Christmas 2013

Every Christmas Eve we celebrate it by having a Bethlehem Supper.

A simple meal eaten by candlelight with your fingers of fruits, cheeses, and meats 

that could have possibly been enjoyed by Mary and Joseph.

It is a fun tradition that Cam grew up with that

we have decided to carry over into our home.

We also love to invite friends and missionaries over

to share in the fun. 

They are always intrigued and sometimes a little bewildered by our

description of the dinner. 

But so far our guests have always left,

happy and their tummies full. :)

I had no idea that this meal would end up being a bigger

deal than Christmas dinner at our house.

It has sort of taken on a life of it's own.

Cam and I have gotten a little

swept up with making home made 

naan, saffron chicken any thing

that would give it a middle eastern flair.

and now...

Thanks to Hungarian artistry, we have been able 

to collect wooden tableware to add

to the authentic feel of the event.   

I love it!! 

Now I just need to figure out some other uses for 

my dinnerware.

Once dinner and our more spiritual part of the night is over

we start into the gift giving festivity side of Christmas.

Christmas Jammies!!

Between picking out the jammies for that year, our Bethlehem supper,

and watching the anticipation of my boys for Christmas morning...

I dare say Christmas Eve is my favorite. 

Guess what Callan got?! Please oh please notice the tongue hanging partly out.

This is Callan in his truest form. 

He always sports this look when concentrating on something. 

And I absolutely adore it.

 Sweet tender Creed made everyone a Christmas this year.

We are all pretty lucky to have that little guy around.

Our laid back Christmas dinner with just us. 

Usually eating something easy like ham and potatoes.

perfection.

Silly Cam, with too much time on his hands enjoying the kids new alarm clocks.

December busy-ness

 It's February. 

In fact it is almost the end of February.

So why am I posting about December?

Because it came and went SO SUPER DUPER FAST

that I didn't even have time to stop under 

any mistletoe for a quick smooch with Cam or even drink any egg nog. 

The HORROR!

Although to be fair you can't get egg nog here anyways. 

But still the HORROR!

Looking back though, LOTS and LOTS of things happened 

so I must, I say, blog about them and get them down

on this here computer so they are not forgotten.

 Mack had his first experience of Paint Ball. 

I was a nervous nelly prepping him the entire drive

there about all the dangers of this game

and in fact I may have done too good a job.

At one point he said, 

"Mom its okay, we don't have to go to the party."

Oops!

Maybe I went a little overkill. 

Luckily, he went and had a great and safe time.

Phew.

A little bit of a tragedy hit our house when decorating our tree.

Two beloved ornaments were dropped and were beyond repair.

There were tears and not just mine.

Macks gift tag to his teacher made me laugh.

He was writing while I was talking and heard me 

say something to Cam about Hanukkah and found himself

writing the word. Pretty funny stuff.

However, I think he recovered quite nicely.

Book club this month was at my house and we had 

a cookie exchange. 

We had some amazing cookies and treats made by my fine friends.

I added a little nourishment flair thanks to that trusty old Pinterest.

Last but definitely not least (for this month anyways) 

 A proper sit down visit with the big S-man actually happened as well this year.

I think my boys were a little excited to see the guy in the

Jolly big red form that they recognize most. 

In Hungary for your Christmas dinner you would traditionally be served

Halleves or Fish Soup.

There are a few grocery stores that will have these large tanks filled 

with "yummy" carp ready for you to pick out. The man with the net, 

who my boys thought was a skilled fisherman (hehe) will use his net and

and pull a few out for you to choose from.

The guy behind the counter slits its throat 

and puts it in a plastic bag and away you go.

When I first entered the store I kept seeing all these slippery plastic bags hanging 

from people's carts and was wondering what was in them.

I wonder no more!

This guy thought we were idiots taking pictures of such a seemingly normal activity...

Pre-Christmas guest

There is a not very popular or wide known tradition, 

called Pre-Christmas guest.

Supposedly having

a guest/guests come to visit you the week 

before Christmas and leave on Christmas Eve 

will bring you good luck in the coming year. 

Ever heard of it?

Yeah, me either. 

I am yanking your chain, but admit it. 

I had you going for a minute, didn't I??

Our Pre-Christmas guest was Cam's brother Mitch.

It was a nice finale to our Fall Filled Fun Family extravaganza.

Kind of catchy right? :)

As usual we had a great time being tourists ourselves and showing off Hungary.

I had to get a picture with the artist himself in the location of the painting he did for Cam.

Do you remember this post? 

 On top of St. Stephens Basilica overlooking the city

Cam and I had not been into St. Matthias Church yet, which we

 heard was more beautiful then the basilica. 

Taking Mitch allowed us the opportunity to go inside and enjoy its grandeur.

Mitch testing out the altar.

I feel like it should be known, that Mitch probably isn't thrilled with all my

pictures of him ending up on my blog. But he is always behind the 

camera and no one ever gets to see him or his perdy face. 

And I am sort of hoping he doesn't ever read this little thing.

Shhh...

Look what we found in the church. Saint Kinga. I knew we named our little doggie well.

One afternoon Mitch and I went to see parliament. 

I had been before but didn't take any pictures of this 

beyond impressive building.

Here is the stairwell at the beginning of the tour.

This is one of the parlors where the government officials can gather or wait 

for the sessions to start

This rug sort of blew my mind. 

It was handmade, ginormous and they told me the 

astronomical cost but I sort of forgot. 

Sorry.

Back in the day when everyone in Hungary smoked--oh wait that is today.

I will re-phrase back when you were allowed to smoke in-side and cigars were the 

tobacco fix of choice, you would find numbered cigar holders conveniently located

throughout public buildings. 

I have found these in the Opera house here as well. 

The General Assembly or Chamber room inside Parliament.

This controversial Horthy Miklos statue was recently rededicated and 

moved out front and center in downtown.

He was the Hungarian Regent during the interwar period 

and a lot of Hungarians think he was a good statesman and a lot 

of people think he was a war criminal.

I felt the need to document it, because I have no idea how long it will last.

No trip to BP is complete without some FaceTime with Reagan. 

Thanks for coming Mitch.

Christmas Market overload

I tried to make it easy on Cam this year for my Christmas present

by just asking for cooperation, willingness and overall good cheer

about letting me stop at as many Christkindl-markt's I could 

between our ski location in Germany and home.

With a house full of boys I knew that having those requests 

were vital for me to actually enjoy my present.

I don't have a single shopper in the bunch.

It's really not fair. :)

I can't even explain the disgust my kids had that we stopped

and walked around 6 different markets and I didn't

buy ONE SINGLE THING.

Except some tasty treats for them. 

Cam however, was thrilled I am sure 

it could have proven to be a costly endeavor.

What can I say I know what I like and these markets didn't have it. 

Luckily for me the Budapest markets, 

more then made up for it.

Salzburg 

The Salzburg Fortress

Human chess in the square

Salzburg Dom with quaint little markets outside

Inside the Dom

enjoying a tasty treat and little rest on some nifty log seats

Perfect bench for my little minions

In Vienna there were 5 or 6 different themed trees with large ornaments. Like this one with stars and the ones below with hearts and snowmen. I thought they were adorable and fun.

I told my boys when we finally build our dream house we should have pillars carved like people at the entrance.
They thought I was crazy. 

Some of the lovely sights and statues that are plastered throughout Vienna

The market at Schonbrunn Castle which was the Habsburg's summer home. 

A lot of the markets would have different little novelty activities for kids, this one at Schonbrunn kept
my fishin' lovin' boys happy for a while.