Joyeux Noel

Merry Christmas! What a great day. Nothing is better than spending an ENTIRE day doing absoulutely nothing but playing with your kids. It was so much fun! I think Christmas is the only day your kids can wake you up at 6 in the morning, and you are happy about it.

5:43 am. We awoke to the shuffle of small feet and Daxton's little voice whispering in my ear "Mom, open please." He then showed me the mini-m&m's that he had already unwrapped from his stocking. Turns out that Josh and Daxton were up extra early and had seen the display of presents and stuffed stockings and could not restrain themselves. They each dumped out their stocking and opened a few treats while Cam and I were still dreaming of sugar plums.

Here are the faces of Christmas:

Giggles

Laughter

Excitement

Exhaustion

Brussels holds a beautiul Christmas Market every year. It is full of all the sights and sounds of Christmas.

We took our small family there last Tuesday and had a wonderful time eating festive foods (including Bratwurst and Sauerkraut-yum), all the while trying to stay warm in the frigid temperatures.

Here is a clip of the light display in Grand Place.

The highlight of the evening were two antique carousels. They were incredible-no painted ponies on these, instead an octopus crawling up and down, a jumping grasshopper, a flying plane, boats, and a rocket ship. It was awesome! (I so wanted to ride!) Here is a clip. Josh is in the rocket and Daxton, the plane.

We also had our ward Christmas party this month, and we had a special visitor at the end!

Josh-

Josh was an Ox in our ward's nativity production. Please, hold your laughter when you look at his costume. In my defense, I had very limited resources. He is sitting next to his good friend, Blake, who was a sheep.

Here is Josh in his rocket at the Christmas market. The rocket went up and down, clear up and out of the tent (they had a hole in the top of the tent that it passed through.) I have never seen anything like it!

Josh's last day of French school (he was ecstatic-but very sad to say goodbye to his friends). Josh and I made sugar cookies to give to his class. Josh is on the far right.

On Christmas Eve we were talking about the birth of our Savior and we asked Josh what gift we could give to Jesus on his birthday to which he replied "We can give Jesus our love, and of course frankincense and myrrh." Josh was very excited that Santa received the letter he wrote because Mr. Clause sent Josh the toy he wanted-a "Sonic Leapster" game. I absolutley love the squeal of delight that comes from a happy child. It fills the room.

Dax-

Dax sharing his pez with Ella.

Daxton eating his giant sucker from Aunt Lisa. Can you say "sticky mess?" He loved it.

On the other carousel, Daxton chose to ride on the boat which rocked back and forth as he steered the wheel.

Daxton continues to keep us laughing. He exudes personality. He too is at the age where Santa's arrival is greatly anticipated. It makes the season even more enjoyable. We have been trying to get Dax to wish people a "Merry Christmas," but Dax thinks it's funnier to yell "Halloween" at everyone, as is evident from the video below.

He also thinks the phrase "picking his nose" is funny, and is constantly saying it. We always reply "no, we don't pick our nose," then he laughs and says it again. Funny boy.

Here is a clip of the boys with their new helmets. Josh is silver, Daxton black (Josh calls Dax the "bad guy.")

Ella-

Girls are great. She loves the constant entertainment the boys give, and most of the time, likes to be right in the middle of the action. Much to the dismay of her brothers, her only defense at this point is biting.

This is her Christmas outfit given to her from my good friend, Heather. Ella is so soft and cuddly in this outfit.....I don't want to let her go!

Ella's bed head each morning. It's fierce.

Cam-

Two papers down, one more to go and 2 weeks to get it done . It's crunch time, baby! Yes, 2 weeks from today we will be home in Utah! HOORAY! Cam has done a great job at staying focused and on top of things. We moved Ella's crib in with her brothers, and turned her room into a make-shift office. So Cam is shut up in there most the day writing and reading. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Me-

Things are great. I'm coming home in 2 weeks! Finally I can meet my new nephew and neice and hold them in my arms. I can't wait to see my family and to be back in the USA. God Bless it. Tomorrow we leave for a 3 day trip to Germany with our good friends, the Pehrsons. We are very excited to see new things and to spend time with this amazing family.

This next note is for my family. I love you all so much and thank God for you every day. The past year you have demonstrated your incredible gift of giving, service, and love as you have sent emails, pictures, letters and packages. Each word written made me grow so close to you and made me feel loved. Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers. I can't wait to get home and put my arms around each and every one of you. I tried not to think about being away from you on Christmas, it's hard to be away from you all. Okay, it's REALLY hard. But soon enough we will be together again! Yeah! I love you and can't wait to see you in 2 weeks.