Christmas Day

Who would have thought we would enjoy Christmas being on a Sunday so much? It certainly made things a little busier, and pushed the presents to the back burner, but it brought so much more meaning to a beautiful day.

Upon waking up, we all got dressed for church while Daddy put his previously prepared breakfast casserole into the oven to warm up. Once we were all ready, we opened up our stockings which had our Christmas treats in them (Atticus was pretty excited about his own bag of studenten nut mix :) along with a few small gifts. After our morning scripture study it was on to breakfast. We finished breakfast, brushed our teeth and had just enough time to snap a picture before we headed out the door.

not the greatest picture, or quality, but when you only have time for one take...

Church was wonderful. There were special musical numbers and lovely talks given. It was a nice treat to be able to partake of the sacrament on Christmas. Funny enough, there was a family visiting from Canada whom, we learned, know both of our families (small world..). After church services we made sure to give seasons greetings to everyone and visited with friends (much longer than the kids would have liked..).

By the time we made it home and ate a light lunch we were all ready for a nap, but opened up just a couple presents first. Milayla took an immediate liking to her new stuffed giraffe and a book from her big brother while Atticus was beyond excitement at the sight of some new books.

While the kids napped, us responsible adults went to work to get the kitchen prepared for dinner. We prepared a lot of stuff in advance so it was mostly just a matter of getting everything out and organized. This year we experimented with three different kinds of perogy filling. Beyond perogies (and sauce!) we had rolls, roasted veggies, veggie sticks, salad and sauerkraut (Jason may have been the only one who liked that last one).

Spinach and Garlic, Red Cabbage and Apple, Spicy Cheese

Our guests began arriving and we got to work making perogies. Most of our guests had never even heard of them before let alone tried them (except for one of our guests who is a fellow Canadian) and we love introducing people to the deliciousness that is perogies.

While we assembled we talked, a lot, and snacked on far too many predinner sweets. Atticus snuck in another present to open and enticed everyone to the living room while we waited on a couple guests to begin dinner. Much to Atticus' delight everyone was pretty excited about his new train and tracks to add to his growing collection.

When the time for dinner finally arrived we were all pretty excited and crowded ourselves around the table but it would have to wait for just a couple more minutes while we snapped a photo. Unfortunately, there are still three people missing from the photo.

From left to right: Atticus, Jason, Constanza, Kiever, Elder Eggmann, Elder Whitehead and Janice. 
Missing from this photo: Laura, Milayla and Sofia

After dinner we watched The Nativity (the short one produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), sang carols and opened up gifts. Then it was time for dessert and games.

It was a fun day. The kids loved having so many people come to celebrate Christmas with us and so did we! The kids even got to talk to Uncle Chase, who is currently serving a mission in Arizona, before they headed to bed. And we got to talk to a few members from the English side of the family before we went to bed. The Spirit of Christmas was certainly felt in abundance as we gathered together to celebrate the birth of our Savior - what a wonderful blessing.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year brought with it an entirely new tradition for all of us - Bethlehem Dinner. Laura stumbled upon the idea shortly after Christmas last year so we have been anticipating the introduction of this tradition for some time now.

As soon as the sun went down (very early in the evening during these short winter days) we turned off all the lights (and any other electronic items; except for the Christmas tree) then cuddled up next to the glow of the Christmas Tree lights to read the story of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We sang songs of his birth. We talked about different aspects of the birth, the gifts the Saviour gives us, and looked at pictures (remember, we were gearing this toward a 2-year-old and a baby). Then we laid out a blanket on the floor and ate a very simple dinner of foods that would have been around during the time that Jesus was born. It was not extravagant. Perhaps it was the simplicity that made it so perfect. As we sat on the floor eating olives time seemed nonexistent and it was lovely. 

Following dinner we turned to a couple time-honored traditions - pyjamas and a new family game. It was Milayla's first chance to open a Christmas present and that little girl got the idea very quickly. The kids excitedly put on their new pyjamas and we broke out the new game (Candyland) and played a little before it was off to bed for the little ones. Of course, we broke our 'no electronics ban' for the night to snap a photo of the kiddos before they headed to bed. 

