Here's Bailey before the big haircut...

...and after! "I got a haircut like Audrey!!!"

So, here's our modest little spread for NYE.  I'm drinking rum and coke, and listening to the fireworks.  Definitely enjoying this years celebration more than the last!

In the end, we spent the evening grazing on traditional Gamelin Family New Year's food, making a million toasts with prosecco and fruity sparkling mineral water and wearing silly hats.  There were fireworks aplenty before the girls went off to bed, but we woke them up anyway for the big shebang at midnight.  They were seriously unimpressed even though it sounded like the city was under attack.  After about five minutes of them not caring, John and I put the girls back in bed and sat under our comforter with the dining room windows open, drinking champagne and listening to the residual crackles and booms in our neighborhood. It was a happy new year.

Apparently the Viennese celebrate Fake New Years too.  They've been setting off fireworks since the sun set this afternoon.  Luckily, the girls think it's awesome.

We let the girls pick out their glueckschwein (lucky pigs) for the New Year today!

When Audrey sweetly asks to go out for a "happy dinner" of schnitzel, you never say no.  --at Cafe Wortner

Pickwick's hot potatoes, anyone? --at Christkindlmarkt Schoenbrunn

We did a lot of Troll hunting today. 

Merry Christmas from Vienna

Making spätzle

Christmas this year felt entirely different from the last--in the most lovely way possible.  We kept things simple--kept them calm and bright.  We spent so much time excitedly anticipating the day, I felt we were really experiencing advent together as a family for the first time--joining in with the world, anticipating the overwhelming joy and love that came with our savior's birth.  It was giddy and warm and cozy and lovely.  Especially in the last week leading up to Christmas, we spent most of our time at home (making sure we didn't start the domino effect of missing Christmas packages) doing school work, making fudge and cookies, wrapping presents and just generally being merry.  My solution to our hermit-like habits was to invite friends to join us in our home--to make more cookies or drink wine while the children ran amok...it all got rolled into the joy of our Christmas season like a happy little bon bon.

A&B on Graben

The focus, obviously, was on keeping things chill.  So, on Christmas Eve, we made some simple spätzle noodles and steak before heading downtown to enjoy Vienna's impressive Christmas lights.  Last year, the streets were nearly deserted when we started this little tradition, but the warm weather this year seemed to have brought the crowds out.  We still got to take our time enjoying the splendid displays and even happened upon a harpist performing outside one of the majestic entrances to the Hofburg Palace. In the end, we absolutely wore the girls out and ended up getting some fantastic sleepy snuggles while waiting for our tram home.

The first order of business once we got home, though, was to set out Santa's Christmas cookies; Audrey had been saving two specific cookies from her party that were now eleven days old and she was paranoid that we would forget to leave them for the big man.  I tried to convince her to change her mind and pick some treats that wouldn't be so hard and...well...OLD...but there was no talking sense to the kid.  I made a wise crack to John (out of kiddo hearing range) that he could be the lucky one to eat Santa's cookies this year...thinking he understood the level of their stale disgustingness, but after we read the girls The Night Before Christmas, and everyone was duly hugged and smooched, I took the girls to their bedrooms to tuck them in...leaving John alone to presumably set up the tv for our movie.  When I came back out, there was one entire cookie missing from the plate that John had choked down like a champ. The sacrifices we make to preserve the magic!!!  The other cookie was buried well in the trash can.

Last year we spent almost three hours after the girls had gone to bed constructing their doll mansion, so taking a few minutes this year to bring out and arrange the girls' already-wrapped presents felt like an absolute sinch.  I actually got to sit and enjoy It's a Wonderful Life this year without falling asleep.  This might be some kind of record.

Our kids have not figured out how to manipulate the equation of: whenever you wake up = Christmas (yet), so John and I were actually up and about well before them.  This means Mama and Papa got to organize their caffeine fix before presents, and I actually got a jump on our big Christmas breakfast before the excitement officially kicked off. We only do a few presents from Santa since we already celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, but those gifts are the ones we let the girls play with while I'm making breakfast.  This year, the jolly old fella left the girls two enormous stuffed animals (an elephant named "Tusky" and a leopard immediately christened "Sparklo") and two magic brooms!  They were identical, but I was informed that Bailey received a Nimbus 2000 (she brought this up on her own) while Audrey was the lucky recipient of a Firebolt. Exciting stuff.  There was a lot of animated flying and accompanying shussshhhing sound effects as I finished making gravy and scrambling eggs.

