Christmas Day in Brussels

Because of our upcoming trip to the States, we decided that Christmas morning in our home would be on Saturday. So on Christmas Eve Grayson baked Santa some chocolate chip cookies, and periodically looked out the window to see if he could see Santa's sleigh.

Milk and cookies for Santa, broccoli for the reindeers

This was the first Christmas that Grayson really understood Santa. He went to bed pretty well, but woke up once in the middle of the night saying he was scared, then asking about Santa. He was excited!

In the morning, Grayson was hoping to find a dinosaur under the tree. He found a lot more!

A dinosaur!

Percy - Thomas's tank engine friend

Building a new race car

A Dora and Diego video!

There's presents in the stocking too!

Bubbles!

"Reading" a Thomas book

And here's a short video for you too ;)

I Give Up . . .

Our Christmas cards are just going to be late. This year I ordered these cute photo cards from the U.S. Had them shipped to Atlanta, then Atlanta shipped them to me in Brussels. Then I spent a week addressing them. Then . . . I discovered that instead of the usual .90 euro it costs to send a letter overseas, that my standard U.S. cards are not standard in Belgium. Of course not, that would be too easy, and nothing in Belgium is ever easy. They are 1/4 inch too tall.

So instead of .90 euro per card, I was going to have to pay 2.70 euro per card to mail them. And given the weak dollar, that's like almost 4 bucks a card. And if I risked it and used the .90 euro stamps in hopes that they wouldn't notice the extra 1/4 inch, then instead of receiving our card you might have received a notice from the U.S. postal service requiring you to go to the post office to pick up our card - - and pay the remaining 1.80 euro. And then you would never again send us a Christmas card, in hopes that we'd take you off our list.

So instead I'm going to take them with me on the plane when we fly to the States next week and mail them from the Atlanta airport. Which means you will receive them long after Christmas. And if you don't receive one at all, I apologize. It is because I wrote our Belgian return address on all 75 cards, and I'm certain the U.S. postal service won't return any misaddressed cards to me in Belgium.

So here's a copy of our card this year. Maybe next year I'll just skip the whole card thing and send you all e-cards. We'll see. But for now, Merry Christmas to you all. We miss you so much, and hope that we get to visit with you when we're in the States.

Love,
Shannon

Christmastime in London

Christmastime in London is almost as exciting, vibrant, and over-the-top as it is in the U.S. Last week Grayson and I tagged along on Tony's business trip. I was a bit hesitant at first, because I knew it would be chilly in London. But I'm so glad we went. London at Christmastime is beautiful! Here are the highlights . . .

Double decker buses and Christmas lights in the West End

The department stores all try to outdo each other with elaborate lights and window displays

All the trees along Oxford Street were covered in blue lights

Hamley's is one of the world's largest toy stores. We spent several hours there playing with all of the toys they set out for the kids, including three separate Thomas choo choo sets!

More lights in the West End

The Christmas Tree at Trafalgar Square is given each year to London by the city of Oslo, Norway, in thanks for Britain's help during World War II (you can see Big Ben in the distance)

We were there a little over 2 years ago as well. Back then I spent hours wandering through the art museums with Grayson contentedly strapped to me . . . this trip was much different.

Every night there are carolers at Trafalgar Square

We rode the London Eye at night

Out the window Grayson spotted Big Ben, at which he yelled "that's Peter Pan's clock!"

It takes thirty minutes to ride all the way up and around the London Eye - plenty of time for photos

This was Grayson's second time riding the London Eye

He was such a cute baby, I just had to throw in another photo

A steel drum band in the West End, playing caribbean-style Christmas songs, including Grayson's favorite, Jingle Bells

A turkey at the Battersea Park Children's Zoo

At Selfridge's (a big department store) Grayson rode a choo choo . . .

on his way to meet . . .

Santa!

Since he already got his firetruck from Santa, this time he asked for an airplane

A gospel choir sang jazzy Christmas songs in Covent Garden

We sat in the street to listen

Grayson loved the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History

And we brunched at Le Pain Quotidien - our favorite Belgian cafe is in London!

