Christmas in Austin

The beautiful Grandma Grape.

Isa and Bryn hosting their cousins and doing a great job. (the statue could represent Rach, Tommy and Kate!)

Kate. She is nearly 4 months old and it is our first time to meet her. I LOVE to snuggle her. Very cuddly and happy baby.

Rach takes pictures of herself in the car....I gave her my camera to distract her thoughts from throwing up in my car!

Tommy...wondering how much more fun can he take. He and Rach and Katie are fighting fevers and coughs.

The Oasis Restaurant: superb view over the Travis Lake

Dallin arrives after a 7 hour delay at the airport. Instead of a mid-afternoon arrival, he came in at midnight. But he only jumped from the frying pan into the fire when he came to our house with 'up at 5:45am kids'....forget catching up on any sleep!

Shopping the After Christmas sales!

Noel in the lead with Rach on a tag-a-long. Tom on his own bike. Jake pulling the kid wagon with Isa and Tommy.

It was a perfectly warm, beautiful day. We rode the Lance Armstrong Trail. Very fitting while in Austin!

Everyone got to bike...we took turns between watching kids and biking

Colie's Birthday dinner at Kirby Lane just before picking up Jake's family at the airport.

Colie's birthday party....pedicure's for the girls. It was the FIRST time for both Nicole and I. Sad statement, huh?

Natalie and Noel get the 'Host of The Year' award for hosting all of us. Really. Think of all the elements of this large gathering. They seem to be handling it all ok....I guess they are holding off their meltdown until after we leave.

And not to forget Christmas morning. There were tons of presents even though we tried really, really hard to keep it simple. I loved talking with Elder Herway. A bit hard to hang up. Fun to be all together 'virtually' on the conference call.

Thanks to all the kids for the GPS! I'm trying it out in Austin and I am still on a high learning curve. Thanks so much everyone!!!

Christmas Markets in France

Jake, I thought about you several times as we tromped around Colmar and Strasbourg. Fabulous, quaint cities and all aglow with Christmas cheer. I went with a few friends from church and my favorite part was playing games and talking until 1am in the morning. The Alsace region is beautiful, add that with some great friends, good food, and Christmas time and it was magical.

Christmas In Belgium

This is mostly for Natalie(who requested this information)....or anybody else who might not be clear exactly what traditions are specifically Belgian. I had some of the Holland and/or German/and or French traditions mixed in, but I got a straight shot from my friend Freya.

Christmas in Belgium

Sometime in November, St. Nicolas comes via boat into the Antwerp harbor. He is welcomed by the Mayor and there is a big celebration in the city.

On Dec 5, the night before St Nicolas Day, which is Dec 6^th, the children put out their shoes and inside there is a carrot and sugar for the white horse, whose name is Morgan. They sing songs to St. Nicolas. In the morning there are gifts for the good children. If you were naughty, then Black Pete puts you in his bag and takes you away to Spain. This is the biggest gift the children will receive during the season. It can be a bicycle or something like that. Once the children stop believing in St. Nicolas, then the gift giving also stops. (so they fake believing for several years!)

Song: Dag, Dag, Dag Sinter Klaas, Dag, Dag, Dag to the white horse, etc.

Even if St Nick Day falls on a school day, the celebration is always held exactly on Dec 6^th.

On Christmas Day, there is a gift exchange between the children and their parents. Children buy gifts for their parents, and parents buy for the children, but much smaller than on Dec 6^th. Usually it will be pajamas, or a nice sweater, or a new shirt, 20 euros,etc.

On New Year’s Day, the children have been preparing letters for their grandparents, parents, and god-parents, in school, and this is the day that the children present their letters to their parents and grand-parents, and god-parents. They stand in front of their parent and read aloud the letter they have written. It will start out by them saying, “In Moorsel, Jan 1^st, 2010, Dear Momma and Poppa….” Usually the sentiments include that they will be good children and that they think their parents are the best in the world. They are then rewarded with a small treat or a small coin (from the parents)

After they read their letter to their grandparents, the grandparents will give their big gift to their grandchildren. For the middle class family, approximately 100 euros to each child. (most Grandparents usually have 3 or 4 grandchildren). The God-parents also give a gift to their god-children, about 50 euros. In fact, any relative adult who may be in attendance should be prepared to “open their wallet”…whether it is an Aunt or an Uncle, etc. (A letter should be prepared and read to these adults in attendance as well) In some neighborhoods, families also go door-to-door in their neighborhood and sing to their neighbors and the children are given a small sweet or a small coin.