Once the kiddos were all snug in their beds, we brought out 'A Christmas Carol' and began to read. We took turns reading and read the book in entirety before retiring to bed ourselves. It was such a lovely way to end the evening. Reading the book is a tradition that we hope to keep and also hope that the kids will begin to join us for as they get older. 

Coatroom

Our bathroom tends to do double-duty as our coatroom. Probably not the most desirable place, but its handy location next to the door mixed with the ability to warm the kids jackets up over the radiator make it mighty useful in the colder months. Besides, there is something about the sight of those little jackets, sweaters and snowsuits all lined up that put a big smile on my face. 

Gingerbread House

It's been a Christmas tradition now for a couple years for us to build a Gingerbread house together. This year, however, it looked like it was not going to happen. There were just simply too many other things going on to try to plan a house, bake the pieces, build and decorate. We had come to grips with reality when the idea came up to use premade pieces. It was not quite as creative as we usually like to go, but it meant that it would be much easier to fit into our schedule and definitely much easier for the kids to pitch in. So Jason picked up some premade gingerbread house pieces from Ikea, we bought some candy and made some icing. Then, a few nights before Christmas, we got to work.

Atticus helped direct where things should go. 

Milayla cheered very enthusiastically as the walls went up and dried.

Jason piped around the windows and the roof then added some icicles. Laura added some decorative piping on the walls.

Atticus color-coordinated the candy and handed different colors to Daddy.

And when it was all finished we marveled at how unstressful and enjoyable the process had been then promptly forgot to take a picture of the finished piece.  It was not until a few days later (Christmas Day) when we noticed the roof cracking and bowing and the walls buckling that we realized the humidity was deteriorating our house and quickly! So we snapped a few photos right as our guests rang the doorbell.

When we came back from answering the door our house looked like this...

...we certainly snapped a photo of our finished house just in time!

While the house only lasted a couple days before humidity sent it tumbling down, we are sure glad we took the time-out as a family to create it together.

Christmas Letter

Although most of us have probably received Christmas cards from friends or family in the past that have contained the almost cliche Christmas letter, our family had never thought about writing one, and perhaps for that very reason – at least, not until this year.  During a search on the Internet for Christmas ideas, we came across the origins of the Christmas letter.  An English nobleman felt that the Christmas season was the perfect time to tell those closest to him what blessings he and his family had received over the course of the past year, and to wish friends and family prosperity and good will for the future.  And with that in mind, let the first official Hochstein Christmas letter proceed...

This has been one BUSY year for our family.  Some people are wise and make sure that the big moments of life are well spaced out.  Us? Nope, not even close.  Life for our little family over the past twelve months didn’t seem to slow down for a second.  Einstein once described time as a river - depending on where you are in the universe, it ebbs or flows, sometimes moving at a trickle and elsewhere rushing along like a class IV whitewater rapid.  Well, I’d like to think we’ve become very accustomed to whitewater by now, but BOY it sure can make you tired.

In May we were blessed to have Milayla Rose join our blossoming family.  The pregnancy and delivery went very well thanks to a great medical system in the Netherlands and a new form of child birth we were recommended called hypnobirthing.  Milayla has added so much joy to our family.  She has captivating eyes, an infectious giggle, and a smile that would make just about anyone forget their worries.  Although she hasn’t met much of her extended family in person yet, we are looking forward to that day with great excitement.  Atticus has taken his role as big brother quite seriously and finds immense satisfaction in holding Milayla, reading to her, and making sure she stays clean and proper.  It has been so amazing watching their sibling bond grow.  Milayla is constantly watching every move Atticus makes.  The kids are very different, one from the other, but we’re so happy with how well they get along.  

A month after Milayla’s birth, we celebrated another major milestone - Atticus’ 2nd birthday.  It’s hard to comprehend how quickly time has gone by, and how much he has grown!  He’s no longer the baby or even toddler he once was.  He has become very independent, but loves to help Mommy, Daddy and Milayla, too.  He is speaking much more now, and his love of puzzles, trains, cars, and building blocks continues to grow.

