Merry Christmas!!

Isaiah 9:6-7

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁶ For unto us a Child is born,
  Unto us a Son is given;
  And the government will be upon His shoulder.
  And His name will be called
  Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
  

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace
  There will be no end,
  Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
  To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
  From that time forward, even forever.
  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Merry Christmas to all!  

A day to move beyond the presents and count our true blessings:  Family, Friends, and our Savior Jesus Christ.

RETRO BLOG: A Busy Thanksgiving

Pumpkin pie in the oven

Well, first things first—there is no Thanksgiving in Switzerland.  None.  Zilch.  Nada.  No Pilgrims (the Swiss wouldn’t have the slightest clue why someone would want to leave Switzerland, the center of the universe, and certainly not for religious reasons), no Indians (well, actually not true in a manner of speaking, but more on that later), few turkeys, no pumpkin pie and of course, no Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  So for CW, Thursday was just that—Thursday.  Our Swiss office doesn’t close down for Thanksgiving.  I did leave a little early and got home to find that SoulSwisster had cooked Thanksgiving dinner, which was a nice surprise.  Well, she actually cooked the side dishes…But no turkey—they’re hard to find here.  So SS and CW hopped in the car and drove to the grocery store to get a couple of substitute rotisserie chickens.  We were gone about 30 minutes and when we drove back into the driveway, SwissSis was looking out the window by the door, acting a bit like a sentry.  “This can’t be good,” we thought.  Boy, were we wrong!

Frying onions to top the green bean casserole

While we were away, the kids had gotten themselves dressed in nice clothes and set the dining room table, complete with candles, placemats, silver, and had even gotten the china out.  And when we walked in, they presented themselves and the table.  What a great surprise!  We carved up the chickens and had a very nice Thanksgiving evening.

CW must admit, it was a bit strange to be disconnected from Black Friday.  No Blackness for us, just another day.  But you should be a little jealous.  While some of you were staying up until midnight to get online for those early bird specials, we could hop online at 7 AM, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Well, as bright-eyed as we get at 7 am.  But we didn’t…no Black Friday shopping for us.  But we could have! J

Dash receiving his Bobcat

Friday night was All American Boy’s first Cub Scout Pack Meeting.  There must be about 8 or 9 dens, each with 6-8 boys so it was, in a word, chaos.  Absolute, utter chaos.  But a good time.  CW didn’t particularly care for the fact that the color guard presented the UN flag—something just not right for a Boy Scouts of America organization.  AAB was awarded his Bobcat patch.  That means he knew the oath, the handshake, etc.  Doesn’t he look sharp in his uniform?  The patch is put on upside down and you’re only allowed to turn it right-side up when you’ve done a good deed.  AAB has been drying dishes after dinner for quite some time hoping he’s done enough to flip that badge right side up.  Wonder if we should tell him SS has already flipped the patch and adhered it to his uniform?  Nah…it’s nice to have extra help in the kitchen!

A little excited

Saturday, we did celebrate Thanksgiving.  Our church, Westlake, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for ex-pats as well as the curious.  SS and a new friend, Karen, organized it and it was a great success.  About 65 people came including more than half non-Americans.  SS and Karen even found turkeys to cook and trust us when we say that a Swiss oven is not built for a turkey, particularly not a 20 pounder, which takes up the entire oven space.  The turkey cooking started on Friday and went for 4 hours before we had to go to the pack meeting.  When we got back from that, the turkey went back in for a few more hours into the wee morning time.  At 4 a.m. it was still not done.  So SS had to get serious.  She pulled it out, cut it up into pieces and finished roasting it in parts.  All-in-all, probably about 11 hours.  The turkey almost won…But in the end he was very moist and had good flavor.  CW was volunteered/drafted for set-up work at the church, including the carving which CW and another ex-pat did.  Two 20 lb. turkeys and about 18 lbs of turkey breasts takes about an hour to carve.  Thank goodness Karen had her transformer and her U.S. electric knife!  Everyone brought something to share, so we had mashed potatoes, stuffing (also hard to make as  will tell you!), sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecans, corn casserole (from other displaced Texans), some salads, cranberry sauce, and of course, wine (no meal is without wine here!).  We sang a  song, ate, visited, put on Charlie Brown, and then cleaned for about 3 hours.  The church has the coolest thing—an industrial dishwasher that does a load in exactly three minutes.  CW wants one at the house.  Ours takes two hours!

