Joyeux Noël!

Flying into Paris from Madrid we saw the sunshine slipping ever further away and prepared for re-entry into winter weather! However, no dreary skies would spoil our fun, because we had Christmas with our youngest grandchildren to celebrate!  

The ever growing family!

We spent a few days in in the City of Christmas Lights taking in the elaborate department store window displays, ogling the offerings at the Christmas markets and doing some last minute shopping. As perpetual travelers we are often at the mercy of weight limits so we rarely buy things that we can't eat, drink, or toss unless they are an absolutely need. I felt the tight knots in my shopping muscles loosen a bit because I could thoroughly enjoy buying presents - especially for the kids. 

Captivating monsters in the windows of Galleries Lafayette

Enjoying a Christmas concert at The American Cathedral

We gathered for a week in Compienge, a pastoral city in a farming community about an hour north of Paris. We had use of our friends The Brownings lovely home who were away for the winter. Compiegne is best known as the city where Joan of Arc was captured, Napoleon's royal residence, the site of the signing of the 1918 Armistice with Germany and acres of truffle-filled forest. 

Just the right size tree!

The transformation

All ready for the presents in the morning!

It was nice for the kids to get outside in the fresh air and use their new scooters (excellent gifts from the Greg's parents), walk in the woods and just relax in front of the fire.  

Baby Jacques says "I'll take this one!"

What was Grandma thinking?

If it was pink or shiny it was for Coco!

On New Years Eve Mary and Colette joined us for a great three day get-away in Luxembourg City while Gregoire bravely took Marcel and Jacques, ages 2 ½  and 7 months home to Paris for some “Guy time”. There was snow on the ground when we arrived and it continued to be bone-chillingly cold. Here's the link to one of our favorite apartments so far:  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4328595 

Luxembourg in the snow

 Highlights included puttering in a great kitchen with Mary, teaching Colette to play Go Fish and cheering her first ice-skating experience. Michael enjoyed perusing the CIA's World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ to learn all about The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - the third richest country in on the planet. 

Winter fun for Mary and Colette

With the holidays behind us it was time for the Nomads to move on. We said farewell to the Mary's family and prepared for our exciting next adventure - three weeks in Morocco! See you there.

Debbie and Michael

Senior Nomads