Happy New Year everyone!
Well, the holidays are nearly over. We hope that everyone had some time to relax and enjoy the spirit of the season.
The holidays began for us with a brief trip to Normandy, where Jason served part of his two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Jason was excited to introduce Laura and Atticus to the people that he had come to know while he was in Normandy. It was an awesome trip. We stayed with a wonderful family, visited with some good friends and checked out some of the historic sites. Being able to visit both the Vimy Ridge Memorial and Juno Beach were incredible experiences.
When we arrived home there was plenty of snow waiting for us. It felt like we were in Canada, what a great Christmas present! On Christmas Eve we enjoyed some family time and made a gingerbread house together, followed by making some phone calls to Canada, then rounded out the night by watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas and The Nativity (the version produced by our church). Atticus let us sleep in until 7:30 Christmas morning (what a luxury!) and then joined us for a reading of Luke 2, followed by a yummy pancake breakfast. In the afternoon we had a few friends, who braved the cold weather and icy road conditions, join us for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed delicious food and great company. To finish off the evening we did video calls with our families. It was so much fun being able to see everyone and how much all of the little ones have grown up...crazy!
New Year's Eve was quite the spectacle. The anticipation had been building for days as people were already setting off fire crackers non-stop. As soon as nightfall came, so did the fireworks. It was beautiful. Then midnight arrived and the volume of the fireworks increased exponentially. Every window we looked out the sky was full of fireworks and it continued for over an hour. Atticus even woke up to help us ring in the New Year. It was easily the most amazing fireworks display any of us had ever seen. So much fun!
On New Year's Day it is a tradition here to dive into the very cold North Sea and go for a swim. We stayed on dry ground but loved seeing what it was all about. We also enjoyed a bike ride and a friendly game of glow-in-the-dark-pirate-themed mini golf.
Things will be back to normal on Monday. It was great being able to begin so many holiday traditions this year as a family. We are looking forward to continuing and sharing them in the years to come.
May the spirit of the season be in your lives year round!
We have posted some photos below and you can check out a short video of the fireworks here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DErYIJ0PTQ
Love and miss you all.
The Clog Crew
Vimy Ridge Memorial
Family photo outside the Juno Beach Canadian Museum. The beach is behind us.
Juno Beach
Jason and Atticus inside the lookout of a bunker.
Time with friends. Atticus was pulling out all the stops to try to impress their cute daughter.
Family photo in front of the Eiffel Tower
One of our finished home-made Christmas decorations
Laura cutting out the Gingerbread house pieces
Our finished masterpiece; complete with log pile and chopping axe. Jason has since added a little smoke out of the chimney to finish it off.
Atticus opening up a Christmas present.
Atticus and Mommy making weird faces at the camera.
