Our First Christmas in France

We decided before arriving in France that we would spend our first Christmas on this side of the ocean this year. We anticipated just being settled into a house with all our stuff--- and not being anxious to go through another huge planning and packing period of upheaval. And I think we made the right call...for this year. But I don't think you can keep me away from the rest of our family for next year!

I'm addicted to the idea of being surrounded by family at Christmas. And, thankfully, Phil's parents came to visit to us. It was wonderful to host our first guests, even though we had finished unpacking literally minutes before they walked through the door. They didn't mind our boxes and trash on the front porch of the house. And to watch Lily and Zachary interact with them is the stuff priceless holiday memories are made of. Cookies were made, stories were read, Barbies were dressed and redressed, diapers were changed and baths were made fun...all the things busy, tired parents don't always have time to do.

Also included in our small family gathering for Christmas was my cousin Erika and her friend, Hannah. So we've had a full, busy house. And I found myself making a quick transition from unpacking and organizing my kitchen to planning meals and cooking for crowds. But all the busyness was just what I needed to keep me from major holiday breakdowns combined with post-moving trauma.

We even hosted a Christmas Eve party for our group of friends. Just like at my Mom's house, we made lots of appetizers and desserts and the adults had fun chatting together while the kids ran around in pre-Christmas craziness.

Christmas morning Lily and Zack awoke to lots of presents...an outdoor playhouse, a riding moose, and a tool bench. I was happily surprised to get a Kindle from Phil---I can now read in France! Phil got a fancy espresso machine.

We also did our best to take Phil's parents on a couple of quick half day trips to little towns we are beginning to love. We visited Aix en Provence, Hyères, Le Castellet, and Cassis.

Things that were very different from other Christmases in the States--

1. The price of EVERYTHING. From the tree (60 Euros--100bucks for a crappy, prickly, tiny, tree), to the lights for the tree (10 Euros--15 bucks for a short strand), toys (everything is still made in China, so its not like its better stuff), and our 7.5 lb turkey (35 Euros---50 bucks, and it didn't taste any better at all!)...but ahhh, the memories are priceless, right!

2. Something sad--No church service. This makes me very sad, because Christmas Eve services are some of my favorite moments inside a church building. But the Protestant churches don't offer a service---friends explained to us that Christmas Eve is such a special family day that there is never any interest or thoughts of a service. I know there were midnight Mass services at the Catholic churches around...but we didn't go.

3. Something happy--We took a mid morning stroll along the Mediterranean. We had beautiful sunshine for Christmas day, so we walked from our house to the water.

4. Something funny--For as much as the French revere their vacations and time off work, I was dumbfounded to hear the trash truck on our street on Christmas night. Phil didn't believe me, but as I ran out our gate pulling our fully over-loaded trash can, he came following and sure enough...there they were...collecting trash on Christmas---too ironic for me. Phil and I got a good laugh out of that sort of service and efficiency from the French---on Christmas. I'm pretty sure in the States that poor lad would have had the day off!

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Kent. And now that they're headed home, and all our decorations are put away, the fact that our first Christmas in France is history is sort of comforting. We survived...we made wonderful memories with the family that we had here to celebrate with...and the important realities of Christmas--the fact that Jesus came to earth and was born in a lowly stable, with the purpose of living and dying to become our Savior--those realities are worth celebrating where ever I find myself on Christmas. But I'm pretty sure next Christmas you'll find me in Ohio!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Hour by hour--especially very late hours into the night--we're settling into the house. The mess has subsided to the point now that I'm itching to buy a Christmas tree and get all the decorations up. I'm really want to set up a tree and have a somewhat normal Christmas.

Anyway, here are some pictures and descriptions of a couple of my most favorite features of the house.

First off, is the yard. It doesn't look like anything now, but it's winter, and in spring you can bet I'll be planting up a storm in the retaining walls. Some sprawling, cascading flowers will help soften the edges of what now kinda looks like a fortress. And there is a nice, open space for grass--which the kids will love. Also there are patios and terraces that surround the entire house, perfect for bikes, scooters and trikes.

You know you're a Mom when the second most exciting feature of a house is a laundry room. This is my FIRST laundry room of my married life! So, so exciting! I can close the door and have clothes stacked to the ceiling and no one will have to know. Also I'm thrilled to have a dryer. The US military offers free, loaner appliances to people living in Europe (because most homes don't come with ANY appliances and they are SO expensive and wouldn't be movable back to the States). Anyway, the washer and dryer were delivered with our all our furniture. Phil got them hooked up right away...and I'm happy to say, for the first time in seven weeks, I'm drying my first pair of jeans...I LOVE the feeling of tight jeans out of the dryer! It keeps me honest in my running.