Lauren preparing to blow out the candles

Remember we wrote no Indians here?  Well, some of the kids, including AAB and SweetSwissTeen, participated in a little Thanksgiving skit Caryn found to help explain to everyone what Thanksgiving is about.  It had the Pilgrims and of course, the Indians.  But when it came time for the Indians to speak, the strangest thing happened.  These Indian actors turned out not to have Western Indian accents, but Eastern Indian accents.  When CW first heard the accents, he did a double take and then laughed harder than he has at anything in a long time!  And the kids playing those parts were Americans—though they never have lived in America, which made it even funnier! 

Anyway, a good time was had by all and people are already asking if we’re going to do it again next year.

Look closely--you can see Radar
enjoying the tree

To close the weekend out, we celebrated SwissSis’s 11^th birthday.  She asked if we could decorate the house for Christmas, so we put up the Christmas tree (borrowed from a friend since ours is in storage—didn’t make it on the truck) and got it mostly decorated.  CW grilled some steaks—we’re sure the neighbors will be wondering what the crazy Americans are doing outside grilling when it turns really cold, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!  Then we ate cake and she opened presents.

There you have it.  That was our first Swiss Thanksgiving.  Actually, it was pretty packed—which was a good thing.  And we have so much to be thankful for, like all of you reading this—our family and friends.  We miss you!  You’re in our thoughts and prayers!  Hope that your Thanksgiving was blessed and that you had time to remember all the real reasons we have to be thankful.

Julia in front of the tree

RETRO BLOG: We'll Always Have Paris

 

So, we’ve been here approximately 3 months now and decided it was time for our first big trip.  Actually, we decided we were tired of spending every Saturday trying to get to Ikea or the outdoor store or some supermarket in France.  We needed to get away.  And what better weekend to do it than All American Boy’s birthday?!?  And where to go?  Paris!  It’s actually quite close—about 3-1/2 hours by train.  And reasonable as well—about the cost of a round trip flight depending on where you want to head.

CW will let les enfants give the details of what we did, but he did learn some lessons:

1)  Book early.  We decided about a week in advance and it was tough to find a place.  We ended up in a small boutique hotel that was going through some reservations, but generally had nice staff. 

2)  It’s hard to find rooms for 5.  In fact, it’s impossible, so much like in the States, you’re going to be booking two rooms.  Who knew the extra child would cost so much more!  In some hotels we looked at, we couldn’t even find rooms for three.  So just finding a place to stay is a little bit of work. 

3)  Did CW mention “book early?”  Sorry—just wanted to emphasize that point.  But also to give a plug for another suggestion—Vacation Rental By Owner or www.vrbo.com.  This is a great idea (at least in theory, because we didn’t get to use it).  People who have apartments rent them out online.  We were amazed by some of the great apartments that were apparently available,  CW notes “apparently” because one thing we discovered, even though it wasn’t clear on the site, is that a minimum stay (at least in Paris) is 3 nights.  Had we done that and..wait for it…booked early, we could have secured what was likely a fantastic place to stay.  So maybe next time on that.  But appeared to much more economic than hotels.

4)  Riding on the second floor of a train is a bit like being on water for SoulSwisster and SweetSwissTeen.  Pack Dramamine.

5)  Better meal planning.  If we were home, we’d just hop in the car and drive until we found something.  And there would always be something familiar.  Not the case in Switzerland, but I thought in Paris, it might be better.  Wrong.  Trying to find a kid-friendly café not serving foie gras?  Not as easy as it might seem.

6)  Understand how to order meat.  We finally did find such a place.  Even served cheeseburgers!  But be careful ordering meat in Europe.  There’s an aversion to actually cooking it.  Lots of tartare—per se and by default.  So the cheeseburgers arrived with an echo of ‘moo’ in the air.  Best to ask for well done—bien cuit—and hope for medium.

So there you have it—just a few CW’s handy-dandy travel trips.  Now enjoy what les enfants had to say about their visits!

