We just finished Christmas Eve dinner, opened presents, and now the kids are snug alspeep in their beds. Or, at least The Younger is asleep. We had a seafood bonaza and before we forget what we ate, I thought I would write it down for posterity. Frunty and the daddy went to Cora to shop for these critters and Frunty did most of the choosing. He is especially excited to get oysters and watch them being shucked. We had shrimp in our pasta, as well as jumbo shrimp dipped in various sauces. Oysters from the Bay of Quiberon in Brittany, two types of clams and the Common Northen Whelk. If you're not sure what this is, other common names are: in French the bulot; in "Belgian", the escargot de Bruxelles. And if you're still not sure, it's the buccinum undatum (Linnaeus,1758) of the family buccinidae. The two clams we had were the amande and the venus. All of it was yummy but maybe a little salty. No problem, the bubbly Blanc de Blanc we had was a nice accompaniment. Merry Christmas everyone!

Frunty had an extra special time at school today and enjoyed telling us about it afterwards. Something to do with a black rabbit (which was soft) being pulled out of a hat and there were birds and money went in one person's ear and out the other. He was so excited, it was hard to catch everything but you get the gist and so did we!!!!! A magacian, yes, you guessed it, visited the school and Frunty just loved it and told Gramma all about it and asked for Grampa to phone when he got home from skating, which he did. Frunty really wants Grampa to come over and play trains and says this about every two days. We have to tell him that soon it will happen.

Anyway, Daddy says that he loves taking Frunty to school and carrying him for the ten minute walk, partly up hill because

a) he really gets a chance to snuggle with Frunty and talk to him eye to eye
b) he really gets some great exercise by speed walking and holding that kid
c) he loves chatting with the other kids and parents during the 1/2 hour of "accueil" before class begins

The whole school experience started off in a stressful way but now is very fun and for my part, I enjoy getting to school a bit before 12 to chat with other Moms and have been able to improve my French in the process.

Frunty has been calling his brother, by the way, for at least a month a very cute nickname. He calls him, "Peau-Teau". (said very quickly) If you ask him what it means, Frunty will respond, "baby". And Peau-Teau looks at his brother when he calls him that so clearly knows it is him. So from now on, Tiny Two Legs will be referred to as Peau-Teau in this blog and elsewhere, for that matter!

We have decided not to go to Edinburgh for Christmas. The plane tickets were 1 Euro Cent and our new friends offered us their home in Edinburgh. It all sounded so tempting but we need to stay home and rest...I never thought we'd give up a trip opportunity but we are pretty wiped out and will look forward to visiting Edinburgh in the new year as we would really like to see our cousins there! Of course, they are welcome to visit us here too and with 1 cent flights, who can loose?

Last night we had a super fun time at Frunty's school. From 3:30 pm til 7 pm Chant d'Oiseau school hosted their annual Marche de Noel. It was really lovely. We got there at about 5:30 pm which was good since it was less crowded. (We came from our visit to Medecis.) We enjoyed some French Onion soup though not nearly as good as the one Gramma used to make in the special bowls. Alongside that, we drank some excellent Belgian Christmas beer. Frunty had a candy shishkabob with his friends, D and L. They ran around like maniacs and had so much fun. TTL slept til almost the very end. Children came around selling different Christmasy things and we bought an ornament and a cross-stitched Christmas card.

We enjoyed chatting with some friends we've made from France, their children being in Frunty's class. We also have some friends from Ireland and Scotland with whom we enjoyed some more beers. It was very festive. When we first arrived, we found Madame Claire, Frunty's teacher, and gave her a little box of homemade treats. (Frunty helped me make rice krispy snowballs with coconut, decorated gingerbread cookies and he helped Daddy make Hello Dollies.) She seemed very pleased to receive our Christmas gift. She speaks so slowly to us in French which is very thoughtful.

We woke up today to find snow on the rooftops and have enjoyed flurries on and off again all day. With our carols on, it is starting to feel a lot like Christmas! Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season too!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Yes...I know it is not Christmas but tonight, we had the dress rehearsal. We just feel that there is so much pressure on the actual day(s) so we decided to have a Christmas before the actual Christmas to take the pressure off! It all started with a really nice chat with Gramma followed by decorating two gingerbread houses. What fun! Boy, did we stick a lot of crazy things onto our houses. Gummy teeth, a green, sour crocodile and lots of skittles from Nonna. At first, our icing wasn't quite right because we didnt' have cream of tartar so Daddy used lemon juice and the icing rolled off the eaves. After thickening it, the t.reats seemed to stick a whole lot better.

