Here for the Bread: December 2015

Joyeux Noël and Merry Christmas to you all!

People have been reminding me that we've been overdue with a post for sometime, now...O.K., I know, it's been over a month.

Lyon by night

Lyon by day

Cora:)

Père Noël

We've had a very busy, but exciting month, getting ready for the School holiday vacation (which is upon us, now!) and also preparing for our first Christmas in France. The city is energetic and filled with lots of festive decorations, and everyone seems to be smiling. It's a really nice time of year, here.

Katherine's Christmas Dress for Midnight Mass

The kids picked out a beauty of a Christmas tree, and it's now decorated in the living room. Katherine's mom was kind enough to send a box of our Christmas ornaments from the States (Thanks, Grandma!) so the tree is full of familiar decorations and it makes us feel right at home, even if we are missing friends and family.

I hauled this monster home, myself.

The beautiful Christmas Crèche at the Basilica of Notre Dame, Lyon

So, in lieu of a long update, I'll bullet point some happenings from our last six weeks. I promise that I'll send out a more detailed post after Christmas, but for now, here are some high points:

We celebrated U.S. Thanksgiving in a very funny way. The kids were in school all day long which struck them as odd. "Why should we have to go to school on Thanksgiving??" they asked. Over the following weekend we made up a traditional feast. Sadly, Daphne and Leo got sick and spent the 'feast' on the couch with fevers. Dinner tasted great, though...

Prepping for Thanksgiving at the holiday market

Leo's Thanksgiving

My world-traveling cousin, Anna, came to visit us in early December! We had such fun with her, sampling Lyonnais treats, like a bathtub-sized pan of ham and potatoes which makes our whole quarter smell amazing, and the traditional mulled wine which every restaurant seems to have a kettle of outside their door-it tastes like Christmas in a cup, and I love it.

Anna and Katherine, pre-Vin Chaud (Mulled Wine)

Holiday fare

When you mix cheese, cream, potatoes and ham, good things happen...

Christmas street food, Lyonnais...

Leo and Anna out on the town

The girls got their end-of-trimester evaluations from school, and they've both exceeded expectations! Their teachers are very happy with their work, and we are proud of how well they've excelled in school, even in the midst of such a major move.

After four months, Leo is comprehending more and more French. He is now even occasionally lapsing into French at home (accidentally, of course). He gets visibly annoyed with himself when he does this, and it's hilarious.

Leo with Père Noël

Katherine and I have graduated from our 12-week intensive French language class and have given each other the Christmas gift of another six weeks after the holidays. We are gluttons for more French grammar!

This is an actual photo from our French Class. Not an offensive play-scheme for the Green Bay Packers.

I (Aaron) am almost finished up with the nearly two-year recording project I've been working on for Florestan Recital Project. It's scheduled to be released in mid-February: a three-disc set of the Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson. It's beautiful music, and you can see a short behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the discs, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfVr2QRIcvY or, here: http://www.florestanproject.org/florestan_new_site/recordings.html

The disc cover!

We've loved receiving your calls, gifts and Christmas cards from abroad! Thank you, all:)

Leo's Santa letter:)

Last, but not least...yesterday (12.23.15) we closed on the sale of our house in the States. We celebrated by popping a cork with some friends here last night, and madly texting back and forth with my parents, who managed the signing of the paperwork for us. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!). It's a great house, we loved living in it, and we're happy for the new owners and for the fact that it won't be empty during the cold Minnesota winter.