On Sunday night we returned from our ten-day-dream Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finland. Visiting Lapland's Arctic Circle was an idea I first came up with over ten years ago when we were living in Amsterdam. To be able to take our kids with us all these years later was really, honestly, a dream come true. From Brussels to Helsinki to Rovaniemi, we moved up into the north of Finland where there was only about two hours of daylight each day. Covered with snow and light flurries while we visited, we enjoyed all the area had to offer.

The highlight was meeting the "real" Santa in his village with our new friends we met up there from Nantes, France, the Havarts. The kids all had a great time. For our individual family, I think we all agreed that the husky ride through the snow-covered trees and hills, was really amazing. We fell in love with a white husky in particular who reminded us of Mowgli.

Of course, the reindeer ride was cute although a bit too short, and the Christmas Eve mystical walk with the elves to Santa's command center in Kovatunturi was fun but the huskies were awesome...maybe because we are all dog lovers.

We also enjoyed our Santa Sport Hotel with the big spa/pool area, different saunas and indoor play zone. A great choice of hotels away from the city center in the forest. Daddy and I took turns cross country skiing but our main, snowy activity was tobogganing with the kids. We even hiked through the forest and made a fire to warm up. On Christmas night, we rented a Havuuka with our French friends and had a gourmet dinner prepared by Fred. The trip was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am so happy and grateful we went for it!

Today our friends, K and E and baby, F, came over for lunch. They are visiting from Twickenham for the weekend. We had such a nice lunch (I made Indian) and then a lovely walk in Woluwe park. Baby F is adorable. After we said good bye, I went over to our Norwegian friend's house to join our two boys (whom I had left just before the walk so they could play a bit before baking) and some others to make Christmas cookies. One of our friends, Annebeth, made a gluten-free/egg-free/milk-free gingerbread dough and the cookies were excellent. I was so grateful that she made them. I brought some allergy-free speculoos with me and they got devoured by all the kids but it was nice our kids could make some cookies that they could eat too.

We are trying our best to eliminate the foods as I mentioned but at the school's Christmas market last night, it was next to impossible to say "no" to hot dogs/cookies etc. I felt like I broke down a bit but it isn't like a peanut allergy which can be fatally serious. Today we are back on track though and that is what counts. It is cold here but not snowing...clear blue skies but who knows, it may still snow again before and after Christmas. We'll have to get down the Grande Place for the market.

Time for a nice, hot cup of tea...we keep our house a little cool so the heat doesn't make our skin dry. Plus I am tired from all the festivities lately and also, coming home late from the comedy show last night! It's a fun time of year...just gotta pace ourselves. Tomorrow, packing for Finland and 4 pm Christmas fete at our British/Indian friends' home where we will stay a short time so we can keep our routine with the kids in tact. Good night all!

Happy St. Nicholas!

St. Nicholas came early this morning to our home and found a hot chocolate, some speculoos cookies, a carrot and some hay for his donkey and left behind a present. Frunty woke up so early but has to wait for his brother to wake up so they can open it together. So Frunty is watching Wall-E beside me as I type. I had hoped to sleep in this morning but alas, it is just too exciting around here! And to top it off, my friend's dog is staying with us and started licking my cheek and my hand which was hanging off the bed.

I did have a super nice snuggle with Frunty as I tried to get him to fall back asleep. This afternoon we are off to the club where St. Nicholas will arrive with Zwarte Piet and tomorrow, he'll come to the Little Gym. Mind you, we already met him at Colruyt a few weeks ago when he gave the kids a big bag full of candy, an Advent Calendar, a Winnie-the-Pooh mug and piggy bank, puppet etc.

Tonight our friends are coming over with their little boy, Leander. We invited them about a year ago and something kept happening to postpone our dinner together.

Day 3: Vegan attempt: well, last night I went to the Lounge 81 for Anna's baby shower/dinner and although I managed to get a vegetarian pasta, it was not gluten-free and was full of cream. Imagine carrying around your own tupperware and asking it to be heated up? I am not going to go that far! Obviously, avoiding the "restricted" items as much as possible is reasonable and hopefully will show results. Absolute restriction will be next to impossible especially when we travel up to Finland at Christmas.

Day 1: We are vegans.

Okay, this is really different but I am game for anything...no pun intended. There won't be any game or any other meats for quite some time. Our md wants us to be very strict for the next six weeks and I love the challenge. For breakfast, lunch and dinner, I had LENTILS.

The kids are absolute peaches and don't like meat anyway. Well, they like Daddy's sugo and sometimes sausages. Frunty was hilarious. I asked him to eat some lentils at lunch and he made the funniest face and said, "I will try!" It was so funny, you had to be here. Pit didn't eat lentils but he eats enough of everything else and I know it is balanced...based on hours and days and weeks of research...

Anyway, I have been wanting to be a vegetarian for a short while now so I am glad the doctor told us to do so...however, omitting eggs as well is hard. I need to get to the Asian food store this weekend and buy boat loads of other types of "pulses" otherwise, how are we going to make it!?

The kids didn't even notice the can of white beans I pureed in with the spinach pesto!

Gotta go, need time to think about what I can serve tomorrow. Probably vegetarian sushi.

Let's get one thing straight. I'll try anything once...well, almost anything.

Last night we returned from a weekend at Paris Disney. Daddy said that before leaving for Finland, we'll think of the next time we'll go to Disney as we have a pass valid for one year and it is coming up. We will not renew as far as I know so want to make the most of our time there.

It is so much fun on the one hand. On the other, the crowds this weekend were absolutely unbelievable and we could hardly walk down mainstreet when the park closed at 8pm. Because of Fast Passes, we were able to enjoy Buzz Lightyear and the Studios were not as crowded for some reason so we got to see the Stitch show. Stitch noticed our boys wearing the marshan hats and asked them their names. At the end of the show, as Stitch flew out into the galaxy, he yelled, "Good bye F and D!" The kids were thrilled.

One of the highlights was our hotel which had a kitchenette and was very close to the park and by the shopping center. We never make time to go shopping really, just whip into the pharmacy for products and grabbed a coat for Pit at GoSports as his (from Travis) had a broken zipper.

The main highlights though were meeting Santa in his village at night, posting Christmas letters to the north pole and seeing Mickey's Christmas Wonderland show. Daddy might disagree. He might say the main highlights were his burgers and his texas bbq which he loved so much that he stopped to take a picture of the restaurant!

For my part (that is very French) I do love Thunder Mountain Rollercoaster! Just scarey enough to make me say "yipee" but not make me sick to my stomach! Frunty tried it this time but found it too scarey so he would disagree with me. I am so proud of him for trying it though because we almost ruined him with rollercoasters for life by taking him on the ultra-scarey "Crush's Rollercoaster" from the movie, Nemo, a few visits back.

Pit was such a good sport, waiting for us while we did "baby switch" for Thunder Mountain so he could two times at the Cars Rally, two times on Aladdin's Flying Carpet and his first choice, the Stitch Show. Anyway, I am just way too tired to keep writing. It was a lot of walking as these parks are huge. Gotta get to bed now!

Cheerio! And happy first day of Christmas!