"Throughout December, the place Kleber and the facade of the Aubette offer a magnificent backdrop for the illumination of the Great Christmas Tree ... Its twinkling lights and deep blue balls illuminate the night and give it a fairy like glitter, as in a dream."
Ok. I can only assume that the person who did this English translation is having a huge chuckle to him/herself.
Later in the same brochure, the following weekly event for kids is announced: "The Christmas Tree looses its balls."
Ok. If you don't believe me, the brochure is attached at the end of this posting.
Phewwwww ... it's been a busy month!
We have literally been on the go non-stop for the last month. Despite all the fun we've had in the last few weeks, I've really been looking forward to being at home and having a nice relaxing night to sip a glass of wine and update STRASblog.
Jess and Garrett's Visit
Jess and Garrett came for almost a week and, as always, we had a blast hanging out together. A couple days before they arrived we found out James passed his the surgery boards. So now, officially, he is a fully qualified general surgeon. Hurray! To celebrate, we organized a bowling party with James' work colleagues and Jess and Garrett:
I'm not sure why they're celebrating because I'm pretty sure my team kicked their butts.
Despite my domination, James looks like a very serious bowler :)
After getting home very late from a good night of bowling, we rallied the next day and went for a drive down the Route de Vin (the "wine road"). We got kind of a late start so we only had time to visit one wine maker. The wine was delicious and we were able to show J&G the beautiful countryside around Strasbourg so it was a successful day. Jess and I also got to pose for a picture with the famous (and handsome), French Rally car driver, Sebastien Loeb:
Jess and Garrett also got to spend some good quality time with Conor. They especially had fun giving him a bath and teaching him new ways to play with his bath toys:
The highlight of their visit, though, was the excellent Thanksgiving dinner we prepared. While upsetting to our local boucher, I was able to procure us a fresh turkey (not that easy because in France turkey is strictly eaten for Christmas ... eating it in November is kind of like wearing white shoes in winter). Jess and Garrett made a delicious stuffing and James made his speciality, brussels sprouts a la creme. My apple tart was a disaster but we'd had enough wine by that point not to care too much. It was a blow to my ego since I do fancy myself to be quite a good dessert baker.
Here's us being thankful:
After dinner we started watching YouTube videos. Has anyone else out there heard of literal videos? HILARIOUS!! Please watch the literal video for Total Eclipse of the Heart. I've watched it a few times now and it cracks me up each time. My favorite line (and it was quite hard to pick a favorite) is right at the end ... mullet with headlights! The link is below.
London
The same morning that Jess and Garrett left to go back to San Francisco, we left to go to London for the weekend to hang out with some of James' cousins. Surprisingly, it was actually kind of a relaxing weekend. We let ourselves sleep in each day and didn't try to do too too much.
One evening we went to the after-Christening party of one of James' cousin's new baby. James' cousin David Toft took some nice pictures of us at the pub:
One of the main reasons why we decided to go to London was to see James' aunt Brenda, his cousin Sinead and Sinead's two boys, Jack (4) and Paddy (3). Sinead and Brenda brought the boys to London for some Christmas shopping and to go to "Winter Wonderland" (a.k.a. Freeze You Ass Off And Spend A Lot Of Money Land). Basically, its a cheesy fair with rides that kids between the ages of 2 and 8 LOVE! We supremely lucked out because Conor is too young to beg us to let him go down insanely expensive carnival rides. Even though the fair was pretty miserable, we did get a cute picture of the new generation of cousins:
You may not recognize him but Conor is the one in the fur-lined stroller sleeping bag. Doesn't that look comfy?
Skiing in Tignes
Moments after getting home from London (ok ... a few days), we left for Tignes. Tignes is a ski village in the French Alps that is pretty close to the Italian border. I know this because the next big city, according to the freeway signs, was Milan.
James' wonderful co-worker, Vivian from the Netherlands, organized a fabulous long weekend for everyone in Tignes. James and I took turns watching Conor and skied half days. This worked out pretty well but I'm looking forward to a couple ski seasons from now when Conor is old enough to be dropped off at ski school :)
Here's some pics of the trip:
Conor with Parag
Conor just being cute
Me with Vivian and Luc
And that's it. We're finally back home and have some time to relax!
Conor Update: I think he might be starting to wave hello and goodbye. At the very least he sort of makes a waving motion if you wave to him.
Attachments:
http://www.noel.strasbourg.eu/PDF/2010/ProgramEN_WEB.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0d3I4T6R9E
No comments:
Post a Comment