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.