We are writing a little bit after the fact, but we wanted to mention the wonderful time we had the last week of school before break when we were preparing for Christmas and getting ready to leave for our vacation. Even before that we had a beautiful dinner for friends which was at the beginning of Advent and we were grateful to be invited to that gathering and have a fantastic meal of turkey, many main dishes, champagne, and 4 or 5 amazing deserts to choose from. We were all connected to the school and each other in some way so it was a fun night!

Then lately we made some wonderful memories while walking around the Paris Christmas markets. La Defense has a very popular Christmas market and we walked and shopped around that one a few times as a family, having dinner and hot wine. Most recently, we took the train into the market on Champs Elysees which was a fun place to visit. They both sell ‘Vin Chaud’ that is very tasty and warms you up while you’re walking around.

Canadian ‘tent’ at La Defense market

Champs Elysees market

Notice Hot Wine sign?

Amazing market foods and places to eat!

Fresh fish being cooked over fire

Cheeses of every kind!

We also enjoyed a production at our school one night of Alice in Wonderland.  We encouraged Brianna to join this production but she would not bite. Not interested in being on stage (so far…), and how surprising is that?

Then just before leaving for our holiday, we decided to open some gifts early so that we wouldn’t have to bring everything with us on our ‘road trip.’ So we opened some of the gifts that didn’t need to come with us. We have our stockings and some other gifts packed for Christmas morning but there are very few compared to the past 16 years, so Christmas is spread out this year. Greg and Bri were happy to open early mind you!

We just wanted to update you as to how the preparations for Christmas are going and we will update you on our travels once we have some more pictures downloaded. We have to buy another electrical converter in order to charge our devices so we will get that sorted first. Otherwise, we are loving the mild weather of Paris after hearing some of the temperatures Peterborough has been experiencing.  Christmas isn’t really the same when it is 5-8 degrees above zero, but it makes walking to the grocery store bearable. 🙂

Wishing all of you much, peace, health and happiness as you prepare for this festive season. We will be thinking of all of you this Christmas!