The Eiffel Tower

By

All American Boy

For my birthday my family and I went to Paris. My favorite landmark was the Eiffel Tower. Did you know that the Eiffel tower is a 1063 ft, or 324 meters tall tower made of iron. Gustave Eiffel made it for the world fair.  It took about a year and a month to build. The restaurant on the 2^nd floor is called Altitude 98 because it is 98 meters above sea level. The Eiffel Tower raises 3 inches in the summer because of solar heating and shrinks 6 inches in the winter. 




Sadly, the top of the Eiffel Tower was in a cloud so I could not see anything at all.  At night, on the bottom, there was a very cool view of the lights on the Eiffel Tower.  After all, my birthday trip was very good!

Dash’s Birthday Trip

By

SweetSwissTeen

On Friday, when we woke up, there was a lot of hustle and bustle.  We had to get dressed very quickly in time for the taxi. We gave Radar fresh food and water, and brought the luggage downstairs. The taxi that picked us up had two seats going backwards. It was really cool.  When we arrived at the station we took a train to Geneva and then caught another train to Paris!   On the train I sat by a window, Mom, on the other hand, had to sit next to someone who was not the best seatmate [I won’t elaborate].  When we got there, we went to our hotel and one of the rooms did not have a shower, but the other one did.  



That night we went up the Eiffel Tower.  Did I mention it was foggy that night?  When we went up, we first went to the second level, and looked around.  We were very high up. The cars looked like marbles and the people looked like ants!  Then we took the elevator up to the very top.  We were so high that we were in the clouds!  Since there wasn’t much to see we soon went back down.  


The next morning we went on a tour of the Louvre.  It was amazing! We got to see the Venus of Milo, Winged Victory [both of whom had no arms. What is with that?] and the Mona Lisa [by the way “Mona” means “Lady”]. I hate to complain, but it looked under whelming.  Because it  was small! Did you know that Italian tourists stole the Mona Lisa in the 1900’s? It was found two years later under a carpet in Venice!

Afterwards we spent the rest of the day wandering the city.  The next day we went to “the biggest aquarium in Europe” which took one hour to tour.  The ride home was much more pleasant for mom, and when we came home Radar was waiting.

Dash’s Birthday Adventure.

By:

SwissSis

Last week we went to Paris for my brother’s birthday. Everyone was frantic except for Mr. Lazy Bones, A.K.A Radar the cat, the morning we left. 












The train ride was long and tiring. After we checked into our hotel, which had a cute dog that liked me, but not Julia, we walked around the Eiffel Tower. Then we took the long, and cold, double-decker bus tour. On it we saw the Petite Palace and the Grand Palace. We also saw the Grand Arch, the Obelisk, and the Pont Neuf bridge, which we crossed about three times and which the tour guide announced three times. It was so cold that Dad and I were the only ones up top. While my mom was down in the roofed area with my brother and sister, they saw the bus driver stop the bus, get out and stick his tongue out at the cars behind us. The people on the top thought he was just letting passengers off the bus and on the bus… or so said the tour guide. 




Eventually we got off, had dinner, and went up the Eiffel Tower. We couldn’t really see anything at the top because we were in a cloud. On the bottom decks, we could see things because we were not in a cloud. My sister, Julia, wanted to go up the most but I did not. I went up to the top and went over to the edge and looked down… don’t worry! They had a big gate. Even though Julia wanted to go up the most. she wanted to go down the most, and I wanted to stay up and look down. After that we went back to the hotel. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel and I stashed sugar cubes in my pockets.  Unfortunately the dog wasn’t there. After breakfast we went to the Louvre. 


We saw the Mona Lisa, and one by David called The Coronation which is a painting where the painter painted himself in and “photo-shopped” Napoleon’s mother in later. We also saw the Venus De Milo and The Winged Victory. The Egyptian center was awesome. So was the Greek and Roman center. After the rest of the Louvre we walked around, relaxed at the hotel, got dinner, and went to sleep. In the morning we walked around and even went into an aquarium until 2:00. That’s when our taxi came to take us to the train station. The ride home, amazingly, didn’t feel as long. When we got home, Radar embraced us as if to say, “ You took way too long.”  

Well, there we are.  One last thing.  AAB forgot to mention that we offered up his dishwashing and/or cooking services in exchange for dinner one night.  That's how he wound up in the apron.  Hard to believe we have a big 9 year old!  Especially one who’s been to Paris!  Where to next?

Oh, I Love To Go A-Wandering

Quick post before our next, longer semi-trademarked RETROblog post about Paris.


