Move over Thanksgiving, it's Christmas time!

Well our Thanksgiving did not go as planned! We were so excited to be invited to a Thanksgiving Dinner Party over at Maren and Julia's house (from our play group) and I had FINALLY decided what we were going to be brining to the party and was looking forward to Jacob finally meeting some of these lovely ladies that have welcomed Autumn and I in to their wonderful playgroup...but alas...everything changed when Autumn turned up sick again. Autumn had been fighting a bug all last week...started with a fever Monday morning. I wrote it off as being the same cold I had recently come down with. But over the next few days the fever never went away and the poor thing just seemed miserable! I called the doctor Thursday morning (I guess that's one plus of them not celebrating Thanksgiving here...everything is open!) and made an appointment for that afternoon. We thought maybe she had strep since she would cry a lot whenever she would eat or drink. The doctor did a strep culture that turned up negative, but we started antibiotics on Saturday when we couldn't stand to see her in pain anymore...and couldn't stomach another day of a super crabby baby. She is doing much better now (aside from a raging diaper rash...thank you antibiotics) and we're just happy to have our sweet little girl back! We are so bummed we didn't get to celebrate Thanksgiving with our new friends, but thankfully all was not lost. I was able to find a small turkey breast at carrefour and spent the afternoon preparing the rest of the fixings. Thanks to the American food store we also had pumpkin pie, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I also made some rolls, massed potatoes, and an apple crisp (I'm not a pumpkin pie fan). It was enough food to feed an army! Haha!


It made great Turkey sandwiches though for the weekend :o)

I'm so over Thanksgiving now though and moving full steam ahead for Christmas...I'm even listening to the new Glee Christmas album right now...hehe!! We broke down and bought a tree this past weekend at Brico...on sale even! For some reason I didn't have either of our trees shipped here (I really don't know what I was thinking...I guess just that we would be home for Christmas, but still we can't go most of December without a tree). I did ship some of the trimmings thankfully though so the tree is up and decorated now. It's not perfect by any means, but I am glad we have something!

We also headed to our first German Christmas market in Aachen on Sunday...and it was magical! Ok, maybe not magical...because it was raining and freezing and Autumn was screaming the entire time...ha!! But it was a quick glimpse at just how truly festive these markets can be...and I am very much looking forward to our next one this weekend in Cologne! Cologne is said to be the biggest of all the German markets so we decided we would make a weekend out of it and spend the night...woohoo! I'm looking forward to seeing the city all lit up with Christmas lights at night...since it's dark about 5 PM now that will be pretty easy. Seriously, the Germans do Christmas right...check out this website that list all the markets and gives details on each of them! I think there is pretty much one in every little town! I'm praying for nicer weather and a chance to really experience the market and really get in the Christmas spirit! Only 25 days left till the big day!!!

Here are a few pics from the Aachen market...




Also this week we watched the second episode of The Amazing Race where they were in Belgium!! It was so exciting to think we live in a place interesting enough to be featured on a TV show...two full episodes! Jacob and I had fun watching and trying to figure out where they were. One of the pitstops was even Atomium...which you may remember from my previous post. Crazy stuff. Oh and speaking of crazy...I also signed up to run the Paris half marathon next March. I must be nuts considering I have to train while pushing a stroller (at least for the short runs during the week anyway)...so I may not run it very fast, but what the heck...I'm gonna do it! (It's really just so I can get the t-shirt...there better be an eiffel tower on it or I'm going to be quite disappointed! Haha!)

More on Christmas markets next week! Oh, and the official countdown has begun...22 days till we go home!