Hope you all had Happy Holidays!

First, a few pictures:

Christmas Dinner: Raclette

Finn cooking up a storm with his new playkitchen

A Little People airport - yay!!

Happy little chef making toast

We had a really, really nice Christmas here in Germany! It was very special because of two very special people celebrating with us: Finn's and Lily's uncle Karl and auntie "Christmas", aka Kristin. They came all the way from Canada and were in Germany for about 2 weeks. We had lots of fun together! They brought a ton of children's books, and Finn LOVES them. So we spent the holidays playing, eating, reading books and enjoying each other's company. A few days before Christmas Karl, Kristin, Neil and Finn went to get a tree. Neil chopped down the big one and Finn a little one. On Christmas Eve Neil, Claudia, Finn and Lily went to church while K&K prepared the house for the big gift-opening, putting the presents under the tree and setting up Finn's and Lily's new play kitchen. (We follow the German tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve.) Finn and Lily got spoiled with lots of new toys, clothes and other gifts. Lily got two new adorable dresses - one from auntie Kristin and one from her auntie Ulli - that her mommy is absolutely in love with. :-) I just love dressing up my little princess.

Here is a video of Lily opening one of her gifts, and as you will see, the wrapping paper was a huge hit with her.

After opening all our gifts we had a "Raclette" dinner ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette ) we all enjoyed very much. Well, all the adults that is. Lily stuck to her Cheerios and Finn was too busy playing with his new kitchen to eat. Before the kids went to bed Neil and Claudia put on a puppet show telling the Christmas story. Because, after all, this is the gift that matters more than any other. The King of Kings, being born as a baby, the gift of the Father to all who will receive Him. Jesus, the Annointed One, the Christ, the Only Way back to where our souls long to be: in His Presence, surrounded by His love - HOME.