All American Boy has joined the Cub Scouts!  We've found an English-speaking Troop here where the boys come from Switzerland and neighboring France.  The total Troop has around 100 boys in it, but the Den sizes are small.  AAB's Den has 6 including him and he's probably one of the older ones.

Yesterday, we went to his first Den meeting/activity--a hike in the Jura mountains.  Geneva sits between two mountain ranges--the Alps, which contains Mt. Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe--and the Jura Mountains which are directly behind us.  The hike yesterday was into the Jura and started at a small village called Trellex.  We parked at the head of the trail, then started out--8 boys, 5 dads, and a dog.

Along the way, the boys worked towards a hiking/wilderness badge.  We demonstrated making raincoats out of trash bags as a light-weight way to be prepared for bad weather, marking tracks with footprints made using reflective aluminum foil (as a potential marker), and discussed the importance of 'leaving no trace.'


It was about a 2 hour hike up to the top and for us landlubbers, it was a bit of work.  But AAB did great!  At the top, we had some hot chocolate, cookies, and apples before starting back down.  Not surprisingly, the downward journey was a tad faster--maybe an hour and a half.  We made it back down just before it started to get dark, so it perfect timing.

As you can see, the scenery was fantastic.  CW suspects that a month ago, when everything was in full color, it would have been even more spectacular.Maybe next year.  But AAB and CS definitely plan to get SoulSwister, SweetSwissTeen, and SwissSis out there to join us.

Then their legs can feel like CW's the next day! :)

Choc fulla Fall!

Fall is in full swing in Switzerland and that means the landscape is bursting with color!  Of course, we have Fall in Texas.  It lasts approximately 23 hours.  The leaves turn from green to brown and then fall off the trees.  Oh, and the average temperature in the “Fall” is still probably about 75 degrees.

But here, the air has turned crisp and cool.  The smells of wood fires (and clanging of the cowbells)  greet you as you step outside.  And nature is in full display. Believe it or not, even the vineyards have turned color and the hills are aflame with reds, yellows, and oranges in just about every hue imaginable.

CW had forgotten how much he enjoyed autumn.  We haven’t lit our fireplace yet, but that day is coming.  And the days are growing shorter!  For those of you in the US who just turned your clocks back this weekend, welcome to the past!  We turned ours back last weekend, so we’ve spent the week feeling just a tiny bit closer to home.  

Fall is also the time for the restaurants to roll out their seasonal menus.  Venison, rabbit, chestnuts, etc., can be found in dishes.  Fondues of all types (cheese, oil, and chocolate) reappear after their summer hiatus.  And little festivals are held everywhere.

  This weekend, we took the 20 minute drive over to Divonne (Dee-vunn), France for the Suisse-Franco Chocolate festival.  It’s not as impressive as it might sound.  In Houston, a gathering of this type might fill the George R. Brown convention center or Reliant Hall down by the football stadium.  Here, it fills the Divonne convention center, which is to say all of about 3 rooms.  Nevertheless, we had a nice couple of hours walking around those rooms and visiting the 20 or so vendors in attendance.  Some even spoke English!

 

But what it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality!  Chocolate of every kind and flavor you could imagine.  Swiss, French, even a couple of Italian guys with what we thought was some of the best at the show.  Chocolate with alcohol, chocolate with olive oil, chocolate spreads, chocolate cooking and molding supplies.  And that’s not all.  Honey, wine, breads, and more. 

This was heaven SweetSwissTeen, SwissSis, and SoulSwisster.  AllAmericanBoy, however, is not a chocolate lover.  A Vanilla festival?  He’d be all over that.  Chocolate?  Not so much.  Though he did impress all of us by actually tasting some.  He immediately made a face and announced that was all he could handle (though curiously, he does like chocolate chip cookies!)

After the festival, we walked along the lake in Divonne.  The kids collected acorns and threw them into the lake and also found a willow tree to swing on.  Although it’s gotten cooler, it’s not cold enough to have knocked off the mosquitos and they were out in force.  Still, a very nice afternoon and the first one that we haven’t spent running to the grocery store or Ikea or someplace that would only be open on Saturday.

Yes it’s Fall.  How can we be sure?  Christmas items are now in the stores!  Yes, even in Switzerland, Christmas starts in October.  At least it’s not July.