This year I basically let the girls eat their weight in bacon (John and I enjoyed some traditional biscuits and gravy) before letting them loose on the rest of the presents under the tree.  Their mutual excitement and hesitation once we announced it was *time* was really cute.  We had been telling them to wait for Christmas for so long, I think it was hard for them to believe they were actually allowed to start ripping paper. Unsurprisingly, it took little enticement to do just that.

We deliberately planned our Christmas dinner with friends later in the evening so we'd have time to leisurely open presents all morning.  It was so nice to be able to take the time to talk about who had gifted what, take gifts out of the packaging, and even play with them for a bit before moving on to the next. It was a happy, laid-back Christmas morning.  (except for the part where John got shot in the 'tenders' with a Nerf dart.  That part was hilarious...or excruciatingly painful...depending on the individual party)

As our lazy day wore on, I worked on cooking turkey and shaping dinner rolls, John spent hours putting together the girls' new Native American Playmobil villiage and A and B played contentedly for HOURS.  It was almost disturbing how quietly and contentedly they played for SO LONG...but it didn't last forever...because we had dinner guests and two of them are their buddies Jack and Nick.  So, we got our fair share of screaming and running around the house too.  Our friends, Sunshine and Michael (and their boys) joined us for our holiday feast; we popped Christmas crackers, donned paper crowns and spent a really nice evening together.  I love being with people who appreciate food and know the ropes of American holiday feasting.  We ate loads of turkey and fixins, drank wine and didn't hesitate to attack the Christmas cookies after dinner.  It was just the perfect day.

The girls were worn out once bed time rolled around, but they were still just buzzing with the magic.  I asked them what their favorite part of the day had been and both, predictably, answered: presents.  Bailey told me her favorite was her new toy dragon (technically, this is John's dragon, but I think he'll share) and it took me a while to figure out that Audrey wasn't thinking of any specific gift when she answered me.  She just liked that we all had presents and how lovely they were.  Oh, that kid just kills me.

My favorite part of the day, without a doubt, was tucking my sweet girls into bed--staring at their heads agains their pillows, trying to press the image permanently into my heart...those two...right at that exact moment.  My heart nearly burst as I bent down to kiss each of them goodnight and whispered my last "Merry Christmas" to them for the year.  Yeah...that was the best.

 

The girls are stepping out in style with their new hats!

Bailey has been making some really awesome observations this week.  Like:  "I CAN'T SEE MY FACE!!" This actually made a lot of sense.  Why do I not freak out that everyone but ME can see my face?! Second awesome observation was about Snow White running through the forest: Bailey told us the trees were making faces because they were scared--they thought Snow White was a monster. (can't blame 'em.) There's your daily dose of B-Bear perspective!

Having a bit of an "Overboard" moment here...

That's more like it! That's our French turkey on the left and the Austrian one on the right.  The difference between the way they were cleaned and packaged was just hysterical.  They were very true to their countrymen, that's for sure.

Baked loads of kolakys with a friend today!  Yum!  Now Christmas can come.

Made chocolate crinkle cookies, (more) fudge, and kolacky dough today! We're getting so excited for Christmas!!!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I spent a lot of the Christmas season last year internally freaking out about doing things so differently...different country with different traditions...different foods and ABSOLUTELY NO FAMILY on the same land mass.  It was heavy.  Fun and exciting...but heavy. This year I'm still missing my family and lamenting the difficulty of obtaining certain things an American would take for granted (like basically every ingredient involved in Christmas dinner...or wrapping paper longer than a meter), but this year I've nestled into all the Austrian eccentricities and have been able to really enjoy the advent season.  There are just too many things I'm loving about Christmas this year, so I decided to hit on all of them in a more-or-less bulleted list instead of trying to streamline this writing process.

