But by the time we put the kids to bed and did our dishes on Christmas, I was feeling a bit down. And exhausted. And we spent a long time talking to our families on Skype, which was wonderful, but I missed them and wished we could be with them. And I laid on Brad’s shoulder in bed and cried for a little while, then felt ashamed that I was crying on Christmas when I had so much to be thankful for.

The next morning we got up and the girls were in a terrible mood. Lucy was crying and screaming so hard I even tried to put her back to bed. Against our better judgement, we decided to go ahead with our plans to drive two hours to go to one more (after)Christmas Market in Strasbourg, France. I am so glad we did.

We put a movie on for the girls in the back seat of the van, and as Brad and I sat in the front and talked while he drove we noticed how quiet it was. When our girls are awake our house is loud and crazy – really loud. Once they go to bed, we always have something to do – dishes, application essays, work, editing, projects, laundry, etc… We were so happy to be just sitting together and talking while our kids were quiet we joked that maybe we should just drive around all day. Our drive there was one of the best dates we’ve had in a while.

Even though the day started out rough, our girls were exceptionally well behaved once we were there. It was early in the afternoon, the market wasn’t too crowded, and the weather was nice. There was a giant Christmas tree, hundreds of food stands with pretzels, candies, cookies, and crepes, hot spiced apple cider, a beautiful city, and a carousel ride for the girls. We didn’t buy anything besides food, but just being together in the city was perfect.

As a bonus, we stumbled on a ice skating rink. For 2 Euro we rented Annika some ice skates and spent an hour on a children’s rink with her. Our little Annika, who is generally afraid of everything is apparently growing up. She was excited to try ice skating and jumped right on the ice without needing any persuasion on coercing. Even when she fell she got right back up, licked the ice off her sleeve, and kept going. I was a proud mom that day.

We ate galettes (savory crepes) for dinner and danced around the giant Christmas tree before heading back home. I had been feeling so sad that I wasn’t with family this Christmas. Doing something I loved that I can only do in Europe was just what I needed. Having a whole day with Brad and seeing my girls smile all day was icing on the cake. It was a day I think I’ll remember for a long time.

Our girls are a wonderful age for Christmas this year. Annika was old enough to remember last Christmas, and to anticipate each new morning and the eventual arrival of Santa Claus. Lucy and Elise weren’t really sure what was going on, but they were certainly old enough to get excited by the lights, the music, the food, and all of our activities. Each morning they would look out their window at all of the Christmas lights hanging in the street and excitedly point and say “Mommy! Look! Look! Christmas!” That said, my girls are at a fun, crazy, chaotic age where nothing ever goes as plans, and everything we try ends up in some kind of disaster. I was going to write this post and just share pictures and stories of all the fun, happy, yummy things we did this December but that wouldn’t be quite honest or fair. You see, we did a lot of really fun things, but it was really crazy too. We made snow globes – but the first time we tried it Lucy and Elise were screaming because I wouldn’t let them hold the glue gun, then Annika dumped a huge pile of glitter in the water, but it was too fine and wouldn’t sink so we had this snow globe with a glob of glitter floating on the top that would never filter down the the bottom. We made cookies together too many times, but mostly the twins just tried to climb up on the counter to eat the dough and when Annika tried to frost them they all got broken and there was frosting everywhere. When we made gingerbread houses Elise sat by me and licked the frosting off of my house and painted the table with it. Annika was interested for a couple of minutes, and then ran off to play. The rest of the evening I could be heard saying “Go away, girls. Go play somewhere. I’m making my gingerbread house!” We have fun around here, but it is messy, and there are tears, and Brad is continually reminding me to temper my expectations.

So, there are supposed to be captions with these pictures, but they’re not showing up. Lame. But basically we got a tree and decorated it, Elfie left fun surprises, Lucy and Elise loved the snow globes (after they worked), we celebrated Brad and Cambree’s birthdays, Annika decorated cookies, and we delivered “candy cane play-dough” to all of her friends.

