Happy New Year 2008... better later than never

Well, well, well, what can I say? It's been a busy holiday season for us.
No, we didn't go on a trip somewhere... we just stayed in the "good" old Belgium.
The "Angels on an errand" stroke again twice in a row. They brought a lot of Christmas presents for the kids on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd evenings. I still didn't manage to catch them, even though I practiced throughout the week running to the door once I hear the bell ringing. Anyway, it was really nice of them and we are very blessed to have them in our life. We so wish we would know whom to thank for all the goodies they brought. There were so many that we felt like we needed to share with other people who were as much in need as us. The kids had more than enough presents this year thanks to our angels.

Monday morning, we went to the Brussels' Christmas market once again to get some goodies, then at 3pm we headed to our friends' place, the Eggertz, for a Christmas Eve dinner. We really love the fact that we started so early because we spent a long time there and when it was time to leave, it was only 7:30 and we were still on time for bedtime. There was another family too, the Perhson's, and it was a full house, really: 6 adults and 9 kids ranging from 6 months old to 8 years old. There was a lot of good food, and obviously a lot of leftovers.

On the 25th, we planned on having the missionaries over for dinner but another family in the ward (who had guests of their own) wanted to have us over, so we decided to do a combined dinner at their house. Once again we had a lot of food and leftovers. We also experimented a salad recipe of greens (we used spinach), baked wild mushrooms, and feta cheese (but we used blue cheese). The recipe was a hit and we were happy it turned out great.

On the 26th, we went to Germany to visit Bonn (2 and half hour by car) and Aachen. Juri served for a while in Bonn, so we went to visit the area and look at the apartment he used to live in as a missionary and most importantly, we went to the Haribo factory. "HARIBO" is a gummy candy brand from Germany that our family loves, and they're fat and sugar free.
Then we went to Aachen to see its famous Christmas Market. The city was really beautiful.
It sounds like we had a great day, well, not really... at least not for me. Well, to start off, it was freezing cold and windy (bad combination) and then everything was closed. It was a holiday: the 2nd day of Christmas! The Haribo factory was closed and I didn't get the chance to buy anything. The restaurants and stores were closed so we didn't get to do any shopping (it's cheaper in Germany than in Brussels) and we had a hard time finding any food for us, so we were starving. I never thought I would ever say that but "thank goodness for Mac Donald's"!!! The good side about that trip is that a family from our ward let us use their 7 seater Volvo SUV (it's a company car, so gas was free) and the ride was really smooth and I think the kids really enjoyed it because they behaved really good compared to in our small car.

On he 27th, we were once again invited for dinner by the Hutchisons, a family in our ward. Once again a lot of food and dessert and leftovers.
Their kids (Katelyn and Ryan) were great, they entertained and took care of our little ones really good. They really had fun and talked about Katelyn and Ryan for a couple of days. We will definitely take Katelyn as our babysitter once she reaches the legal age (our friends are a military family so Katelyn has to be 12 or 13 to be able to babysit according to the rules). Amanda has been the first person I talked to when we came to the ward and she enjoyed playing with Ilyah in Relief Society when he was a baby and didn't care about strangers.

On the 30th, we were assigned to talk during sacrament meeting along with a new elder from Taiwan. Our Bishop sent the assignment by email the Sunday before late in the evening, around 10pm, and I seriously couldn't sleep anymore. I stressed out the whole week about it. It felt so good once it was over because we wouldn't be talking for a year. I like to think that he chose the best for last. LOL

On the 31st, we were invited with a few other families of the ward to celebrate the New Year at the Sherbel's huge house. Once a again, lots of great food and desserts, chocolate desserts. The Sherbel is a big family of blonds. They are blond and have 4 adorable and very out-going blond girls. The kids were all banished in the upstairs play room while we somewhat played some family games. I enjoyed playing "Uno", a family favorite and "Blokus", a strategy game, until Ilyah hit on the board and scattered all the pieces everywhere on the table.
Then at 9pm, they took out pots and spoons, gave to the kids and went outside to bang on the pots and made lots of noise and screamed "Happy New Year"!!!! It was fun watching the kids bare feet and in T-shirts in the cold and having fun screaming, but I don't think the neighbors were thrilled about it.
We went home at 10:30pm and put the kids to sleep; that was the latest they ever went to sleep. At midnight, Juri and I watched the fireworks outside and watched the "Polar Express", at least most of it.

Now we're just enjoying ourselves at home, trying to relax and finish a couple of projects. Winter sales have started on Thursday, we hope to buy some cheap clothes for the kids and maybe a couple for us.
We hope that this Year 2008 will be a good year for you and your family, full of surprises and excitement and health.
Keep up the good work and may Heavenly Father bless you and keep you safe and sound.