Santa Found Us!!!

On Christmas Eve, the kids and their cousins, all spent the night at Aunt Mandy and Uncle Jim's house with the hopes that Santa Claus would know that there were three families there to deliver presents to. At 0-dark hundred Christmas morning the kids woke up. We had to wait about 30 minutes before the Grandparents arrived and then we released the kids. Oh boy did Santa ever leave a pile of coal for this bunch. Just kidding. The tree was filled with enough presents for a small village. With 6 children, 5 Parents, 4 Grandparents, 1 Great-grandmother and 3 dogs we had our small village. Emilie and Tori got to find out that we were keeping Molly. When the girls opened up the box that had her picture in it Tori just jumped up and down and Emilie cried. They were both so happy that we would have another member in our family. It was a good morning of opening gifts and enjoying Sweet Petals, coffee and juice. After the opening madness we all went to 11am mass at Our Lady of Mt Carmel. Then it was back to Mandy's for a fine Christmas feast. Thanks Santa for the wonderful gifts and also for the snap-shot of you stuffing the stockings. We hope to remain on your "good" list and see you again next year.

Christmas Musical - Scrooge

In preparation for the Christmas Season the Canadian School put on a school musical. The children prepared for a month in learning their roles and songs. Each grade class had unique singing parts and in between numbers the classic story "A Christmas Carol" was acted out. All of the children did a wonderful time. Notice the boots on Tori. Being that we had very cold weather, she was told repeatedly to put on her boots on before going to school. Well she did and when we arrived at the theatre she was still in them. So she is quite fashionable.

SHAPE Christmas Tree Lighting

Tonight we had the annual Christmas tree lighting here at SHAPE. The Belgian town of Malmedy donated a beautiful tree from the Ardenne forest. The tradition of Malmedy donating a tree to SHAPE began in 1964 as a way of saying thanks to the US soldiers who liberated their town during WWII. The ceremony included short speeches by the base commander, SHAPE Chief of Staff and the mayor of Malmedy. The Canadian school choir entertained the crowd by singing three Christmas carols. Their version of "Silent Night" was sung in English, French and German. Emilie and Tori have been a part of the choir since the beginning of the school year. All of the children did a wonderful job performing in front of so many people. The tree was lit by the COS and mayor and it looks beautiful.