Joyeux Noël de Paris

     Happy Holidays everyone! This is a wonderful time of the year, and it’s a plus that the world didn’t end! The kids and I were playing a little game of “How many languages can you say Merry Christmas In,” and I am happy to say that we were able to get four. See if you can guess the language: Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, and ¡Feliz Navidad. So not really a game, but still the kids loved it!

     As always my week in Paris was wonderful, and I am finally feeling the Holiday spirit! First off, if you are a loyal reader then you will notice a big change I have made to my blog. I have changed the names of family I work for. Why? Because I want my family to have their privacy, and this is the best way to do that. So here is a guide: Cecile is the mother I work for, Alain (Pronounced Alan) is the father. They have two wonderful children named Aimée (Pronounced Amy), and Daniel.

I have missed these two.

     One last thing before I start into the craziness of my week. As I have mentioned several times, I have been offered the opportunity to stay in Paris for another year. This is a huge decision, and I there are many factors that I will need to work out including finishing school. I wanted to know what you all think since you have been reading my blog the whole time, and I know that no one will send me a message so I made it easy. There is a poll on the right side of your screen (you might need to scroll a bit); all I want is a vote. Let’s see what I get back.

     On to my week!

Sara and I

     It has been a crazy week getting ready for Christmas. The stores here are CRAZY! Imagine the craziest day of shopping where you live, now times that by the fact that Paris is famous for their new and trendy shopping. That is what life is like here. Trying to find gifts for my friends and family at home is hard enough, then add in my French family and friends here… whew! And to all those who know me know that I LOVE to Christmas shop for other people. I love the challenge of finding that perfect gift for a person! I really need to tone it down this year. Then I love surprises! I love the magic of Christmas, and watching a person’s reaction as they open a gift I worked hard to find. This year I was only able to send home small gifts or a short Christmas card. The thing I did not expect was all the wonderful presents I have been getting from everyone else. I have gotten cards from family, gifts from my friends and a book of season greetings from my LDS Ward back home. But the best gift arrived yesterday morning; more on that later.

     I took a test in my French class (which I passed), said goodbye to friends as they went back home for the holidays, and enjoyed the last few days of school with the kids. All week has been devoted to Christmas preparation. Gifts are being ordered, and I have watched the kids a lot while the parents get shopping done. It has been a good week. Daniel and I played with strings. The hand string games that we used to play as kids. This week I learned how to do Cat’s Cradle, Jacobs Ladder, Eiffel Tower, and many more with the string. Skills I know will stay with me forever! Daniel thinks they are very cool and has referred to them as “American Magic Tricks.” Yay for America!

Lock Bridge. Sing a lock with your love
and toss the key in the river

     Also this week the kids and I played a game of Charades. If you have never played this game with a child under the age of 10, I recommend it. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Daniel had one where he was doing an action repeatedly for a minute or two, palm flat moving his hand up in down in a chopping motion. After many guesses of “Chopping wood” “cutting fruit” we finally gave up and he explained that he was “a ninja cutting a pizza.” What a unique, random answer! Kept us laughing for the rest of the day! Aimée’s big question to me this week was “How long have we had you?” I have had a wonderful week with the kids. Yesterday we spent the whole afternoon together putting together a puzzle. 300 piece’s with a 9 and 6 year old. I was thinking I would be doing most of it myself, but turns out these kids are amazing with puzzles.

We are a crazy group of people. 

     My Grandma Sandy sent me a BIG box of her homemade cookies this week. Chocolate-chip fruit cake cookies. These cookies mean Christmas time! They were fantastic! At dinner, everyone had at least two each and I'm pretty sure Cecile and Alain had three each. So to have something that EVERYONE liked and wanted more of has been very rare. Well done Grandma Sandy!

     I am starting to feel like part of the family here in Paris. This week I went with the family to Daniel’s school to watch him participate in a Christmas singing performance followed with a breakfast. Sometime it’s a bit strange being an employee to a family and then participating with all the little events. It’s even stranger when the children talk with you after a hard day at school, but they are all things that I am learning to adapt too.

     So the biggest thing that happened this week was my early Christmas present! Yesterday morning I went and picked up my Dad, Mom and two brothers up from the airport. They had decided that they wanted to all be together for Christmas and hopped on a plane to come see me. I haven’t seen my Dad and brothers for more than three months, so it was fun to see them again. Both my younger brother have grown so much taller than me! Today was spent exploring Paris and catching up on stories. I have missed them all so much!

     Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I wish you all a wonderful holiday. I hope it is filled with friends, family, and good memories.