Then Daddy prepared a gourmet, Christmas feast. First we had "green" oysters which are extra special and not the usual garden variety. Who knew that being green was so awesome? We enjoyed a very nice champagne with the oysters plus various smoked salmon, mackerel and trout and an excellent cheese or two. The we moved along to a baby wild boar, mashed potatoes and roasted zucchini and onion. All too good and especially with a wonderful red, though I can't remember the name of this Bordeaux. We also enjoyed two "bouches de Noel", one chocolate and one mocha, for dessert with an Asti. All too decadent! If you think we over ate, think again because we enjoyed portion control which left room for a Limoncello cake pandoro.

Here is the very best part of all...because everything was really perfect, there is no pressure now to have a perfect, Christmas dinner on the actual day. Daddy just handed me a "Karamel Korkant Guld Barre" that he purchased in Copenhagen. I'll enjoy that later. He is just saying that he forgot the "crowning piece" as I look over and see him reaching into the freezer. What is it? He replies, "a little mouth wash to rinse the palate." Still waiting to hear what it is...raspberry sorbet laced with vodka...oh, the fun never stops...gotta go, no time to spare! Now if everything burns on Christmas eve, at least we had this perfect, pre-Christmas meal prepared by Claudio, shopped for by all of us hier soir, and enjoyed by all of us this evening, especially by T.T.L who loved the mashed potatoes and some applesauce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Today I took the kids downtown by metro to see the 1982 classic, silent film entitled The Snowman. I met my new Scottish friend, F, and her daughter and we enjoyed the thirty minute film in an old theatre right near the Grande Place. It was a really nice movie with beautiful music and I was so glad that I put my fears aside and ventured forth with my two boys. Frunty really enjoyed it and T.T.L even watched almost the whole show, squealing at certain parts and laughing.

Daddy left for Copenhagen this afternoon but not before making Hello Dollies with Frunty. When we came home from the theatre, our Christmas tree was on and the warm dollies were on top of the stove. They are excellent and made with a speculoos crust instead of graham crackers. We are enjoying this Christmas season very much so far with lots of baking (cookies, Auntie L's coffee cake etc.) and two visits to the Brussels Grande Place Christmas market which is fantastic. Next week we are going to a party at the school hosted by the "equipe maternelle" teachers. They will serve, among other things, artisanale beers and hot chocolate and cakes. We are looking forward to it very much as it'll be a nice chance to properly talk with the teachers and meet other parents and children in Frunty's class. St. Nicholas and Zwarte Pete came to Frunty's school and handed out candies. Frunty comes home with treats in his Bob the Builder Knapsack and letters from his teachers about actitivies. It is all very cute and we think and hope he is having fun. We sure are!

Today was a special day not just because it was St. Nicholas day but because it was the first day that Frunty did not cry before going to school. He did whimper a tiny bit but did not scream and cry as he usually does. Thank goodness. I really hope that that is over. Poor little guy, such anxiety. He always says he has fun and that is why we kept taking him.

Tiny Two Legs smacks his highchair with his hand making a loud sound and gets really excited when I get out the Braun to puree something for him. He loves these combos:

for breakfast: oatmeal with apple/banana or peach- pureed

for lunch or dinner: also cooked and pureed:

tofu and peas
squash/apple and a tiny bit of ginger

snacks: mashed avocado or banana and sucking on clementines!

I am having a lot of fun making him food which I never got to do with Mister Two Legs. I never pureed him anything as he went from breastmilk to steak and skipped that in between stage! Frunty also likes helping puree food for his little brother and will have a snack with him

Together they sit on the mat playing trains. Well, T.T.L sort of chews on his train from Grampa, called Douglas, while Frunty arranges the tracks. For the last two weeks I would say, I have been able to leave the two of them on the mat together to play while I make a cup of tea and even drink it! I can hardly believe that I am able to do this and appreciate it so much. Frunty is an excellent brother and will bring T.T.L a new toy if he starts fussing. He will even run over to me and tell me if his brother is upset or has fallen over, not that I am unaware of this! That five minutes I get to myself is very nice but I am happy to get back to them to do Yoga Kids or some other fun game like Lotto (Bingo) or a craft or just watch a bit of Barney.

We have some new friends from Scotland who are just great and live nearby. They are here for two years so we can look forward to lots of fun times ahead. We enjoyed a play date at their home this afternoon and Frunty and I made Auntie L's coffee cake to bring over. They loved it! I will try to write in this blog more often as I don't want to forget all the fun times we are having with the boys!