So!  For starters:

Amazon link

ADVENT: We're doing four different countdowns to Christmas this year, which sounds like overkill, but I've found the diversity between our advent calendars has resulted in a well-rounded way of anticipating Christmas day. I've had a collection of advent bags since the girls were tiny that we usually put chocolates into and open each day, but this year is the first that A & B have even seemed remotely excited about it.  These bags were accompanied by daily devotions for advent that were way over our kids heads...so this year, I bought The Story of Christmas advent calendar.  It's one enormous "book" that comes with twenty-four little books inside.  Each day there is a story to read that tells a little more about the Christmas story.  I have fallen in love with these.  They've fleshed out the story of Christmas so much more than anything else I've read for kids.  I feel like this year Audrey, especially, is gaining a much fuller understanding of exactly how Jesus made his way into the world. On top of all this, we're also doing traditional European advent calendars filled with chocolates and a really fun advent calendar from Playmobil where every door contains a toy that helps complete a Christmas scene.  Like I said.  On paper, this sounds ridiculous, but it's all become a part of the flow of our day--excitedly counting down to Christmas.

I've already gushed on about how much I love Saint Nicholas Day and how exciting it was to decorate cookies with our friends, but I've also been taking advantage of days spent close to home (so's not to miss the post man and his great bevy of Christmas packages) and have been planning how my days will be spent in the kitchen making delicious Christmas goodies. (it has been far too long since I've eaten fudge!! How did I let this happen!?) The Austrians can keep their lebkuchen and criststollen, as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't mean they don't know how to celebrate Christmas, though, because this list would not be complete without mentioning:

VIENNESE CHRISTMAS MARKETS: Dear Lord, how will I ever celebrate Christmas without Christmas markets again!?  They've spoiled me.  Completely.  I don't even like punsch (and by most accounts, this year's batch of official Viennese Christmas Market punsch was particularly bad), but I still can't stay away from the markets.  They ooze cheer.  And there's usually at least one stand selling beverages that are not punsch or gluehwein (which I had the great misfortune to have drunk along with a meal that gave me food poisoning last year...so it's also been cut from my repertoire.)  This year I've been digging the apfelpunsch which is much more akin to our cider and tigermilch (literal translation: tiger milk) which is just hot chocolate spiked with rum.  But the best, BY FAR, is the one place in ALL OF VIENNA that offers EGGNOG!!!!...or something like it.  It looks like eggnog, smells like eggnog, and *mostly* tastes like eggnog, even if it's served in a champagne flute with a straw.  I'LL TAKE IT!!

"Smug."  That is the word you're searching for.

Markets do actually have some nice offerings outside of boozing it up.  Stalls here sell anything from Christmas ornaments and decor (hand made or bulk manufactured) to jewelry, outerwear, toys and every nicknack known to man.  They also have a bang-up offering of food.  Our favorites are the savory foods: fried flatbread called langos, sausages wrapped in langos, which we've started calling "Austrian corndogs" because it's easier than saying: "Debreziner langos".  There are places that sell soup in bread bowls, cheese-infused sausages and loaded garlicy baked potatoes...all of it consumed while standing at small, round, bar-height tables.  *sigh*  Just. Lovely. 

Audrey makes smug look a lot cuter.

I promise I'll stop talking about food after this, but I can't move on without talking about NUTS. All those Christmas songs whimsically mentioning roasted chestnuts?  I GET THEM NOW.  I GET IT.  Chestnuts roasted on an open fire are delicious...and they double as a handwarmer when the temperature takes a turn towards frigid.  These nuts are soft, bland and a little mealy...and I love them.  Roasted chestnuts, for the win.  But not everyone is a fan.  A lot of people, actually, think they're disgusting.  But for people not into bland, squishy food, there is an incredible array of sugary roasted nuts.  These are Audrey's favorite--her Christmas market crack--sugary roasted almonds. I always make sure to get enough so she can share.