On Jan 6^th, which is 3 Kings Day, the children will dress up like a King and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, and again sing to their neighbors. The neighbor should give the children a small treat.

So there you have it. From the mouth of a Belgian, and I got her very own traditions that she practiced as a girl, and that they practice in their family today. My Holland friends say they have a few tweeks....a few differences. I'll post those another day.

Cinqcontinaire Brussels

street performer dressed from film (from the web)

Our Thanksgiving week-end

View from the breakfast room.

St. Angelo

Seriously, park wherever you can!

Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's Door

ABC: another boring church...not really, it was gorgeous

Piazza Navona always inspires

Oh man, I didn't throw in a coin! I hate to think what that means....

De Meo Patacca

Tom had Carruso serenaded to him. He was a happy man!

Ostia: second only to Pompeii in being perserved.

I love the old road. This town was deserted when Rome was taken over by the Gauls, then the river silted over and the town was preserved till now...It's been standing since before Christ, and was the main port for supplying military support. Hard to imagine. I think seeing Ostia was Tom's highlight.

oh so rome

Don't think this is all there is....more to come

Still gives me a laugh

I was cleaning out some of my papers and came across this golden entry:

Sept 23: An assault was reported at the BYU vs. UTah Sate football game Saturday. The victim, a male BYU student, was standing in front of the suspect, a female BYU student and obstructing the female's view of the game. The female asked the male, who didn't have a ticket in that section of the stadium, to sit down or move. The man refused. An argument ensued and the event's staff asked the man to sit down which he would not. The male victim allegedly called the suspect a derogatory name and asked her, "What are you doing to do to get me to sit down? Slap me?" The female suspect then slapped the male victim. The victim did not press charges.

Nicole, you are awesome!
Oh, I must say that there was an opening paragraph that said.....Police Beat. "Here it is. The best of the best. The ones we put on our refrigerator that kept us laughing for days, and prompt us to call a friend to share a story. The ones that can always bring a smile to our faces."

Can I just add one more that was listed?
Nov 24: An individual in Deseret Towers reported five suspicious men playing pool in the lobby of one of the halls. Upon investigation it was found the men were simply students playing pool with their girlfriends.

The police in Provo must really have a tough beat!

All Saints Day

I hope you don't think this is too weird. But I love how the cemeteries are all so beautiful for All Saints Day. It was Nov 1st and every cemetery is so colorful with all the mums. And now that it is after Nov 1st...you can buy mums at the Carrefour for only ONE euro! I got a couple for my back patio.

Valletta, the Capitol

From Valletta overlooking the Three Cities

Laundry out to dry....

The tug boat glides in front of the island where the movie 'Gladiator' was filmed. The island wasn't open to the public. Tom was thoroughly disappointed.

Valletta was the first European city built on a grid system. Nice straight streets going from one side of the island to the other.

Look how cool the box windows are...on both sides of the building

View from the city walls over to the Three cities

Their buses were very unique looking

The market had a real 'turkish' feel to it with lots of spices and grains

The Maltese 'eye' found on their boats

One day we visited this fishing village, and bought our lunch at the outdoor market.

The view from our balcony. Just over the water is Valletta. We stayed in Sliema.

The infinity pool. I had the hardest time getting the real effect of it. It was awesome.

Another angle of the pool. Can you see the sea in the corner. It was a perfect place for that kind of pool. Seriously it felt like infinity. Does that have a 'feel'?

Another view from our rooftop pool

This promenade goes from Sliema to St Julien and we walked it every night to watch the lights and the water and the people. It's at least several miles long.