I Smell CHRISTMAS!

It is officially Christmas time in Paris, my favorite time of the year!  While I thoroughly enjoy Christmas at home in Sacramento, there is nothing, that is correct, NOTHING that can top Christmas in Paris!  It is only mid-November and stores are well into their decor masterpieces...I can only imagine what it will be like a month from now.  All the Christmas spirit has got me thinking about Christmas presents, both what I am asking for and what I am looking to give.  What are on my lists you might ask?  Nothing.  Not a clue.  The usual things I would ask for are not very applicable to my life here (cookware, gift cards, etc).  Not to mention, I do not expect ANY of you to ship anything over that ocean to me, so don't even think about it.  The cost of shipping things these days is just too absurd!  (sidenote: Any gifts shoved into my parents suitcases do not apply to this rule and are therefore more than welcome!)  Honestly though, being here and being able to travel and see the world is the greatest gift of all, so I think I have settled on my one Christmas list item: a travel fund.  As far as gifts for all of you go, I am stumped.  I as well will not be shipping anything back home, so whatever fits in my parents suitcases is what goes home...this means my "people to buy for" list also decreases, sorry :(  However, I am still interested to hear what is on YOUR Christmas lists this year, so please, do tell!

Upon returning from Poland, I am just now beginning to experience what cold really means, AKA I'm screwed.  With a high of 50 degrees this whole week, and snow in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, winter is coming early to Paris this year, and I am not prepared.  While I have the necessary coats, gloves, hats, scarves, sweaters, etc, I lack the mindset.  I bundle up, preparing to go outside and be perfectly toasty, yet I still get hit with a massive cold front upon opening the door, and proceed to my destination in shivers.  The sad part is, it has only just begun.  Temperatures will get to about 30 degrees in the thick of it, and the sun will rarely make an appearance...something this California girl REALLY cannot handle.  What most of you probably do not know is, Paris RARELY gets snow, and I mean rarely.  The fact that snow is already here (supposedly) in November, is a bad, bad sign for me.  The only good that can come of this is the fact that for the first time in our lives, my family will have the opportunity to experience a white Christmas, so for this I am praying for the snow!

In nanny news, I am in love.  This week has been great with the kids, per usual, but the last two days especially just make me fall in love with these kids over and over again.  Yesterday was the first time where Lucien and I got to come home from school, just us two, and spend some quality time together.  Alice was having a sleepover at a friends house, so Lucien and I had plans to watch Home Alone (which we can't watch when Alice is home because she's afraid), eat popcorn, and have a chess competition (Lu recently taught me how to play chess, and although he kicks my butt every time, I am determined to beat him before the year is over).  Of course this plan didn't exactly work because of course he wanted his best friend Balthazar to come over and play and he doesn't speak English, meaning no movie.  However, after we took Balthazar home, we came back, cozied up, and popped in the movie, and he loved it!  Then we got to play our chess game and have some fun time playing whatever he wanted, without Alice interfering, which Lucien DEFINITELY needed.  Then when Nico and Val came home, they took Lucien out to dinner to his favorite gourmet pizza place around the corner.  Lucky for me, they knew I had plans to make dinner with Ally, so they took the liberty of ordering 2 extra pizzas for me to take to her house!  So so sweet of them :)  P.S. I just have to tell you about the pizzas, you will be shocked.  The pizza here is always thin crust, and ours had cheese, chorizo, some other sausage, and...an egg.  Yep, they just crack an egg right on the top of the pizza and put it in the oven.  It is the greatest invention in the world...heaven in my mouth.  So, whoever comes to visit me will get treated to this "chef" pizza!

So I went to Ally's last night for dinner of course, and Amanda came along too!  The three of us sat and talked and ate for about 4 hours or so before we finally realized what time it was.  I seriously love the friends I have made here and can't wait for all of our adventures together.  They are now coming over here tonight so we can actually cook a nice gourmet meal.  On the menu: grilled eggplant, stuffed tomatoes, and possibly salmon, or chicken, who knows!  They are coming over here because Val and Nico left early this morning to head to Toulouse in the south of France until tomorrow night.  Tonight is a huge celebration for one of their good friends' 40th birthdays, so about 4 couples rode the train together from Paris to Toulouse.  It's about a 5 hour train ride, and they packed more wine and food than clothing, so with it being 2 pm now, they should be just about...drunk.  So my job today was to get the kids to Grandma's house!  Lu and I had breakfast together, packed up some coloring books and reading books, picked up Alice at her friends house, and headed for the train station.  This particular train station is on the other side of Paris, so it was a 30 min ride there by metro with Alice asleep on my lap, then another 40 mins on the train to Chavenay, with Lu reading and Alice coloring (and then sleeping on my lap again).  They were so incredibly well behaved, quiet, and in such a wonderful, loving mood, it made me just want to stay in Chavenay with them for the weekend.  However, Grandma was there to pick them up, so I got right back on the train and headed back to Paris.  Now I have to go back tomorrow night and pick them up, let's hope they're in the same great, well-behaved mood!

Not much to report other than this!  My french is coming along nicely, however I did get marked down for answering some test questions in Spanish instead of French...oops!  Good news Dad and Grandpa, I'm not losing my Spanish!  I was actually rewarded twice this week by my teacher for answering questions correctly that she thought were pretty tough..go me!  A week from today is our much anticipated Thanksgiving dinner, which I am sooo excited for!  We have our turkey, our pumpkin, and all of our ingredients ready to prepare an amazing American/Canadian Thanksgiving for our families!  I want to hear about all of your plans for Thanksgiving too!  After that, I have my parents' arrival to finally look forward to!  They arrive in just less than 4 weeks from now and I am so excited!  My to-do list for their time here is about 2 pages long now, and growing, so we will not be bored!

Hope you are all splendid, I miss you!!  For now, I leave you with this:

Have a wonderful, family and fun-filled THANKSGIVING!!  Eat lots of yummy food too :)