Christmas in Brussels

We went downtown to see the Christmas lights in the Grand Place, and it did not disappoint. The pictures don't do it justice, but it's the best we could do. It was really neat. But Amelia verged on hysterics because she thought there was going to be fireworks.

We had a wonderful dish called Tartiflette (potatoes, onions, spices, Reblechon cheese and a bunch of white wine). I'm going to have to learn how to make it!






If you look closely, you can see that they're projecting a snowflake pattern on the Hotel de Ville.


Here's a video showing a bit of the light show and the music (and the little dancers).

I rode my bike to market today (yes, in December!), and when I came out of the grocery store, it was snowing heavily! It was beautiful, but a little awkward for riding the bicycle. They're setting up for the Christmas market this weekend. The Christmas markets abound -- far too many for us to ever get to! Probably a good thing for our pocketbook.

I had meetings with the teachers last week to discuss the kids' progress. Jack was highly praised for his bread-making skills. His teachers says he's mastered bread-making (one or two kids make bread every day for the other kids to eat with their lunch). So much so, that they said Jack could be trusted to teach any of the other kids how to make bread. He's always so proud of his little loaf that he gets to bring home!

Amelia was highly praised for manners and for helping the younger kids, and she's showing a big interest in math.

They're going on a field trip on Friday -- a chocolate museum and a dinosaur museum. Lucky kids! (I will be heading downtown to the Christmas market!)

I'll post some pictures later of our St. Nicholas day on Saturday. The kids got to open all of their presents, and we had caramel rolls and bacon -- a true Christmas miracle! And they also helped me with making sugar cookies. I need a far bigger kitchen!!

More soon!