At about the same time, we began readying ourselves for two more big changes.  We accepted a new job offer with a private space company located in Bremen, Germany.  This, of course, meant that we would be leaving our much-loved Leiden for Deutschland once more.  It was a hard choice to make, but we felt impressed that a change in employment and location was the best thing for the family.  We were blessed to find a fantastic new apartment in Bremen, and have found many new friends through work and our new church congregation.  Bremen is a beautiful city with much history and tradition.  Thankfully, it’s quite flat, and as a result, cycling is almost as ubiquitous as it is in Holland, so we are able to get around with the kids almost everywhere by bakfiets.

It’s been four months already since we arrived in Bremen, and the adjustment has gone well and relatively smoothly (if you discount the massive amounts of German paperwork to be done!).  We like our new home, and home it certainly feels like.  It is still difficult to be so far away from our families and many of our friends, especially around the holidays, but we are so grateful for your continued prayers, love and support.  We have so much to be grateful for - most of all our Savior Jesus Christ and his perfect example.  We hope that amidst the hustle and bustle of this blessed season, more people will pause to remember the reason we say “Merry Christmas!”

May this Christmas season bless each of your lives with an increased peace, harmony and love as you reflect on the blessings you have received, big and small.  And may the New Year bring you much prosperity, joy and good health.

With much love,

Jason, Laura, Atticus and Milayla Hochstein  

Half Birthday - Atticus

With Atticus approaching his Half Birthday, I thought it would be fun to do a few photos of just him. Unfortunately, he didn't think the idea would be so much fun and he buried his head into the arm of the couch.

This was the closest thing he would give me to a smile. He did give me a whole lot of "attitude" shots though...

Perhaps he will let me take a few on another day (I did not want to press my luck and take any more this time). Lately this boy wants to do nothing but read and colour and if you tell him he needs to do something otherwise (eg., brush his teeth or pose for photos..) you are likely to hear his high notes (usually dependent on how much sleep he has had). Of course, he'll happily take breaks to play with his sister, go on walks and eat. Oh man, he loves to eat. We really lucked out that he is not a picky eater - hopefully that doesn't change. We could give him a full plate of roasted brussel sprouts for dinner and he would chant "yum, yum, yum" as they are brought to the table and ask for more when he finishes the plate! It makes meal planning soooo much easier.

It sure is fun spending time with him. He loves to sing and dance and is fully relishing in our nightly Christmas carols. He has begun saying prayers by repeating, and hearing him say things like "bless us" or "Jesus Christ" always puts a smile of joy and gratitude on our faces. 

We are pretty crazy about this kid. He is always volunteering to help, giving hugs and kisses and sharing his toys. He loves laughing, being silly and being a big brother. We love him so much!

And that's that for the mushy stuff (at least for now..)

Milayla - 7 Months

We are busy getting ready for Milayla's First Christmas over here and, boy, are we excited. We were certainly not anticipating her being as mobile as she already is. She has been keeping us on our toes by rolling straight for the Christmas presents to tug and taste whatever she can get her hands on. 

She is constantly making us laugh with the fun faces she makes.

And this girl loves to pose for pictures. She gets so excited when the camera is out that she giggles and wiggles, giving us plenty of smiles for pictures but a few too many blurry photos. 

And when she gets really excited she goes wide-eyed, hums, tenses her body and shakes her hands and feet as quickly as possible. Here is a still shot of that action...

Tooth number two finally cut through and, if the last couple nights are any indicator, tooth number three should be along shortly. So she is chewing on every little thing she can get her hands on.

 Bath time is a favorite around here as she splashes and giggles and makes everyone laugh.

This girl is full of so much personality and joy. 

Laundry

Folding laundry is sure a lot more fun when you have this happy little helper keeping you company.

Weihnachtsmarkt - Part 2

Our kids are good sports and braved the chilly weather twice to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt. So we bundled them up and headed downtown. Milayla gets pretty excited to get dressed up to go into the wrap.

The kids were not quite as excited once we got outside into the cold, rainy weather and put them into the bakfiets....

The plan was to head downtown, wander Weihnachtsmarkt, find our 2011 Christmas ornament and soak in the ambience before grabbing a bite to eat and heading home. It was a great plan, but we should have switched the order and eaten first. Our bag of snacks and a few Weihnachtsmarkt treats did not seem to be enough to tide Atticus over so subsequently we wandered the market to the tune of "eat, eat, eat" on repeat from our joyful little toddler. We will certainly have to remember this lesson for next year!

