First Christmas in Belgium

Well, we did it. We celebrated Christmas in Belgium. And to tell you the truth, it was wonderful. Such a surprise.

I wrote previously that we had never had the opportunity to create our own family Christmas traditions. That wasn't entirely accurate. I was reminded that we did have one tradition.

When Buddy was born, I asked several of the teens in T's youth group what Christmas traditions that they had that they really enjoyed. One of the things that came up was that two sisters always got a new pair of pajamas for Christmas. I rather liked that tradition and so each year, Buddy (and last year Little Miss) has gotten a new pair of pajamas - usually with a Christmas theme - that was opened Christmas Eve before bedtime. This was an easy tradition to implement but also served a practical purpose. We usually traveled very early on Christmas morning to get back to our hometown for Christmas festivities. Since it was a 5 hour car ride and things began at around 9 AM, it was easier to keep the kids in their new pj's for the car trip.


Since this was an established tradition, we decided to continue it here in Belgium. So after attending Chapel services that evening, we came home and both Buddy and Little Miss opened their Christmas Eve pajamas. Buddy was way too fast, but you can see Little Miss opening her present in the picture above.

We also created some new traditions this year. First and foremost, we actually had Christmas morning around our or own Christmas Tree! It was so much fun watching the kids opening their gifts. Relatives had sent many, many packages in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas so they both had quite a lot of gifts to open up. Thank you all!


Once the gifts were all opened, it was time to begin preparing lunch. We had decided to do a special Christmas lunch rather than a breakfast because there would be more time to prepare. Our menu consisted of:

• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
• Christmas Cheese Ball
• Shrimp Dip

Simple, but very nice. We tried to have things that we would not eat at other times of the year. That way, this meal becomes "Christmas". We shall see if it sticks.

Well, after all of that, the kids settled in to play with their new toys for a while. Then it was time to nap. Whohoo! A Christmas rest for mom and dad!


Later on, once everyone was back up and going, we ate some left-overs and then set about having our Birthday Cake for Jesus. You will notice that it is a bunt cake. This was not the original plan. But since I gave away all of my cake pans prior to our move here (a detail I had forgotten until I went looking for one) all I had was my trusty Tupperware silicone fluted cake mold. It did the job. The next problem was the candle(s). I had planned to just use one candle in the center of the cake. Well, bunt cake = no center. Since one candle looked weird on the edge by itself, I asked my wonderful, youth pastor husband for a solution. You can see in the picture that he decided on 3 - one for each part of the Trinity. After all, since the 3 are one, he reasoned, it was kind of all of Their birthdays. Sort of... let's not get too bogged down in the theology - it's cake! Anyway, it worked for us! :-) We now have a tradition of a Happy Birthday Jesus Bunt Cake with 3 candles. Surly that is something completely unique for our family!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening on the phone or computer video chatting with relatives and friends. It was wonderful to feel as if we were there celebrating with them too.

All in all, I am delighted with how everything turned out. Between you and me, I really had very low expectations for the day. I am so happy it turned out so wonderfully! Thanks to all of you who were praying on our behalf!

Merry Christmas!