If you take the time to look anywhere but the twenty-or-so Christmas markets around town, you'll easily discover that the LIGHTS AND DECORATIONS here are amazing.  Even when the lights aren't lit, it's all breathtaking.  We've been avoiding the general downtown area for the month of December because the number of tourists is INSANE.  But, the weather today was too gorgeous to pass up a tour of the city center. Do you hear the angels singing?  That's Graben over there on the left.  All they do is let in some Christmas tree stalls and hang a dozen chandeliers and it becomes magical.  (and may I just say: "aaaaaggggghhh all the PEOPLE!)

Every major street downtown has it's own signature set of lights; from Chandeliers on Graben to giant red baubles on Rotenturmstrasse, but it's the unending curtains of twinkle lights on Kohlmarkt that lead us to the most magical place for the younger set: the window at The Demel, our favorite confectioners/bakery. Last year their window hosted an enormous advent calendar, revealing a new confection each day.  This year this gorgeous snow queen made an appearance; she is constructed entirely of cake.  It's stunning...even for the littles.  Bailey stood there for a while, just taking it in, and then announced that she'd eat the whole thing, outside the feathers adorning the queen's skirt, of course.


All of this festive stuff is certainly thrilling, but I have to admit that the thing I've discovered most defines Christmas for me is a RIGHT AND PROPER CHRISTMAS TREE...covered in lights and my own hodge-podge ornaments, which all welcome with them the memories of Christmas past.  We went back to good old August Krautwurst this year for our Christbaum.  He was, disappointingly, sober, but he supplied us with a fine tree that has wheedled it's way into my heart.  We spent last Saturday hauling the thing home and decorating it while watching White Christmas. The girls make sure to emphasize that this is our FAMILY tree so we avoid confusion about ownership...but it's kind of a telling phrase.  Because, this tree almost does feel like family--a most loved family member who shows up once a year to usher in the joy and cheer.  Yes, I think of all these things--the markets, the big lights, the festive booze, the savory and the sweets--our family Christmas tree really is my favorite thing.      

   



       
         

Bailey just made me a cup of jingle bell tea and then told me it was polyjuice potion AFTER I had drunk some.  Then she told me I needed to throw up.  I'm thinking of barring her from the kitchen.  

Anyway, MY(non-polyjuice potion) tea time today is infinitely lovelier than usual since it's accompanied by SPRITZ COOKIES FROM EMMA'S KITCHEN!!  Wohoo!!!

Audrey told me she wants this picture to be "for Christmas"...I decided to take this to mean she wants it to be her Christmas card.  So, Merry Christmas from Audrey and her lovely misfit creatures!

Audrey wrote a note:

A&B had friends over for dinner and we made mini sundaes for dessert!

I could not possibly have instructed the kid to strike this pose. It must be the new gangsta' unicorn jacket...

Audrey read this whole story by herself this morning! She only had to stop once to ask for help with a letter sound.  So proud of this kid!

It's a gorgeous day today!

Audrey's Christmas Cookie Party

It all started with a kids' book--one page that Audrey found herself repeatedly pouring over--a story that she loved so much, she wanted to be a part of it.  These are feelings that echo so close to my own heart; finding myself so drawn in by a book that I imagine myself a part of it.  Granted, these days those plots are a bit more complicated than Corduroy's Christmas Surprise, but reading has played such an integral role in my life, I find it easy to empathize with Audrey when she comes to me, book in hand, and tells me she wants to make this scene real in her life too.

We took Corduroy's Christmas cookies and cocoa with friends and turned it into a real life event this week.  We issued an invitation to Audrey's closest friends to join us for an afternoon of cookie decorating, popcorn and Christmas tattoos. (I don't know why this was A's personal interpretation, but she was the boss.  This was her event.) I'm fairly certain this is the first time that I've specifically put Audrey in charge of something from start to finish.  She decided who should come, what kind of cookies should be made, helped make them, roll them out, cut them and bake them.  As each day this week passed and we gradually made preparations for her party, I could see that joy infecting her.  She took ownership of it; I could see the pride on her face when the table was finally all set with icing of every color and sprinkles of every sort.  Her friends would be here any minute to enjoy it with her and she was like a proud mama bear.

