Christmas 2008

We started our 10 days of Christmas with a quick visit from Joe's parents. First stop was to the pool to witness Makayla's swimming progress. Can you believe she was scared to put her face in the water just 3 months ago???

then off to the market square for the annual Christmas market where kids for some reason end up with lollipops.

on christmas day, kids got to open their presents, little did they know that some of them were gifts from our friends back home from their birthdays in the summer. (like the lightsabre that ethan liked so much - thanks grace!!!) we're not cheap, we're just wise. . . .

also on christmas day, we were invited to one of the american family whose been in Poland for now 20 years! they have 3 lovely daughters who love our children and our kids adore. in fact, ethan has said to the oldest daughter, "i will be with you forever. . . ." we had a great time and had american pecan pie that i've been craving!!!! yummmm.

during this visit, i forgot why, but i started to tell them about the first couple of days in Poland which was the roughest for me. i told them with my dramatic flair about how i had to suffer using a traditional mop and a bucket to clean the floor of our house since poland doesn't have wet swiffer nor steam vac. then they told us their story about when they first came here - how you couldn't buy anything. a truck will come periodically with supply of toilet paper - they would announce that they had toilet paper and people would rush out to get their ration. they also said that you can still read prints off the toilet paper and basically fell apart whenever you used them. i quickly cowered and said "times were different then. . . . ." hee hee.

the day after the christmas, we headed off the the market square - it was way more crowded than last year for some reason. there was a nativity set up at a church (with real mary and joseph!!) and monk band playing. joe loved it for some reason and was rocking it out with them. it was hilarious. what do you guys think??