Our first Swiss Christmas

So...Christmas was a month and a half ago. I know. Things have been so busy at work, and I've been pleasantly lethargic in my late stages of pregnancy that neither of us has made a push to get the blog up to date. The arrival of Baby #2 in 9 days, and my plan to share some pics with you shortly after, is just the motivation I needed.

Despite being miles and 6 time zones away from family and friends, Christmas turned out to be a lot of fun this year - mostly due to the fact that Sam 'got it' for the first time. We did our big dinner on Christmas Eve this year, as we were planning to head to Berlin, Germany, on the 26th and didn't want to be too tired / have a big mess of dishes to clean up the night before. We invited some old friends from Ottawa who are living here in Geneva - Pinar, Attila and their girls Ince and Oya, as well as some new friends, Sarah Mak and her boyfriend Tak...who arrived that day...for dinner. I took the day off so that I could prep the spread: Turkey (thanks to our US colleague who picked up a good ole butterball in Germany), cinnamon sweet potatoes, cauliflower with cheese sauce, mashed potatoes, orange glazed carrots, rolls with butter, gravy and of course stuffing! We had so much food we fed ourselves several times while in Berlin, including turkey sandwiches for the road (more on Berlin next blog). I got to break out the good china (Mom and Dad's set), the crystal and the good silverware, and Aaron got to eat until he burst. Best of all, we were surrounded by friends and so we didn't have much time to lament over how lonely we were for our extended families. So busy that I didn't even take a single pic to share with you. Sorry!

After everyone left, Sam got into his pyjamas and put out some cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. This didn't make a lot of sense to him. He thought he should get to eat the cookie.

Sam setting out Santa and co.'s snack.

Sam was asleep fairly quickly (gets it...but doesn't quite get it. Next year will be bad no doubt), and we set about tidying up, wrapping some last gifts, and getting the place ready for Santa's arrival.

When we woke up the next morning (after 8 a.m. the last 8 a.m Christmas for the next 10-15 years no doubt) we couldn't believe the haul!

The haul

Seems Santa had done quite a bit of shopping, and also took note of Sam's request for a 'blue one...with wings' bringing a Playmobile airplane. This got some immediate love. Mommy and Daddy were very surprised by what excited Sam the most, though...the hockey stick and SCISSORS!!! The 'Scissors Cry' went on for a few minutes. Finally, a pair of scissors he could call his very own, and even touch! Next up were rules around what could and could not be cut (no....not your pyjamas, the Christmas tree or the cat...you can cut paper, after asking Mommy and Daddy if you can cut that particular piece of paper).

Favorite things: hockey sticks and scissors..YAY!

After the initial excitement over the gifts Santa had laid out, we noticed that he and Rudolph eaten their snacks (in fact, Santa had eaten his WHOLE snack - but luckily Mommy found another cookie out of which he had only taken a bite so Sam could see he had really been there). Santa also left Sam a very nice note...that Sam immediately wanted to cut up with his new scissors (luckily they don't work all that well)

To Sam, Love Santa

Lesson to new parents (us): A 2.5 year old can only stay interested for so long, even in something as magical as Christmas. We had to convince Sam to open his stocking. He wasn't keen to reach in there (not sure what he was expecting). He was, however, a great bringer of gifts and saved us from having to move much except to refill our coffee and open all the windows after lighting a fire with the flue closed (smoky pics not attached).

Sam wore his goggles like that most of the morning

We were all very spoiled, and got some great things that we either wanted, needed or made us think of home. We are very lucky.

Love my Canada mittens

One of the things I was most excited for Aaron to open was something Tak had brought from Canada the day before...BACON! Ineed, he was very pleased. We had a yummy brunch of Eggs Benedict and bacon and invited Julie, Darren and the kids over to enjoy it with us.

Playing hockey in the driveway while the bacon cooks

Aaron, Sam, Cedrik and Darren enjoying the bacon

All in all, Christmas was better than we could have hoped given that we were stuck in Switzerland. We got to skype the family in the afternoon and then we turned our attention to our next adventure...Berlin!