Christmas

I knew it wouldn't be a typical Christmas and I was thankful that my parents committed early to spending it with me. We had a great two weeks in general but it was extra special to see the efforts that my whole family took to keep me included. My brothers/sisters-in-law had sent gifts with my parents. My mother had done extra shopping at home so that my family had something from me. My mom also brought groceries to make Christmas dinner and gifts for the neighbors that I had asked them to find. The skype dates were set days in advance.

It is strange how much your traditions create your holiday. Despite the towns being decorated and a Christmas market in every city I've been to for the past month, it wasn't my Christmas. There are certain things we "do" regularly enough that define what Christmas means to me. I like the winter and a little bit of snow. It is fun to see the "Christmas Story" on TNT for 24 hours straight. And most importantly, it is time to catch up with my family since I don't get to see them often living in Minnesota.

"Missing Christmas" has happened a couple of other times like the Christmas I spent with friends in Russia or the cruise we took over Christmas week (being a tourist on Christmas Day in Tulum, Mexico doesn't feel quite right either). There have even been some years where no one "felt like" Christmas due to illness or sadness, but it was still Christmas and family was still around to enjoy it or get you through it depending. I can already tell you I'm looking forward to Christmas 2009 as barring any changes, it will be the whole family together.

Every other year, Christmas Eve is just my parents and I. When it is just the 3 of us, we've gotten creative and started cooking different things than the traditional dinner. One of them is mussels. So, on Christmas Eve for lunch, we headed out for a meal of mussels. It was much less work (I thought than what we've done in my mom's kitchen and equally as fun.)





Christmas Day, my mom rolled out her own pie crust (brought from her own kitchen) and made me (and the neighbors) a pumpkin pie.

We hung out, read, played darts, and played cards all day. (My friend Erik arrived late Christmas Eve so there were 3 of us to go after my dad and his winning streak at cards. It didn't really work.)




Christmas dinner: pork roast, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie. (No wonder my parents left a suitcase here! Between the food, gifts and toilet paper they packed, they didn't need it for the trip home.)








Here is my photo with a few of my Christmas presents. And yes, I got more than toilet paper.
I also got:

• a beautiful new pair of earrings (look hard, they're there)
• my mom's great cooking every day
• a real Christmas dinner
• not having to think about what the heck to make for food
• the chance to show my parents how things are going here living as a citizen, not as a tourist
• the chance to show "real" France to my dad (stuff that a trip to the grocery store will teach you)
• a date in July to go shopping
• a great Christmas vacation