Also helpful in my effort to stay organized is the set of double door closets right inside the front door. Winter coats, hats, shoes, and a lot of other stuff we don't know what to do with, now all have a happy home.

There are three bedrooms upstairs in the house. The master room has an attached dressing room and an attached full bathroom. The bedrooms all have vaulted ceilings with wood beams running across them. Our bedroom has French doors which lead out to a nice size balcony, big enough for a chair or two.

Lily's room also has the beautiful beams in the ceiling and a door leading out to a larger terrace. I purposefully did not give Zachary this room because I had visions of him throwing himself off the roof in a couple of months.

Back to the pile-moving-shuffle...the last bit of stuff always seems to take forever to put away. Which is why I'm completely bored by it and ready to move onto another project--Christmas decorations.

The Big Ugly--Our New Home

I'm allowing myself a half hour break from the madness of moving to update the blog. I know, I know, everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out the latest...trust me, my ego isn't that big yet! In reality, I just can't rearrange the furniture (and in the process smash piles and piles of toys) in our family room one more time without screaming at the top of my lungs!

So here is a quick status update. On Monday we moved out of the vacation rental house in Hyères. Somehow in the course of the six weeks of living here, we accumulated enough crap that it took three full Subaru loads to get our belongings out of the house. On Monday we also had a final walk through on our new house with our real estate agent. Maybe it was all the stress of shuttling bags and kids and toys and a dog back and forth between multiple houses, but as we were walking through our new house in Toulon, I was choking back tears, because I was so disappointed about our decision. I've had the same reaction with every single house we've lived in since we got married. Phil has "buyers remorse" when he spends fifty dollars on anything...I only have buyers remorse on huge, contractual purchases. And at this point in our marriage, Phil just lets me have a day or two of mourning (that we're not moving into our dream house) and patiently waits for me to get over things.

Tuesday the movers came and I was too busy directing a small circus to have time to bond emotionally with the house. Today, I'm doing a little better. I've come to realize that the house is very big, which is wonderful and nice...it's just also very ugly. And that is just that. It's practical (a word which my Mom has trained me to believe is most important above all else), has a nice yard, and is in a nice area. So I'm just a stressed out, exhausted spoiled brat...and in a couple of days I think I'll like the place. In the meantime, I would give anything to have my sisters here to help me organize my kitchen and give me a pep talk.

Here are some pictures of what I am now calling the house..."The Big Ugly"

When you pull through the gates, this is part of the house that is visible. Am I right??? It's definitely big and definitely ugly. Part of my overwhelming disappointment is due the the fact that I was under the impression the entire house was going to be pressure washed and all the sooty black stains would be removed. I'm one hundred percent sure (and so is Phil) the real estate agent promised this to us the first time we saw the house...however, on move in day, nothing was done and he looked at us like we were crazy for pushing the issue. We got Frenched.
I think this is supposed to be the front of the house...but you can't see this facade unless you walk around the side of the yard.

The kitchen...very big, especially for a French house. All the wood is dark, but the appliances are all new.

Moving into the kitchen...

Lily was thrilled to get her doll stroller back...and she stood right outside the front door watching the men unload the truck, giving us a play by play on what was coming off of it.

The truck didn't fit through the gates, so the men hauled the stuff from the curb to inside the house. All five thousand seven hundred pounds of it.

Ok, so I should get back to my work...because I'm sitting in this room right now and it doesn't look any different than what the picture shows. We have don't have any more boxes in the house, but basically all that means is that everything from inside the boxes has been dumped on the floor. We have company coming in less than week...can I make a Christmas moving miracle happen??? I don't have time for all this emotion over a silly house!

Funny tidbits from yesterday's craziness.

Lily was most excited when we unpacked her doll stroller. But coming in a close second was her level of excitement when a pack of TicTacs was unwrapped.

Zachary somehow entertained himself all day by keeping a huge apple in his mouth. He got it out of the grocery bag on his own and chewed on it throughout the entire day. I don't even want to think about how many times it fell on the filthy floors and went back into his mouth. The cold weather from yesterday in combination with six hours of a sugary, saliva droll has given him a rash all over his face today. And I've found pieces of apple stuck to the floor in EVERY room of the house!