The door buzzed and chaos ensued as it always does when there are friends in the house; the best kind of chaos where
shrieks are ones of joy and the cacophony can be borne because it has sprung from frantic excitement.  We did eventually get around to decorating cookies and it was so much fun.  I loved seeing how differently each kid went about it.  Bailey only sat still long enough to squeeze icing on a few cookies before she made the rounds to inspect what everyone else was doing; the kid will not eschew socialization even for sugary treats.  Audrey meticulously piped icing and placed sprinkles, individually, in just the right spot. Their friend, Jack, cackled as he gooped piles of icing onto one cookie while Eva and Emilie experimented with every frosting/sprinkle combination on the table.
 It was manic and so much fun.  Eventually, most everyone had lost their focus and had filled their bellies with enough sugar to fuel another crazed frenzy about the house.  Kids occasionally drifted over to the table to snag a bite or to watch the mama's who were decorating their own cookies.

As the afternoon wore on, the snack table was raided; there was popcorn and nuts, half-eaten apples and oranges scattered all over the house.  But there were happy kids and mama's reveling in a few solid hours of adult interaction.  It was good for all of us.

After everyone was gone, the house was quiet and the girls had retreated to their bookshelves to seek some solace, I picked up Corduroy's Christmas Surprise and read the last page that Audrey so loved:

 "But really, Corduroy thought to himself, the best Christmas gift of all was that he was surrounded by his friends..and they were all so happy! That made Corduroy happy too."

Me too, Corduroy.  Me too.      

Audrey picked out two cookies to save for Santa (which will be 11 days old when he gets them...yikes) and one for dessert.  She's one happy kid.

Guess what Audrey has hidden back there...

It's B-Bear!

Bailey just told me that when she was a baby, when she came out of my tummy, she was singing jingle bells...this explains a lot.

It's been a long day; Mama and Bailey are both hittin' the bottle.

My little sugar plum fairy devouring her chocolate Santa.  She laughed really hard when she saw his head was hollow and declared someone had already eaten it.  I'd like to know who ate the middle of B's Santa and then put it back on the shelf...probably Krampus.

Getting into the Saint Nicholas Groove

Even though it kind of crept up on me this year, Saint Nicholas Day is really pulling to the front of my favorite holidays. We were still coming out of Thanksgiving recovery mode when Thursday popped up on us.  I had been slowly stocking up on things to stuff our St. Nicholas bags with, but I still had to make a last-minute trip to the store to drag home several bags of fruit.  I never realized how heavy produce was when I actually had a car, but when you're gifting everyone in your building with produce, well, it becomes much more apparent.

Putting those kids to work

Whining aside, the girls kind of know the Saint Nicholas schtick by now; I don't know if Bailey actually remembered this tradition from last year, but she went along with it like a kid who knows the ropes. After bringing in our final haul of fruit, we dragged all of our supplies into the living room and began packing our gift bags.  This is something that naturally appeals to kids, I've found.  They're constantly trying to disperse the contents of their play kitchen to every human and stuffed animal in the house, so being able to do this for real is kind of a dream.  We made up fifteen bags this year full of fruit, nuts and chocolates, talking all the while about the game plan and how we thought our neighbors might feel when they walked out their door to discover a gift waiting for them.

Most years, I try to make some kind of comfort food before we head out to deliver our packages, but this year, I was more in the mood to let someone else do the cooking.  We ended up at place so close I was surprised we couldn't access our wifi signal from the restaurant.  Changs is an awesome Asian restaurant (take all your ideas about Chinese foods dunked in weird gravy or fried green beans
and throw them right out the window) where we whiled away the time, ate some fantastic food, and just enjoyed being together.

A little practice at being sneaky

When we returned home with full, happy bellies I told the girls we were shaking things up a bit this year and let them open their Christmas pajamas early (these are usually in their stockings)...and it's a good thing we did it early, because while I thought I was proactively ordering a size up, it ended up being more like an extra six inches of fabric on the pant legs of their jammies.  There was a lot of laughter and even more dancing as I whisked out my sewing kit to hem some pants...while Bailey announced it was time to listen to a little Gangnam Style.

