It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Is there a happier time than Christmas?! I am feeling all the feels of Christmas this year and I think THIS is helping a lot:

A REAL tree! Adam and I have been married nine and a half years and have never had a real tree at Christmas-time. We're usually traveling for the holidays and the past several years we've made do with a small, fake tree. It's been enough. But this year! This year! Even though we'll be traveling again, we decided our kids were old enough to make it really fun. I sent Adam and the kids to the Ikea parking lot and they came back with the perfect one. We spent last Sunday decorating both trees (the small one will go in the kids' room) and it was the best time we've had as a family ever.

I teared up a few times from pure joy. The kids were saying the most adorable things, and Adam and I hugged and basked in the moments of perfect bliss. 

I made stovetop potpourri for friends and neighbors.

 We visited the Luxembourg Christmas market. We tried these desserts that I can only describe as pie crust rolled in a ball.

 I visited the markets again with some girlfriends for Girls' Night Out.

 The grompers (post the salmon sandwich straight from heaven) were delish! They're like potato latkes on steroids and you dip them in applesauce.

The kids got a visit from St. Nicolas at school on Friday and he gave them each huge bags of candy. Apparently he comes every year on December 6 to fill the shoes of children with candy. Don't confuse him with Santa Claus who comes on December 25. They are not the same person.

Cologne Christmas Market

Before I moved to Luxembourg I'd been told that the Germany Christmas markets were magical. We got to experience one yesterday and it lived up to the hype. We went to Koln / Cologne which is a 2.5 hour drive from our house. We got there about noon and parked under this cathedral. It was so tall and jagged ... I loved it so much.

We came hungry and got a bratwurst right away. I'm not typically a fan of bratwurst but this time I loved it. If you're going to a love a bratwurst, it's probably going to be in Germany. Makes sense, yeah?

Lunch part two was these amazing fried fish nuggets. Noah spit them out right away. More for me!

 There are so many markets going at any given time and we made it to two, the cathedral one and this Old Town one.

 I wish I'd had room for lunch number three because this ham was looking especially juicy.

 So. Much. Sausage.

 We all rode an old timey ferris wheel.

 Nervous squeals and ooohs and ahhhhs as we looked out over the markets and their massive hoards of people.

It was hard to get pictures of everything because we were shoulder to shoulder with people the entire time and we had to focus more on shuffling in the direction we wanted to go and not losing the children to the throng.

These shops with wood carved everything made me weak in the knees.

I coaxed the kids to choose an ornament from this lady's selection. Noah chose a rocking horse and Sienna chose a girl holding a trumpet. They're so cute I almost fainted.

I chose a couple small nativity-type thingies. One is kind of a modern Mary & Joseph and Jesus all morphed into one, and the other is just a small nativity scene. I also chose an ornament with the Koln cathedral carved in wood. It makes me sooooooooo happy.

 A stroke on the cheek for the kids from St. Nick (not weird at all) and a piece of candy, too!

Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving / Friendsgiving came a few days late but it was worth the wait. Work and school continued as normal on the designated Thursday, of course, so Saturday was our day! 

Diane had just sent me this apron, so it got its inaugural usage while I made my designated dishes: mashed potatoes, ginger & garlic green beans, green salad with Ranch dressing, pumpkin pie and banana cream pie.

 There were six of us families. American Mormons in Luxembourg, that's us. We are lucky to have such a fun group to hang out with.

Megan, on the left, was our fearless hostess. Six couples and fourteen kids is no small deal and she made it seem like it was just normal life. She deserves sainthood. Star and Russ were some of the first people to welcome us to Luxembourg. Star made me a loaf of lemon bread and it was left with some groceries in our apartment before we arrived. Are you kidding me? Talk about a warm welcome. Russ and Adam work together.

 Left and middle is Tasha (with her daughter Ingrid) and Ben. Then it's Matt, who is Megan's husband. Tasha was the wizard behind ordering the 23 lb. turkey in advance from a restaurant supply company and Ben was the magician who turned the turkey into gobble-food. It. Was. Delicious. Complete with Williams-Sonoma herbs and spices brought from the states. Who even thinks of these things?! Tasha and Ben, that's who.

 Star's brother was visiting from the States and he introduced us to Explorse the Horse (look it up on Instagram). (Spoiler alert, it's him.) Nate and Becky (with daughter Eliza) also chipped in to the grocery box to welcome us on our first day here, and I tell you the peanut butter alone got us through all the hardships. Nate and Adam work together as well.

 Mandy and Taylor got here about a month ago and they are kindred spirits. Also, we figured out Taylor and Adam are distant cousins.

 Adam is having some particularly good hair days lately. We're all in agreement on this one. Give thanks for that, am I right?

 The kids watched a movie while the adults ate first. Then the kids ate next.

Even Rapunzel graced us with her presence. So much to be grateful for. 

 Last but not least, PIE! Apple, pumpkin, coconut cream, banana cream, pumpkin bars, and maple pecan pumpkin cheesecake. Everything was delicious and hit me right in my American spot.

 

Lux with Owen

After Paris, Owen & I caught a train to Luxembourg (this is still at the beginning of November). We arrived at 10 pm at night and took a taxi home. Here's me in front of my apartment complex calling Adam to let us in. I lost our other house key awhile back, which is not a pleasant topic of discussion, as these are not just any house keys. They open everything: mailbox, basement storage, front door, apartment door. Anyway, the end. 

Owen had two days in Lux, so the first day we picked up the kids from school and drove to Vianden castle.

Flat Laria (#flatlala) came with us here! 

I brought a picnic and we ate it before going in.

 

It's always fun to visit castles. This is the first castle I saw when I moved here, so it gets me excited with those feelings of being a first-time Luxembourger.

The next day I arranged for the kids to spend their lunch time with my neighbor so Owen and I could have an uninterrupted day of fun. We started with the outdoor market in the city center.

We shared some kind of German pastry with vanilla pudding filling which was outta sight!

Beautiful flowers.

Owen pulled a Korinne by trying some bread with dried fruit in it. EW. Actually, it wasn't bad. 

I showed him the palace where the Grand Duke lives.

See the joy of Luxembourg? It's real. It makes you happy. It's a wonderful place. You all should visit.

We walked down to the Grund, the lower portion of the city. 

 It has lovely walking paths next to a river.

 Then there's a big space in here where I didn't take any pictures but we basically had a nice, leisurely lunch. Then we ate THE MOST AMAZING macarons from Laduree, which is a Paris institution but has one location in Luxembourg. And I don't even like macarons. But these are THE ONES. May you all be lucky enough for me to buy you some. A box of six costs $17, so please start donating to the macaron fund soon.

Then Owen hopped on a train to Brussels and luckily missed all the terrorism lock down by mere days. God bless Europe!