I'll post more pictures as things get cleaned up...I can't even stand in the master bedroom...huge, moving sized clothes-bombs went off and there are clothes piled three feet high all over the floor.

Starting School in France

With the assistance of a new friend, who is French, I was able to successfully sign Lily up for school today. Because I don't yet speak French, I couldn't do any of this on my own. And with Phil working full days at the squadron, I needed a translator and someone who knew the system to help me accomplish this complicated task!

With our housing situation settled, we were able to determine which school Lily would go to. Basically, for public school, you just attend the closest school to your house. Her school is about a quarter mile away from our home...definitely within walking distance, which is a huge plus!

Today, we met with the director of the school to fill out papers and get a tour. The facilities are extremely nice--the school has just finished a huge remodeling project. The classrooms are very big, clean, colorful and look like any class room out of the United States. We also met Lily's new teacher, who was very kind and warm toward us. My French friend explained our situation and told her Lily does not speak any French right now. The teacher replied that she herself doesn't speak any English. So it will interesting to watch Lily be TOTALLY immersed into the French language. With Lily, there will be twenty-two kids in the teacher's class. There is no such thing as "parent participation" in a French classroom. In fact, from what I could understand, I'm not allowed in the classroom at all. One teacher, twenty-two three/four year olds...wow!

While classroom looks similar to other classrooms Lily has been apart of, the schedule is going to be a big shock to her. French three and four year olds go to school four days a week (they have Wednesdays off). I am to drop her off at eight twenty in the morning and then pick her up for the end of the day at four twenty! She has the option to eat lunch at school, or I can pick her up and feed her lunch at home.

If she stays for lunch at school, she is served a prepared, hot meal. No lunch boxes from home allowed. It's a three course meal, including a cheese course. It costs three euro a meal. They are served lunch while sitting at tables. The meal itself last for an hour. Then the kids are dismissed for a recess.

Hmmm, very interesting...first off, Lily still takes naps. Partly, because she needs it and party because I need it. Usually she'll sleep for at least an hour. While sitting in the office with the director, she said to Lily in perfect English (the only English she spoke the entire thirty minutes), "No more naps for you." Secondly, our lunch at home lasts about twenty minutes, on a good day. So having Lily sit at table and eat a three course meal for nearly an hour could be an enormous feat. Lily asked me in the car if I thought they would have macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at school. While smiling, I told her I had no idea what they WOULD eat, but I could guarantee her they WOULDN'T be eating pb&j or mac&cheese.

She will start school after the Christmas break, on January fourth. In the meantime, I'll savor the precious time I have left with her home all day. I wouldn't be rushing the school issue so much if it weren't for the fact that she needs go in order to pick up the language. Sitting at home in my little English speaking commune isn't helping her assimilate in any way.But January will be another milestone as she becomes more and more of a big girl...and less and less of my little girl.

Hyères Part II

I'm about five days late for this post, but our excursion was held up by rainy, windy weather...and a birthday party for a certain four year old : )

But today, with our beautifully warm sunshine back, I told the kids it was a hiking day. I threw Zachary on my back in the Ergo (the most necessary child holding apparatus for any parent with a child between the age of three months and two years old!), and we headed out the door. I was a little worried that Lily wouldn't make it all the way to the top of the hill on her own, but she did fabulously. We walked uphill for about forty minutes, and she didn't complain once.

The goal of the morning was to make it to the top , explore around the castle and take some pictures. It was our second time climbing up to the castle. The first time we did it, Phil was with us, and it was only our second day in Hyères.

The ruins of the castle date back to the 13th Century. And there is a beautiful park situated on the hill famous for its collection of rare and exotic plants. But in my opinion, the best reason to climb to the top of the hill, is for the spectacular view of the city and the ocean just beyond. There are small islands just off the mainland coast, and they are very visible as well from the high vista.

Shedding layers during our climb

Some of the walk was through this steep, rocky terrain

The ruins at the top

This picture does not do justice to the spectacular view...Hyères in the foreground and the Mediterranean in the background

The houses on the hills with incredible views. This is where we ideally wanted to live, but we couldn't find anything available in this area.

Lily snapped a shot...modeling my adorable boy and who can daily be found sucking his thumb in this Ergo...of course with the blue blanket blowing in the breeze.

How to do you bribe a four year old to go on an hour walk? With a pan au chocolat...it worked for this girl! I told her she had to exercise for her treat this morning.