We were pumped, riding on a high as the girls donned their slippers and we headed out into the hall.  Our building has twelve other apartments, which might not seem like a lot, but when you're name is Bailey and you're trying really hard to keep the excitement contained to a whisper...well...it's a lot.  Most years there has been a bit of confusion about this part of the process--leaving gifts on people's doormats and then just walking away--but the girls totally got it; they were a streamlined team, grabbing bags, dropping them off and moving on to the next.  It was just a lot of fun and there was a certain sense of accomplishment at being successful in our sneakery once we had returned successfully home.

Shhh!  We're ready to go!

As tradition dictates, this was the part where we made hot chocolate and read a book about Saint Nicholas.  We talked about why we give to others and how Jesus was the gift that God gave to us.  I'm hoping that this whole message might sink in by the time they leave for college...I'm also hoping we will have upgraded from the Veggie Tales version of the story by then too.

Yeah, those are actually filled mostly with fruit and nuts...

Either way, it was a really great evening and the girls were filled with excitement, which is what matters.  We were together as a family, trying to show others a little love.
Before they went to sleep, A & B left their stockings out so Saint Nicholas would know where they were.  In truth, I'm still a little fuzzy about whether Audrey really believes in Santa or not.  She's been told in no uncertain terms that the guy doesn't exist and that parents organize the whole shebang (in response to a fit of anxiety at having a strange man enter the house while she was sleeping), but there's a big part of Audrey that exists in the land of make-believe.  I think she found the idea of pretending together a lot more appealing, so that's how we roll.  Meanwhile, Bailey could care less who orchestrates what; she's just thrilled to be living the good life.

Saint Nicholas Day morning!

Saint Nicholas Day morning is always special...obviously...It's a little slice of Christmas cheer, but by the time we get around to it, it doesn't even seem like the main focus anymore.  As we open our stockings, we ask each other whether they think the neighbors have found their presents too and if they'll feel as excited as we are--if they feel happy and loved. This year I actually made sure John and I had some stuff waiting in our stockings too, having come to the realization that it's easy to make the holidays all about the kids and leave the grown ups hanging out to dry.  I think I need to remember more often that our girls find genuine joy in seeing others given the same treatment they receive, letting everyone share in the joy of receiving a gift instead of sitting back as spectators in a kid's holiday.  After all, that's kind of what Saint Nicholas Day and the entire Christmas season is about; everybody receives the gift.  Tidings of comfort and joy, my friends!

B-Bear sprained her ankle last night, so we're taking it easy today (this is an incredible amount of work--keeping B off her feet).  In the mean time, Audrey has prescribed a full round of tiger hugs and therapeutic cheetah sessions.

The girls and I went out for a proper English tea with my friend Jennie today! (Bailey got there in the stroller...it was hilarious)--at Haas & Haas Teehaus.

English muffins with jam and clotted cream, assorted cakes and tea sandwiches (not pictured). Heaven!

If I had a nickel for every time Bailey turned off the spin setting on the washing machine...I would have many nickels.

Audrey just invented "whipped cream ice cream".  Write that down.

Thanksgiving Magic

This is how ninja Audrey feels about not being festive

This week has been nothing but a flurry of Thanksgiving-ness.  John and I decided a while ago that we would host two Thanksgiving dinners this year; last year we skipped out on Celebrating the actual day and it was mildly depressing.  (Thank you, social media, for reminding me that everyone else I know is home with loads of family, stuffing their gob, while the children and I lay around our flat, whining and starving because there's no room in our European refrigerator for food other than the thawing turkey.)

So, this year, we decided to err on the side of festiveness--note to self: always the better choice.

The girls modeling their new warm footwear

Needless to say, hosting two Thanksgivings in a European flat with a fridge, freezer and oven about the size of something out of a Barbie Dream House requires ample planning.  In the end, it meant I was able to draw out the holiday excitement much longer than usual.  I started making and freezing potatoes and pie crusts two weeks in advance.  Every day seemed to have some item to check off the "Get ready for Thanksgiving" list.

In the middle of all this, a gas leak was discovered in our building and the gas was shut off for a week while they worked to replace the main line in the Keller.  This meant we were suddenly without heat or a working range and work on the line was scheduled to go through Thanksgiving.  So, things got a little more challenging, but, really I had more of an incentive to be baking constantly so the oven would help heat our chilly home.

