We are so happy to be together as a family - even when the kids are fighting and I'm screaming at everyone to get out of the kitchen or no one gets cookies! Looking back, those moments seem so small in the grand scheme of life....even if my husband couldn't find a decent Christmas card...I told him "Feliz Navidad" would have been appropriate because we are moving to Texas after all :)