December updates

Well, as feels the usual, I'm way behind on blog updates. We've been through Christmas, our anniversary, Asher's birthday, a day-trip to Avignon, New Year's, the return to school/work/daycare, and a significant (for here) snowfall. I'll do my best to keep it somewhat brief, but still give you the highlights.

Since Matt's already posted some about Christmas, I'll leave that settled and start from there. Matt and I had our 8-year anniversary on December 29. I can't believe it's already been that long, yet it feels like no time at all. But, since Asher had a real birthday party this year, and our baby-sitting partners were still out of town, we've decided to postpone our celebration until next week, when we hope to get out to a nice dinner. More to come on that later...

As noted above, Asher's birthday came the day after our anniversary (which, of course, happens every year). This year, as he turned 6, we decided to try our hand at a real kids' birthday party, with friends coming and everything. So, come 3:00pm, 6 of Asher's classmates showed up to reek havoc on the house. Seriously, though, we enjoyed meeting some of the his friends that we hadn't yet, and though it was quite loud for 2 hours, it was fun. We played a few games (like tape the light saber on Yoda, and musical statues), ate some snacks, and had cake and ice cream (chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and caramel ice cream, which was the sweetest ice cream I've ever eaten. It was even too sweet for me!). Asher got some fun gifts, and I would say it was all in all a success.

We were feeling rather cooped up the next day, as it had been raining a lot the previous week, and we hadn't made plans to get out of the house. So, we packed up the car and headed about an hour and a half away to Avignon, to see the famous bridge that inspired the children's song and the Palais des Papes. As we walked through the centre ville and to the courtyard of the palace, we stopped to look at the grand building and fountain. People were milling about, and there were pigeons walking around, obviously used to being fed by the many tourists. As Matt and I looked, we heard Lydia say, "You guys, we need to stop. I need to get a good look at the pigeons." We obligingly took a picture of the marvelous bird. You can see some more pictures on our Picasa site.

That evening, most of us went to bed as usual, but Matt stayed up to welcome in the new year French style. He wasn't sure what that meant, but wanted to see what they did. Unfortunately, the local television stations didn't do much for the final countdown. He expected they would cut to Paris, where the Eiffel tower is all lit up, for the last few minutes, like they do in Times Square in the US. But, no. They just counted down in the studio and said, "Bonne année et bonne santé." Oh, well.

New Year's day, we went down to Aix for a Rose Bowl parade party. We met some Americans who are here for a year learning French and getting acclimated to French culture, and then will be moving to Paris to start a church. They have 2 children close to our kids' ages, and they all got along great! It was such a blessing to meet them, and we're planning on having them up here sometime in the near future.

We've had a full week back at school, where Lydia is now going fulltime. She will start going to the canteen for lunch next week, which will be fun and tiring for her. Caleb is still going to his daycare/playgroup on Monday mornings. We're making progress with the drop-off. This past Monday, he only cried a bit.


Thursday evening, everyone was wondering if work and school would be canceled on Friday. There was a snowstorm forecast for the night, with the potential of 6 inches of snow. That would have shut down the whole town! But, it only snowed a bit, and by 9pm had stopped, only to leave the rain to pelt us for the rest of the night and following day. However, we woke up this morning to find a sheet of white outside. And it's been snowing off and on all day. I would say we've had about an inch or so accumulation now. I doubt it will stay more than a couple of days, but it's awfully nice to see while it's here.