Sharing a piece of pumpkin pie; they both love the crust

As always, my favorite part of this particular holiday wasn't the day itself, but Pie Day. This year I had pre-made enough dough for nine double-crust pies, and this ended up making all the difference.  It was so much more fun for the the girls to help make pie when they didn't have to toil through the precise art of making pie dough.  We rolled dough, and nipped off endless pieces to fill our tummies.  We painted with
egg whites and plopped cans of cherries into gorgeous crimped crusts.  Audrey watched me roll out mini pie crust after mini pie crust, exclaiming "Wow!!!" with each one.  We kept a religious watch over whatever pie was currently baking away in the oven, declaring each one's brilliance as it emerged, golden-brown and ready to be devoured.

Bailey "painting" some egg whites

Audrey in her "pie skirt"

This was the first year that I felt I was really sharing Pie Day with my girls--especially Audrey--I felt instead of casually observing the event, they had finally become a part of it.  For anyone who doesn't worship Pie Day the way we do, it'll be hard to understand, but this was an integral part of motherhood for me.  Another piece clicked into place that day and made me more complete.



John had to work (like everyone else in Austria) on Thanksgiving while the girls and I got the house ready for dinner with friends. (and by this, I mean, the girls trashed the house while I made turkey and then bribed them with a movie so I could clean up their mess too).  It was a relatively small group of people we had over that night, but the really important part was that Audrey and Bailey had friends over.  Our next celebration was going to be a decidedly grown-up affair, so letting the girls celebrate with their friends seemed like a very important part of this holiday.  Audrey clung to my leg from the start while Bailey animatedly showed every arriving guest around the apartment. ("Look!  There's a pillow!!!  This is the LIVING ROOM!!!!")  We attempted to make a "kid's table" which flopped pretty quickly and soon everyone was crowded around the table, stuffing their faces.  The kids all soon declared their bellies were all full (ha!) so they could escape the table to go run rampant together.  This time, Audrey joined in and the house was filled with screaming, running children and loud raucous laughter from the adults.

Our whipped cream had to be kid-tested before it was served

It was a hard exhaustion that followed the rush of excitement of celebration with friends; John had had a long day of work and was headed for another the next day.  I had been working all day for two days and had two more ahead of me, but I still woke up early Friday morning, the eternal morning person, and leaped right into more Thanksgiving prep.  More cleaning, washing and pie making meant I didn't get dinner on the table *cough* takeout *cough* until 8pm...which is usually bed time for the girls and I stayed up until 11, finishing pies and making sure everything was set for the morning.

The Beast was as big as my entire 4-burner range

I made two turkeys on Saturday; two turkeys through my tiny oven--one of which was unanimously named "The Beast" by our guests when they arrived.  The morning sped by and soon the doorbell was ringing and the house was filled with happy voices (Bailey, again, faithfully giving tours to anyone who would follow her).  I was joined by my sous chef, Greg, who rescued my atrocious attempt at making gravy, and I was, again, shadowed by Audrey, who refused to break contact with me.  I'm just saying if the kid doesn't know how to carve a turkey by next year, it won't be for lack of witnessing the act.

We had twelve friends over for this second celebration and it became a juggling act to get all the food on one countertop.  It was a feast of feasts.  And most shocking of all was that we fit everyone in our dining room, using every bar stool, desk chair and kiddie chair available.  That was my little miracle for the evening; seeing all of these fantastic people whom I've come to love dearly elbow-to-elbow around my table, plates piled high, pouring wine for each other, spending hours enjoying food and company.

This is why I love hosting.  This is why I love peeling potatoes and baking pies.  Because a little flour and butter and a giant roasted bird are really just the ingredients that lead to evenings of rich fellowship with friends.  From my mind's eye, it's magic--and it's that magic this year that I'm thankful for.  I'm thankful for all the love I feel for the people who shared this holiday with me; individuals that I smooshed together on my plate, like so much Thanksgiving food, and enjoyed all together at once.