Before we caved to our musical toddler (sooner than we had planned), we did manage to snap a few photos...

The boys. 

The girls.

 Some of the stalls had some incredibly ornate, handcrafted Christmas decorations. Some other stalls had decorations that left you wondering who might buy them (a wooden elf with the face of Mr. Bean, anyone?). One of our absolute favorites was this hand-carved Nativity Scene; wish we could have caught a better photo of it as this photo does not do it justice. 

The ambiance of the market was lovely and we were very happy that the rain and clouds cleared while we looked around.

And we even successfully found our 2011 Christmas Ornament!

It's the handblown (and hand-painted!) one on the left.

While we did enjoy our time at Weihnachtsmarkt we were all pretty grateful when we finally sat down to dinner.

Weihnachtsmarkt - Part I

The kids and I were rather spoiled this year as we got to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) on two occasions together. First up was a trip downtown with Constanza to visit the year-round Christmas Store and to sneak a peek at the Weihnachtsmarkt.

We checked out Böttcherstrasse first. 

This street feels reminiscent of a movie backdrop...

Then enjoyed a walk through the trendy neighbourhood that the Christmas store is in before we browsed the color-coordinated ornaments inside the store.

Then it was off to the Weihnachtsmarkt.

Constanza even submitted herself to pose for a picture with the Bremen Town Musicians all dressed up for winter. 

It was a really nice way to spend a Friday morning at the end of a rather busy week and we were all pretty happy about having Constanza join us!

Protective

Future boyfriends beware....this little girl of ours has one protective big brother!

U5 - Milayla's latest stats

Milayla finally had her appointment for her U5 at the Kinderarzt. We have one strong, healthy baby girl who handled her vaccination very well (last one until she's a year old).

First up, her stats.

Weight: 7050 grams

Length: 68cm

Head Circumference: 42.8cm

Her development is moving along as expected. She has begun pushing herself up on her knees, but doesn't seem to realize the benefits of it yet. She is alert, attentive and loves singing her little heart out. And the tooth that has been keeping her up the last week has finally pushed its' way through - her first tooth! (front, bottom left tooth)

"Look Mama!"

"Now what do I do?"

"whoops!"

Still smiling!

General Conference Weekend

Crazy that General Conference weekend was already two months ago. Our Conference issue of the Ensign arrived this morning which got me thinking back to that weekend and realizing that we never posted a thing about it. It is always filled with so many great lessons and motivations to be better. It still feels a little strange to watch it at such different times than we did growing up (due to living in a different country) but we're adjusting. 

We went into conference stocked up on related activities for Atticus to do while watching conference, but in the end we did not need a single one of them. Atticus loved conference - or perhaps he loved that we had picnics on the floor while we watched conference. In any case, it was fun to see his eyes glued to the various speakers, cheering when the new temples were announced and smiling as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang.

One talk that we loved was in the General Relief Society broadcast and was actually the inspiration for our new blog name. You can watch or read that talk given by President Uchtdorf here.

As per tradition, fall General Conference goes hand-in-hand with home made apple pie which we invite others over to enjoy and talk about our favorite messages. This year we had the missionaries and a lovely lady from our congregation over to join us. Sure wish we remembered to snap a picture of those fantastic people! We did snap a couple pictures of the pie....

it helps that I was able to take a picture of the pie before the guests came and the kids were still napping... after that things just got busy and the camera sat on the shelf.

We did this on Monday, which coincided with 3 October (Leiden Ontzet. Which also happens to coincide with German Unity Day), so we decided to have a lovely Dutch meal and share some dutch culture and history with our guests. We cooked up some vegetarian hustpot for dinner and enjoyed some Dutch apple pie with Stroopwafel for dessert. Then our guests joined us for a Family Home Evening about gratitude in preparation for Thanksgiving. It was great having Conference fall on a long weekend as it really helped us to relax and soak in the messages that were being shared with us from apostles of the Lord. It's definitely time to go back and review those conference notes, assess goals that were made as a result and formulate new ones.

It was one fantastic weekend and we loved being able to share it with others.