A Ski Vacation

Today is Christmas!  This morning, my boys both woke up at 7 am, and I fought off the desire to go back to sleep and got up to play with Hayden (as requested).  As we were playing, I told him that today was a special day.  To which he replied, "Is it Christmas?"  When I confirmed it was, he put his fists in the air and said "YES!  That means I get to open my presents!" (which started to appear under the tree yesterday)  But then he asked me to continue to play with him in his room, with his cars and legos, rather than rushing up to see what new toys awaited him under the tree.

For the past few years, we have kept the "presents" part of Christmas pretty low key.  Instead of a tree brimming with presents, we have given Hayden just a handful.  This year especially, we have talked about it being Jesus' birthday and the gift that He has given to us.  This year, he also learned about

Père Noel and Santa from school, including a trip to the house of Père Noel.  I can imagine how confusing it must be to a child, to be exposed to so many different ideas about Christmas, the reason, and where all the presents come from.  I am thankful that Hayden seems to understand that it's not all about him and getting gifts and that it is about Jesus and his birth.  I am hopeful that will continue, even as he gets older.

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord 

For You alone are worthy

For You alone are worthy

For You alone are worthy

Christ the Lord 

We'll give You all the glory

We'll give You all the glory

We'll give You all the glory

Christ the Lord

It is a balmy 55 degrees here in Geneva today.  I was hoping to get a little bit of snow, but thankfully, we were able to enjoy TONS of snow last week.  We went an hour into France to Les Gets for the week, renting a chalet with another family (also here in Geneva, from Cincinnati.)  We had so much fun, enjoying some major snowfall (about 20in) and teaching Hayden to ski.  He did really well and enjoyed taking lessons and getting on the hills.  Every time he fell, he would just laugh.  One afternoon, we had the sitter watch Beckham while the three of us went to ski.  I was amused by how comfortable Hayden was, even in all his ski gear.  He easily walked of the moving escalator, and jumped in an out of the moving lift.  He did it like a pro, while I gingerly stepped over everything in my stiff ski boots.


He did more ski runs than I did and it was so much fun to see how much he enjoyed it.  We will definitely be going back!

The chalet where we stayed was warm and cozy and we had two "chalet hosts" who helped around the chalet, prepared our meals and tidied up.  In hindsight, we were so happy that we went this route.  Especially with 5 children under 10, and our busy days with ski lessons and skiing, it was nice to relax when we returned to the chalet, rather than worry about groceries and meals.  The kids ate at 6pm while we ate around 8:30.  It worked out so well and our hosts were amazing.  They were so friendly and took really good care of us.  The food also exceeded our expectations and even the kids' meals were high quality - salmon and mashed potatoes, chicken pot pie, roast pork with apples.  We enjoyed courgette soup with melted brie, rosti with horseradish salmon with asian noodles.

Last night, we went to church for the Christmas Eve service and tonight, we've been invited to a fellow expat's house for Christmas dinner.  Hopefully, we will be able to get on Skype with various family today and tomorrow. 

As I write this, all the boys are napping peacefully (and maybe I'll be able to squeeze one in before the baby wakes up!)  It certainly has been a great year and a great Christmas and I continue to feel so thankful - I am so wonderfully blessed to have my husband and boys! 

A Digital Christmas Card

As I am writing this, our dear friends back in the US have popped our Christmas cards in the mail, to ensure they arrive on time (not to mention, manage postage costs).  Normally, we include a letter to recap our year, however, to make it easier on everyone, we are taking our card digital this year.  

The other day, I turned to Marty and remarked, "What did we do this year?  Did we go anywhere?"  To which he replied, "You mean other than moving to Geneva, going to Paris and Barcelona and having a baby?"  Fair point...

This year has certainly been a busy year for us and I guess we spent most of our energy and time getting ready for the move.  Around Thanksgiving 2011, we learned that Marty's Fabric Care organization was being relocated to Geneva.  In December 2011, we learned we were pregnant.  In early 2012, we decided that yes, we would move to Geneva.

Then it turned into a bit of a whirlwind of activity - submitting applications for various schools for Hayden, including one which required him to submit a self portrait (as a two year old, he could barely draw anything that actually looked like something.)

At the end of April, when I was 6 months pregnant, we flew to Geneva for our house hunting trip and found a nice flat, roughly half the size of our house in Cincinnati.

Back at home, we sped up efforts to finish the basement. What was once a "no rush" project became a bit more urgent, with plans to put our house on the market.  We found that, with a toddler and me being pregnant, it became a bit harder to organize rooms, move things around and finish the basement.

Work was busy for both of us - Marty in his Fabric Care role and me in Hair Care.  It was hard to wrap everything up before maternity leave, and this year was especially busy with a ton of projects on my plate & knowing that I would not be coming back to my job.

With us moving out of the country, I had a short bucket list of US "musts" including celebrating holidays and events as big as possible: Easter projects, 4th of July Sparklers and art projects, a Reds baseball game, and a Disney Cars themed 3rd birthday party for Hayden.

