Time To Get Into The Spirit

Now that Halloween is over, and Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Poland, it's time to get into the Christmas spirit! In 2010 we went to our first Christmas market and loved it, so every year since we have been going to markets throughout Europe on Thanksgiving weekend. The first year we went to Vienna, then in 2011 we went to Edinburgh, in 2012 to Copenhagen, in 2013 to Dresden, last year we went to Basel, and this year we are off to Brussels! We have heard mixed things about Brussels, I went once for a quick overnight visit when I used to work at Alliance so I didn't get to see much. Their Christmas market did pop up on a list of the Top 10 Christmas Markets in Europe, but our Belgian friends seem to disagree with this. One of my good friends Liesbeth who moved back to Belgium from Krakow over the summer (and whose son Romain was in Ava's class) doesn't have too many good things to say about the city, but we have not been to Belgium before so we want to go, and the extra bonus is that we get to see them! We are also planning to take a train an hour away to the market in Bruges which is supposed to be beautiful. And, Belgium is known for chocolate, waffles, and beer, so who would not want to go there? We can't wait!

Ava has already started playing Christmas music around the house, and the other day a page I 'liked' on facebook uploaded these photos and I just love them because they really made me all warm and fuzzy inside! This first one totally reminds me of the bulbs we used to put on our tree in the house we grew up in on LaGrange Ave. My dad also built a wooden frame to go around our front door and nailed some of the lights to it, added some greenery and hung it up every year.

Last year I came across this old photo of our house and I wish it was better quality because I want to frame it. Christmas was always my favorite holiday and my parents really got into decorating and playing Christmas music so whenever I look at this picture I can smell the Christmas tree and hear Johnny Mathis playing in the background (and see the tinsel sticking out of our cats butts, because they always used to eat it off our tree)!  The other photos are just really pretty and magical. Can't wait for Christmas!!