The day after Thanksgiving Seth and I got busy putting up the tree and decorating the house so that everyone could enjoy it, particularly Nana before she heads back to Thailand. We have been playing Christmas music and getting in the spirit!  I kept our decorations minimal this year with only some non-breakable Christmas ornaments on the tree, some fresh greenery around the house and one non-breakable nativity. I am normally one of those people that thinks kids should just learn not to touch, yada, yada. But, in light of the fact that Owen is cherishing each moment of his fast approach to the big 2 I decided to just cool it this year with my goals and aspirations of beauty and perfection. And so, we are keeping it simple. And really simple is turning out to be quite beautiful. Who knew?!

On Sunday morning I set Nana and Jackson up at the dining room table by the Christmas tree to decorate a gingerbread house. From the get go I knew it was going to be a funny experience but one I hoped would make fun memories for both of them. I set them up and took Owen out for a walk once I knew they were okay for at least a few minutes. When I returned they were both covered in marshmallow creme and the house had collapsed a good 3 times already. The house is partially standing now and Jackson is quite proud of their work. Nana on the other hand has found me now on 3 occasions to discuss how various pastes and sugar glues might have been preferable.

Here are some funny pictures of them…

He was a bit skeptical of her ability to read the directions in Swedish!

crash #1!  Oh my!

“TA DA!”

Nana woke up this morning and said she had packed her bag and would be leaving today. Turns out it is $2500 to change the ticket (which we knew but spent an entire morning confirming for her sake) so she has decided to stay the remaining time. She is anxious to get back to Bangkok and get resettled now that the flooding has subsided but we will continue to entertain her at Swiss Chalet Kolb in the meantime.  Maybe we will move on to Christmas cookies next!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of you! We hope that you all found yourselves with family and friends, with plenty to eat and much to be thankful for! We truly are so blessed.  There is a lot more I could write on the topic of being blessed but for now I will leave you with some pictures.

For Thanksgiving we had 2 couples over, both American girls married to Swiss men. We were excited to introduce them because we knew they both might enjoy having friends in their same boat.  As I mentioned in the last post, my cousin Nathan was also able to join us, along with Nana! So it was a full table!    We had puh-lenty of food! (we had so much food that last night we had friends over for a leftovers dinner! and then sent leftovers home with them )

Menu

Appetizers

Stuffed Mushrooms

Brie Baked in puff pastry with raspeberry chipotle sauce

Prosecco with cranberry syrup

Apple punch

Dinner

Turkey

Cornbread stuffing

Green beans with shallots

Sweet Potato Casserole

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Cranberry sauce

Last but certainly not least…my mom’s Parker House rolls

Dessert

Apple Crumble Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Luckily our friends brought the mashed potatoes and the pies so I didn’t cook all of it!

PS- I find that when I am hosting a dinner or party I am terrible at taking pictures! Which I think means I am super busy enjoying it and that’s better than being distracted by the camera!

Well I have started a couple of posts since the last one but the life has continued to happen and here we are. It’s been a while! This will be a quick catch up post! I will try not to bore you!

Last Sunday we took a drive to Thun with Nana. It was quite chilly and a bit cloudy but she enjoyed seeing the castle and getting out along the lake. In the afternoon we came home and made rootbeer floats…I had saved a couple of root beers in the secret stash and knew it was one of Nana’s favorite treats. The boys had never had a float so they loved it too! (turns out we can now get root beer in our store…only it’s sold in the beer section!)

Our other big outing of last week, pre-Thanksgiving was Ikea! I needed a few things and thought it might be a bit nutty with my trio but everyone was antsy to get out and I needed to get it done. We got some of the things we needed.  And following someone banging on the car door to tell us to turn the car off while it warmed Nana while I ran in for bread, an EPIC tantrum from Owen and my blood pressure being dangerously high we headed home…and I cried. I promised myself I will never go to Ikea with my toddlers..and grandmother. Ikea is meant to be savored!

On Tuesday of last week my cousin Nathan arrived with these…

Nathan was taking an R&R from his work in South Sudan. He was visiting France and decided to pop on over. We loved having him here and hated to see him go!  He was able to stay for Thanksgiving which was so fun! He is a great cook so I lucked out and had a chef in the kitchen for the holiday….did I mention he was craving Thai food so made a feast for us on the night before Thanksgiving. I contributed spring rolls but he did the rest! We were happy to offer him something other than boiled goat.  Thanks for sharing your R&R with us Nathan!

Two posts in one day folks, here comes Thanksgiving!!!

On Friday evening our family participated in Jackson’s class lantern parade. His preschool class made lanterns and walked around the neighborhood near the school singing and shining their lights. I asked the teacher what the history of the tradition was and she said she had no idea. So, sorry I have no idea where the tradition comes from but it was fun!

so much for all of the matchy ,matchy winter gear. I got the boys all set with hats, gloves and scarves and we battle everyday for them to wear them. A Swiss friend offered Jackson this hat/scarf/earmuffs which he happily wears!! Thank goodness we found something he doesn’t find too itchy!!

brrrrr! so cold!

Twinkle Little Star

rollin’ with it…cold and tired!

If I am honest it was fun for Jackson but a very frustrating night for Seth and I as parents! There was confusion with the director on whether or not Jackson was coming so she didn’t have his lantern ready like the other kids. Thank goodness some sweet teachers found a stick like the other kids after the director told me to go out in the dark and find him one. It’s a long story but all of it made me so happy about our decision to return stateside for a bit. I get so weary of the cultural hurdles and mama bear comes out when I feel like we are treated differently….and with little respect. Just so happy that I can walk into kindergarten with Jackson next year and just be one of the parents with one of the kids.