Sweet Six Sunday - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!! As much as I tried to get this post done yesterday, the Christmas craziness set in and we had a morning of playing with the kiddos and a nap time full of food prep.  Everyone is now sleeping in our house and I am enjoying a moment of quiet before we head out to Disneyland Paris tomorrow morning! Cheers to another Sweet Six (or Seven) in 2016!

1. 'Tis the Season of Giving

We have been blessed with wonderful teachers at ABC Montessori, a lovely housecleaner and an amazing babysitter here in Poland! I always struggle with what to give to teachers as I want it to be meaningful, but when you are buying for six teachers and don't know them well personally, I turn to Pinterest for a creative idea. This year we gave each of them a cute little blanket with a wish to have a cozy Christmas!

Our school also helps support a local orphanage with clothes and food.  The kids helped us pick two children off the tree and we also selected a family to provide food to for Christmas Eve dinner.  We went a little overboard, to say the least, but we are so grateful that we can give to others and brighten their holidays! And I just love to give!

I also made these gift tags this year. Beckett made a comment about handing out the gifts to Reese and himself based on the letter on the gift - B for him, R for Reesie - and a lightbulb went off! It took a lot of effort this year, but since I laminated them, we can use them year after year!

2. Christmas Cards

We have missed home these last couple weeks a bit more due to the holidays, but the Christmas cards sure have brightened our spirits! We get them through Andy's company in large chunks and we love to sit on the floor as a family and open them! Thank you to everyone who sent one our way - you have no idea how much joy and love you sent to us in those little envelopes!

We had to get creative this year on how to display the cards!

I also got a sweet card from my BOB Mom's Group! Such a sweet surprise! Boy do I miss this group of ladies!

3. Our Elves - Hot Sauce and Girl

"Girl" joined our family this year and these two elves sure had some fun! The kids LOVED running down each morning to find their elves! It makes all of the effort and planning worth it!

Rocking my Barbie's roller skates from back in the day

4. Dinner with our Polish friends

One day, while at a local coffee shop, Vincent's, a man and his little daughter walked in and sat near us.  Beckett asked if he could say hello to the little girl, which was so sweet, but usually our kids either get ignored in this situation or the kids just stare at them due to the language barrier.  This time, the father asked his daughter to say "hello" back and we were shocked that he spoke English.  He asked us where we were from and after stating MN, he said that he got his Masters in MN.  We took a shot in the dark and asked if he got it at Carlson School of Management at the University of MN (where we got our degrees) and he said yes! This led to some conversation back and forth, exchange of phone numbers and we have since met up with them a couple times to get to know them better.  Michal and Karolina are both from Poland, Karolina has lived in the US a couple of times and went to an American school in Germany for most of her childhood, so they speak English very well.  They have a two year old daughter, Vicky (Victoria) and a four month old daughter, Olivia.  We visited their apartment this week for dinner (they hope to move into their new house soon) and the kids played really well together! We have really enjoyed getting to know them and their family and lovingly refer to them as our Polish friends!

5. Play date at Fikołki

After a cancelled playdate on Friday due to illness, we made the call to head out to a local indoor play area with some friends! It is SO fun to see our kids have friends again and see their excited faces when they are told we are going to play with said friends! My good friend, Tiffany, and her daughters, Avery and Addison, and another little boy, Victor, met us there and the kids played hard for two hours!

Sweaty little babes

6. Mr. India with the Blackburn Family

We had a great night with the Blackburns on Friday night, ordered Mr. India delivery, and shared some Christmas wafers.  The Christmas wafers are a Christmas Eve tradition in Poland where well wishes are shared for others as they break a piece off your wafer.  Fun had by all!

Blaine breaking the bread with Beckett

Pieces of the Christmas wafers

Grayson and Caleb 

Being a ham!

Bonus! 7. Christmas Eve with the Pellicciotis

We were blessed to share Christmas Eve with our good friends, Tiffany and Bill! We kept it simple - apps and desserts! Tiffany is a skilled hostess and had adorable little Christmas details everywhere! We ate (a lot), we drank and we laughed!

   

As we say in Polish (well, not me, but some do) - Wesołych Świąt!