Au Revoir (french); Tot ziens (flemish); Sayonara and Aloha L.A! ______________________________


Hi everyone!

As most of you know, Ray has accepted a 2-year assignment with Toyota's European Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. For those of you who do not know, Belgium is located next to France, Germany and the Netherlands. The home of NATO and the European Union, it is considered the "gateway to Europe" with its easy access to many European countries. (Hint, hint--good excuse to come and visit!)

Ray started his new position in February, 2008. The girls and I arrived here in late March. We are living just outside the city of Brussels in the commune of Tervuren, Belgium.

Although we are sad to temporarily leave our family and friends, we are excited for this adventure. What an opportunity to leave our tiny box and experience life outside of America!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A visit from Saint Nicholas!


Another reason our girls love Belgium is that not only do they get a visit from Santa Claus on December 24th, but also from Saint Nicholas on December 5th!

To read all about St. Nicholas check out this website...

DS w/Saint Nicholas during his visit to ISB last year...

This year's visit to ISB...

In a nutshell, on St. Nicholas' Eve, children typically put their shoes beside the fireplace. They believe St. Nicholas rides on horseback over the rooftops, dropping gifts down the chimneys. In the morning, the shoes have been filled with chocolates, spiced speculoos cookies, oranges and toys. In the spirit of St. Nicholas, treats are meant to be shared, not hoarded. Bad children, of which there are none, would find twigs or coal...

Since we do not have a hearth, DS & PS left their house shoes in their windowsills before they went to bed that evening. Sweet DS, we later found out later, also wrote a letter to St. Nicholas.

We awoke the next morning (very early of course!) to squeals of delight as the girls discovered that St. Nicholas had left speculoos cookies and chocolates in their shoes!

They were even more excited when DS read the note that St. Nicholas had left with his special present for them at the front door! Although it wasn't the Nintento DS that DS had asked for, they were thrilled to find the Little Pet Shop Wii game he had left for them!

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