Back in mid-December, as the school term came to a close the kids had their "holiday" parties in their classes, (which I ended up helping out with in both classrooms.) The kids also said goodbye to all their friends before the break (the kids get a 3 week break for the holidays because so many families fly back to their respected countries.)
This year we decorated our first "Swiss" Christmas tree, and all in all it was pretty pathetic. It may look nice in the pictures, but that's only because of our efforts with decorating it. Looking at the pictures you might ask "why is it so barren on top?" The answer is most Swiss families still use real candles on their trees. So...because of that they prune the trees accordingly so the candles won't set the tree on fire. I'm sure it would have looked good with real candles on it, but with artificial lights it just looks weird.
Also, every year the 4 of us make Christmas cookies a day or two before Christmas, and then we also make extras to give to our neighbors. It's been a little tradition of ours over the years. So this year I wanted to continue that tradition and we handed out about 3 plates of cookies to some of our neighbors. My German has improved enough so I can do this now. So our neighbors were very surprised and seemed to appreciate the cookies and gesture. However, one neighbor told me later the whole concept took them by surprise, and they admitted they were a little confused why someone would make cookies just to give away to neighbors you only say hi to from time to time. For the Swiss this is a concept that is hard to understand. The Swiss would only do something like this for close friends or family. Oh well...it didn't bother me. Just thought it was interesting.
The kids had a good Christmas. Megan got lots of toys, including a new doll, and she got a doll bed for her American Girl doll. Ben also gave her a set of "fairy wings" that light up in different colors. Ben's theme this year was all about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Lots of Lego sets and Hobbit toys. Also, both kids got new sleds, Megan got a new pair of roller blades, and Ben got a new scooter.
Also, one weekend we drove north to Rust, Germany and spent a few days at Europa Park. We've been there before. It's a big amusement park resort, similar to Disney, but not nearly as good. The hotels and restaurants are nice though and overall it makes for a nice getaway. They had the entire park decorated with Christmas lights, so it was pretty cool to see. We had a good time.
The kids managed to stay up for New Year's Eve...though they went right to bed right after. Here in Zurich all the villages shoot off fireworks at midnight, and all the church bells ring at the same time. It was pretty cool to see. There was so much noise in fact that I don't think the kids could have slept even if they wanted to. Also, the day after New Years we took a drive into the mountains to Flumserberg for some sledding. The kids had fun with their new sleds.
So...that was our Christmas and New Years. To be honest, we debated back and forth about possibly coming back to the States for Christmas, but in the end we decided to stay put and do some things around here. Turns out we made a great choice I think. We all had a great time together. The kids spent several days playing with all their new things, Jenny and I just relaxed around the house, and every night was "movie night" in the living room. We all had a nice restful break. The only negative really was Jenny came down with a stubborn cold, which later turned into a sinus infection. She's just now finally getting over it. But other than that we had a great time. Who knows if we'll stay here next Christmas, but I'm glad we stayed here this year. It was interesting to see what Christmas and New Years was like in Switzerland.
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