This year, THANKFUL is the main feeling that comes to mind:

For the safe arrival of our baby boy - Beckham Gabriel joined us on July 20th.  He was in a hurry to join us, coming 9 days early and just 30 minutes after arriving to the hospital!  He is a wonderfully mellow and happy baby and is already well travelled after 5 months.  He thankfully arrived just in time - one month before we were set to leave, yet early enough to get our tickets booked, his birth certificate and passport processed for the trip.  I can still hear the disbelief when we booked our plane tickets and the man asked for Beckham's birthday, "July 20th...as in yesterday?!?"

For two healthy children - I can't take for granted that God has blessed us with two amazing boys and I am thankful for every day with them.

The help of our amazing friends and family - We couldn't have gotten our house ready, had it not been for so many people who sacrificed their time.  Marty's parents and my mom in particular, made many trips to come and help us.  I am not sure what we would have done without them!

Marty's tireless sacrifices of time and energy - He spent every waking moment, working around the house ready and handling most of the details for our relocation.  This was on top of his busy workload and being a great dad to Hayden.

Hayden's easy spirit amidst many transitions - He lovingly welcomed his baby brother into our family and has taken all these changes in stride.  I am thankful that he is enjoying his new school and French speaking teachers.  He has made friends quickly and has enjoyed our little adventures to various parts of Europe - taking the "mountain train" in Zermatt, Going to Disney Paris, Seeing the Gaudi architecture in Barcelona and learning to ski trip in Les Gets.

Last picture in Hayden's room

Last goodbyes to our dog, Taz

The perfect timing of this opportunity to come to Geneva - While it was certainly chaotic to manage everything leading up to our move, I am always amazed by God's perfect timing in our lives.  To be on maternity leave during this move has been an amazing blessing.  Not only am I able to spend time getting to know Beckham, I have been taking Hayden to school as we manage shorter school hours.  It has also been a learning experience, learning the ropes of being in Geneva/Europe, things overall taking a bit longer than in the US.

So long, Cincinnati

Hello, Geneva!

While the past four months have been very exciting, there are still bittersweet moments.  I miss our family and friends and I am especially sad that we won't be able to watch our kids grow up together, for the next several years.  I will also miss my amazing co-workers.  I am not quite sure how I am going to return to work in 2013 and not get to work with them again.  We really have been so fortunate to have such amazing people in our lives!

As 2012 comes to a close, we are so very thankful for full and happy lives and are excited for the year ahead.  And we also hope 2013 brings some visitors to Geneva/Europe!

Our warmest wishes to all our friends and family for a wonderful Christmas and amazing New Year!!

The Vanderstelts (Marty, Irene, Hayden and Beckham)

To Christmas Markets We Go!

 Years ago, back in 2000, I was working for six weeks in France, just south of Paris.  I have fond memories of visiting my friend in Brussels for the weekend and then driving to Cologne, Germany (or Köln) to visit the Christmas markets.  The market was magical, the food kept us warm, and the Glühwein (mulled, hot wine) was ever so strong.  I remember thinking how amazing it was, to spend a short weekend and manage to be in three different countries.

This time of year, there are tons of outdoor Christmas markets around.  We went to one in Montreux, Switzerland this past Sunday.  It's just an hour from here and a beautiful lakefront town.  The market was cute, but a bit crowded with a stroller and baby.  It was COLD!  We had to walk from the parking lot, all the way around the lake and back.  Then, somehow, we made a wrong turn and ended up across the tracks from said parking lot.  Imagine climbing over a wall and over snow covered tracks, with a stroller, to get to the car!  Thankfully, we timed the error perfectly as the tram and train did not pass until we were warm in our car.

I am hoping to go to one more market this season - hopefully when it is a tad warmer!

A little sun, peeking through and reflecting off the water

Our view as we walked around the lake to get there!

Little greenery sculptures decorated the lake's edge - this was my favorite

My favorite stand - unique glass blown ornaments 

Hayden enjoying a ride 

The view during the cold walk back to the car

On Monday, the kids performed a little Christmas concert for the parents.  A couple weeks ago, while on our Barcelona trip, Hayden started singing in French.  I could pick up a word or two but he was clearly "group singing" the rest as the phrases were close but not actual French.  So I wrote his teacher and asked for the lyrics so we could practice at home.  I was expecting one song and was given a packet of about 10 songs!  What an ambitious set for 3 yr olds! It was so cute to see them all dressed in school uniform and Christmas hats, singing their songs with hand motions.  It was also funny to watch the precise moment when they hit their attention span limit - you could see the distracted faces as some stopped singing and started to look around.  A potluck followed and I turned to see Hayden eating a hunk of cake with a fork.  After 3 years of limiting sugar, Hayden's intake has significantly increased since we arrived and he is certainly not complaining!

Last night, we went to Marty's Holiday party.  The theme was white and warm.  The weather joined in the "white" theme and it started to snow pretty heavily, about an hour before we left.  We went to a very cute winery, where we were served traditional Raclette and were challenged to come up with the best Santa costume - we won, thanks to Michael's very lively strut on crutches, to the front of the room.

This morning, we stayed home from school because it's a half day before winter break and the fact that it takes me 2 - 3 hours a day to do drop off and pick up. As Marty and I were getting ready, Hayden decide he was ready to go out and play in the snow...in his PJs.

There is a snow in the forecast for a while, so hopefully, it will be a great time skiing and a perfectly White Christmas!