December 7, 2005--A Date that will Live in Infancy

Happy Fourth Birthday Lily Mae. Every parent repeats the cliche, only because it is so true...how quickly the time has flown by. Maybe it's all the sleep deprivation, or the twenty-four-seveness of the job, but somehow time speeds up when you become a parent.

And I still remember so much about the day you were born..

..At 7 am in the hospital room, after a night of laboring, I turned on the Today Show to distract me from the pain and the urge to push...the doctor was running late, so everyone wanted me to wait ...the fact that Katie Couric was giving the morning news makes me feel old.

...Everyone who came to visit, and the doctors who came to check up on you, commented on how alert you were. Eyes wide open, you didn't want to miss a single thing, so you stayed awake and cried the entire first night you were born.

To this day, four years later, you still cry when you have to go to bed. You've cried almost EVERY night since you were born...I think crying yourself to sleep is all you know how to do. When I asked you recently why you disobey, get out of bed, and fight going to sleep with all your might, you said quite matter-of-factly, "because I don't want to miss anything." Four years later you can verbalize the reality we knew about you from the day you were born.

You have a strong personality. Some would call it bossy. You are opinionated and strong willed. You are a girly, pink, princess girl, but your toughness and extremely competitive nature give me hope that sporting events are in your future. Some of my favorite conversations with you are when I come home from a five mile run and you tell me you ran one hundred miles earlier in the day. I love how you turn everything into a race and somehow you always win.

I love how good you are at playing by yourself. I love how you pretend to be a stressed out young mom with your two babies and a husband who goes far away with the Navy on "employments". Your imagination and your acting abilities are well beyond your four years.

I love how you've grown up always living near a beach. Some of my favorite pictures are of you and the sand and waves.

You make me so happy when you sing your heart out to your Bible Song CDs. It thrills me that you can tell me who Jesus is and why He is the most important thing in all of life. I love that you are so smart that you can memorize and recite perfectly verses from the Bible. And I am praying that someday you'll experience Him in a personal way--in a heart changing way.

What a challenge, privilege and humbling experience it is to be your Mom. I love you, little girl. You are my precious Lily Mae.

Three days old, just after your first bath

Seven months old, you would crawl right for the water

One and half years old, with your new puppy

Two years old, beach day in January

Three years old, fully understanding the concepts of presents

Three and half years old at the Pacific Ocean

Four years old, you look like such a big girl

NOT so PETITE: Zachary's petit dèjeuner

Breakfast for the French is very minimal. The word breakfast in French is "petit dèjeuner"--which translates to small lunch. From what I've seen, real French people eat only a small piece of baguette (or, for a splurge, a pastry) and drink a cup of coffee. Sometimes they will spread jam on their baguette and have fresh squeezed juice. Everything to eat in the morning is either bland or sweet (I've never seen so many chocolate covered cereals in my entire life). Salty or savory foods are not considered breakfast items. Eggs are a big no no!

Even the children eat very small breakfasts. They are sent to school with just a piece of baguette with some Nutella spread on it in their bellies. I don't think the idea, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day", translates at all.

Zachary's breakfast is large by adult American standards. But this kid wakes up after his twelve to thirteen hours of sleep ready to eat me out of house and home. I laugh every time I make his breakfast, shaking my head and telling him how "un French" it all is. But I crave protein for breakfast as well, so he gets his love of eggs from his Mom.

Here is his American breakfast in France:

First, he begins with a whole banana.

After the banana, Zachary will hand his empty plate to me and grunt repeatedly for his next course.

Next up, eggs. Zack will eat two scrambled eggs. Today I made him special eggs with pieces of bacon in them.

And he's still going. After the eggs he will finish an entire yogurt cup. After the three courses, he retires to the family room where he proceeds to fill his diaper with a huge poo...it's all very predictable. C'est la vie.

Reunited and It Feels so Good

Today, after three months of borrowed cars, rental cars, and doing without at a car, I'm pleased to announce that our Subaru is back in our possession here in south France. It's had a lengthy, complicated journey as the car stumbled through some bureaucratic red tape.

We said goodbye to the Outback in California (on September 1st), were it was shipped via train from Oakland to Baltimore. Then it was put on a ship and floated all the way to Belgium. From there it was trucked down to Paris. And in Paris some random French man (allegedly contracted by the US Embassy) drove our beloved car to our house in Hyères. Other than the baguette crumbs found all over the driver's seat, it appears to be just as we last saw it.