Bye bye London - we loved you then, we love you now!

Top Ten reasons I love London:

1. Everyone speaks English.
2. There are 137 Starbucks in London. I know. I drank a latte from every one.
3. There are 120 Gap stores in the UK. I know. I dragged Grayson into almost every one.
4. There is no dog poop on the sidewalks.
5. Splenda is always provided for your coffee, along with the cute sugar cubes.
6. Everyone is so polite - even the guys on the sidewalk trying to get you to take a free newspaper call you "'mam" and tell you to have a nice day in a genuinely nice way, even if you refuse their papers.
7. There are Borders and Waterstones and WH Smith, and they are all filled with books in English. Pure literary heaven.
8. Did I mention the Starbucks?
9. Did I mention that I drank massive lattes and cappucinos and mochas every day?
10. And that they had basically zero calories because there was plenty of Splenda on hand?

Thanksgiving, A Little Late

Because we missed having a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving (we were in Disneyland Paris, so no complaints), but still craved turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, we invited our French friends over to share this uniquely American experience with us. They had never had an American Thanksgiving meal, and here's what Séverine wrote on her blog:

Shannon et Tony nos amis américains nous ont proposé de fêter avec un peu de retard Thanksgiving. Grande première pour nous qui avons savouré un délicieux dîner traditionnel. Bravo Shannon ! qui a dit que les américains ne savaient pas cuisiner ?!

She basically says that it was their first traditional Thanksgiving meal, and the last sentence says "Bravo Shannon! Who says the Americans can't cook?!"

I am now one very happy cook.

Cooking a Thanksgiving meal in Belgium is nothing like cooking it in America. There is no Butterball, no Pepperidge Farm, no Libby's, no canned sweet potatoes, no jarred gravy, etc. I made everything fresh and from scratch (except that I cheated and used a can of pumpkin my friend Melissa brought me from the U.S.). I ordered our turkey from our local Poullerie (poultry butcher) a week early. When I went to pick it up the butcher brought it out to me to inspect. Looks good I said (in French) and she gave me a funny look. Then she reached underneath the turkey and stretched out his neck so that I could see his neck and head. YACK! No, no, no I said, and she laughed. She must have been asking me if I wanted it gutted, not if it looked good. Absolutely yes - YES! She said the turkey was very, very fresh. Yep - was probably clucking the day before.

Aside from the minor panic at seeing my turkey in its newly plucked glory, the meal turned out great. From now on, even in the U.S., I'll be making stuffing from scratch and trying to find a fresh turkey instead of a neatly packaged and frozen Butterball one. I'll just be sure to ask for them to decapitate the poor thing before I arrive ;)

Grayson and Castalie, watching Dora's Christmas, en Francais.

Our Little Linus

We rented "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and Grayson was happy to see that Linus has a blue blankie just like his. Grayson loves his blue blankie even more than his lovey. He sleeps with both, but if we can't find lovey he'll still sleep. If we can't find blue blankie we turn the house upside down until we do.

Santa Made an Early Stop (We Caved)

It had been two weeks since Grayson asked Santa for a firetruck. Two weeks of being asked about 500 times a day "where's my firetruck." This question came every morning when he woke up, every night when he went to bed, and often in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep because he was so excited about the firetruck.

So we decided to call the North Pole and ask Santa to make an early stop. To our delight, Santa agreed. Now Grayson, Mommy, and Daddy are all much happier - - and getting more sleep.

Our Pizmas Tree

Last weekend we bought our Christmas tree. Grayson was very excited - he knew it meant that Santa would be coming soon with his firetruck! He can't quite say "Christmas" - so what we have is a Pizmas Tree with Pizmas lights!

Picking out a tree

Buying some sweets

The Boy Scouts of AMERICA are in Belgium!

Tying the tree to our tiny car

Our little helper

Will it fit in our elevator???

Hanging the ornaments

And aren't these the cutest PJs in the whole world? Too bad we had to take them off an hour after we took this photo - Grayson had broken out in a rash!