We have officially submitted our paperwork to separate from the Army next August. I am excited to be going back stateside and to be closer to family, but leaving is bittersweet. We’ve lived here for over 4 years now, all of our children were born here, and it is really the only permanent home we’ve known together. We love Europe. This was our last Christmas here in Europe, and I’m a bit torn up about it. Christmas markets really aren’t Brad’s favorite thing, but we went over and over again because I didn’t want to admit that each one could be the last. I visited the Christmas market in Bern-Kastel Kues, we rode the train to Mainz, and the Baumholder Christmas market was right outside our front door. (Literally — in the picture you’ll see Annika and Brad standing at our front door.)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we spent together – our little family of five. Brad didn’t even get work calls the entire weekend. It was a little Christmas miracle. On Christmas Eve I planned a dinner with the kinds of food Christ would have eaten, and even came up with scripture verses or stories relating to Christ to go with all of the things on the table – candles, bread, grapes, water, pomegranate, cheese, lamb, etc. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea in theory, but really is not. Before we could even get the food on the table Lucy and Elise were screaming for the grapes. Then I turned the lights off so we could eat by candlelight (authentic, you know) and Lucy kept yelling “Dark! Light on! Dark! Light on!” I would try to read a scripture, but nobody was listening – the girls were just crying for food and Brad was busy trying to keep them fed. By the time I finally gave up on the scriptures, and got ready to eat my own dinner Elise adamantly informed me that she was all done and wanted to get down. It was a delicious dinner anyway. We also attempted to act out the nativity, but the twins hijacked baby Jesus and kept putting him to sleep in different places. Annika did fabulous in her role as the angel – she knew just what to say. “Glory to God! Peace on Earth!” After Lucy and Elise were ushered off to bed Annika left Santa some cookies and bubbly water “because he probably gets tired of milk.”

I’ll let the photos of Christmas day speak for themselves. We had a wonderful holiday, and we hope you did too. Merry Christmas!

We took Lucy and Elise out in the snow last year, but this was the first time they were really old enough to play in it. While hesitant at first, they came around and became very attached to our little miniature snowman. They drop their “s” when they say snow, so for the rest of the week whenever we passed a window they would call out “noman! noman!” After an hour of playing outside in the first snowfall, our time was cut short when Brad pegged Annika in the face during a snowball fight. He had been lobbing snowballs at the girls’ feet, but Annika bent down to make a snowball and then looked up at Brad just in time to get hit square in the face. It hit hard enough to make a loud “whack” and Annika couldn’t open her eyes for the next few minutes. It was really kind of funny for everyone but Annika.

On Tuesday, after another snowfall, Brad took a long lunch, and we went sledding with the girls on a little hill near Brad’s office. We were so proud of Annika, who went down the hill very first, slid down on her stomach, and was excited to try a bigger hill. While none of those things are exceptional, it was a big step for Annika, who has been known to show fear of small bunnies, fruit flies in her room, the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, and her own Father dressed as Santa Clause.

We’ve had a wonderful December and I might be just as excited as Annika for Christmas. We hope that everyone has a very wonderful holiday and feels an increase of joy, love, and peace in their lives. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Holland household – the Nativity with baby Cambree staring as Jesus and the Archer’s playing Mary and Joseph.  Annika and her cousins as a wise”man” queen and the shepherds.

Baumholder got snow on and off for the whole week before Christmas, although it also got rain, so the snow never accumulated very much. Still, we enjoyed somewhat of a white Christmas, and Annika got a chance to get outside. She didn’t really love the snow (another experience together that went differently than I envisioned. . . ) and after walking around for a little bit said “Annika cold . . .  home?”

Christmas morning was relaxed and wonderful. Annika was appropriately spoiled, and Brad managed to surprise me once again. He got me a new large format printer that I can’t wait to try out  (it hasn’t quite got here yet . . .) He loves the down slippers and book that I got him, but I can’t help but feel as though I have been outdone again.

We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house with Brad’s brother Jeff and his family and then we had Christmas dinner together the next day at their house. All of the cousins enjoyed showing off and playing with each other’s new toys. The kids got indoor slides, which are still providing hours of entertainment. Annika has developed a new fascination with princesses, and so she loved trying out Avery’s new princess dresses and dancing with her handsome prince, Andrew. We felt very lucky this Christmas to be so close to family and are grateful that Annika has such good friends in her cousins.

Anyway, before Christmas I decided that it would be really fun if Annika and I made pinecone bird feeders together. I told her that we were going to make presents for the birds and she was very excited. That is about the point that the project started to go much differently than I had envisioned it. While I was getting the string and pinecones Annika opened the jar of peanut butter and helped herself by the handful. Once we got started Annika just kept eating peanut butter, even licking it off the pinecone. At one point she ate a handful of birdseed. I told her that it was gross and she said “mmmmm!” We finally finished and hung them up outside. We really did have fun together, but it was another reminder that projects with an almost two year old never go quite a nicely as they do in my head.

Annika enjoyed decorating the tree more than I thought she would. She enjoys it so much, in fact, that the bottom few branches get re-decorated everyday.

A better picture than this next one might have been giant pregnant lady standing on the edge of the bathtub trying to get the picture she imagined in her head. This isn’t quite it, but I like it anyway.