We've had a rental car for the last five weeks in Hyères. But each week we've had a different rental car...because each week we thought SURELY our Subaru would arrive any day. But alas, each Tuesday night, Phil would sit online, shaking his head, and sometimes his fists, as he paid lots and lots of Euros for a rental car for the next week. It kinda became a joke. Kinda. Lily and I would discuss with excitement what color the new rental car would be. And nearly every time it was different. We had a Citron, a Renault, and an Opel...here is a picture of one.


They were small, manual, and without power steering, but they were very functional. And we even took one on a seven hour weekend road trip to Italy...two kids and a dog...we all fit just fine. But now that the Subaru is back, it's like we've been upgraded from a two star hotel to a five star. Oh, the spaciousness of it all! And the smell of the leather seats. It's fancy.


Having the Subaru back in our possession is another step toward my sense of independence. I haven't been driving any of the rental cars, and thus haven't driven for the last five weeks. Phil would take the car to and from work, and the kids and I would walk everywhere. And then if we went anywhere further away (like my dress shopping escapades for the Thanksgiving dinner) we ALL would go, because Phil would need to drive. But today I loaded up the kids in the car and headed to the mall, just because I could. It was a big moment for me....seriously... Lily was cheering from the backseat.


But here's the reality check moment. Tonight we filled up our car at the gas pump...can you read the total...

...that's right, sixty-six Euro. Very close to one hundred US dollars. The tin cans we had been driving were diesels. They averaged around fifty miles a gallon. And to fill them up cost us around thirty Euro. So, my five star car has a five star cost, if I want to drive it. Thankfully, once all our paperwork gets processed by both the French and American governments we'll be entitled to save a little bit of money on gas...but we'll be waiting awhile on all of that bureaucratic cooperation. And Phil will continue to walk away from the gas pump with a face like this!
Funniest moment in the car this morning with Lily--I had the radio on and the DJ's were speaking French (obviously). Lily said, "Mommy why are they speaking in French when it's our Subaru?" I answered, "Because we live in France, honey, and everyone here speaks French." There was a long pause and then Lily quietly asked, "Mom, will all my Bible Songs CDs be in French now too???" I assured they wouldn't...her precious Psalty will still be playing the synthesizer and singing in English!

Hyères Part I

I haven't really taken a lot of pictures of Hyères. I think in part it is because when we first arrived I was too overwhelmed. Then my sense of being overwhelmed turned into frustration...I didn't want to take pictures because I wasn't a tourist. But I was jealous of tourists...I wanted to take pictures and experience the beautiful town for what it was, and then be able to head home to all that was familiar and easy. But as we've been in Hyères for nearly five weeks, life is getting a little more familiar everyday (although I'm not going to go so far as to say it's getting easy). And today I was ready to take some pictures and be a tourist while not being a tourist.

And actually I'm quite sad because our new house we found is in Toulon. So we'll be leaving Hyères, a quiet and very quaint little town, and heading for the much more urban Toulon. Phil will still commute to Hyères everyday for work (the airport is here), but the rest of our daily life will happen twenty kilometers west.

I don't know the history of the town...I'm sure Phil does, and when you come and visit us, he'll give you all of the details...but here are some pictures from the oldest, historic, pedestrian only part of the city...what I would describe as "fairy tale French."

We walk here to "centre ville" almost everyday. Through the arch way, under the clock, is a narrow alley street lined with little fish markets, vegetable stands, olive shops, butchers, and cheesemakers. As I described in my post about grocery shopping, my French isn't to the point where I can negotiate these kinds of one on one encounters, so mostly I just window shop and watch what other people buy.

This is the poissonerie, one of the fresh fish markets on this alley. Sometimes there are giant fish heads on the ice tables outside the entrance...kinda makes me lose my appetite, but Lily thinks its hilarious.

One of the produce stands. The produce here is amazingly fresh. And I'm discovering vegetables and fruits that I've never seen before.

Olives are huge here...and a regional specialty. I'm slowly acquiring a taste for them. Our new house has an olive tree in the yard!

The palm trees in Hyères add so much atmosphere to the place as well. Along with the gloriously sunny weather, the palm trees are a constant reminder that I don't miss Ohio winters.

Maybe tomorrow I'll hike up to the castle on the side of the hill and take some pictures which will give more of an aerial perspective on the area. Sounds like I just used my blog as an exercise accountability tool : )