Here, have another piece of cake...

In case you didn't know, January is the month of the king cake in France. It's a pagan holiday now but it originally celebrates the visit of the wise men (the 3 kings) to Jesus. Don't worry about remembering it, if you ever visit France around this time of year, we (the French) won't let you forget about it…

I zealously introduced it to the boys for Family Home Evening the first Monday of January, worried that if I didn't no-one would. They fell in love with the concept: inside every cake/pie (made from a double crust of puff pastry stuffed with an almond flavored filling) is hidden a little trinket (called feve). Whoever gets the trinket is crowned king. The boys were anxious to discover who was the king. 

 this is how you cheat

Bow to King Joshua!

Our host let the boys play with his collection of sword
to complete the King outfit.
They were in Heaven.

 A week later we were invited for dinner and gladly ate another pie (well I gladly ate, the boys gladly dissected it to find the feve).

Then they celebrated it at school:

 (copied from their school journal… makes it look like they're 1950s pictures :))

Josh with his homemade crown

Then we had Family Home Evening with our friends the Bartas and the Hardings and celebrated it again:

Josh learned to arm-wrestle and lost to Kate.

Annnnnnd then we had another round of it at a church activity. Since then, I pretty much gag at the thought of eating another slice but I'm sure it'll be forgotten by next year.

One of the milestones from January, was William learning to write his name by himself. I did not teach him. Having a big brother and a competitive personality can be a great motivator.

We had dinner at a restaurant with Grand-Papa and Grand-Maman. 

French food is delicious, but once in a while it's nice to get a little taste of American food. Grand-Papa and Grand-Maman brought us goodies from their last trip to the US.

 

Nachos and fruit snacks

Sounds like January was all about eating… Well yes, but not only. We went on a bike ride with Grand-Papa.

And most exciting of all, we picked up our besties, the Conkeys, at the airport. They're finally here in Lausanne (2hrs away), hurray!

A couple of days after they arrived, we spent a day together. The boys were ecstatic to be with their friend Sam again. It was a treat watching these boys play again together.

Lunch at Ikea

Silly monkeys on the swing in Ikea

Playing in Sam's new bedroom.

Christmas, a Birthday and the End of a Chapter.

Let the pictures tell the story :

At the mall, a couple of days before Christmas. William bought me a bottle of nail polish in a beauty store and was offered a stuffed puppy (and another one for his brother) just for being his charming self. Then we met Santa in the alley. 

Posing in front of the winter wonderland mall decoration with Coco (and Josh's signature face of the moment!)

Christmas Eve dinner. Fabulous food and great company:

Josh and William with their cousins Dan and Evan

We had our traditional Family Christmas program. This year we sang the primary "Nativity" song with the kids acting it out as we sang each scene.

A creative version of the nativity scene (notice William is a "wiseman-angel" and the sheep/bunny (Dan) is holding baby Jesus)

It was a peaceful and sober Christmas Eve. Siblings going through a grieving time were on our minds that night and we all had a prayer in our heart for them.

Christmas morning with little children is always a special treat. Lots of presents and happy faces :

and the rest of the day was spent enjoying the presents with their cousins :

December 27th 2013 is the day I turned 30. Yiiiiiikes! 

I would have happily ignored the event and pretended it didn't happen, but Coraline had better plans for the day. 

30 presents for 30 years! Macarons and a chocolate cake, Tartiflette and Foie Gras… Literally a killer splurge, but you don't turn 30 every day do you?

Coco, Josh and William made me feel really special. They spoiled me with presents and nice attentions. I couldn't have been better surrounded.

We went sledding to Freydieres and enjoyed the beautiful fresh snow.

I discovered Coraline has a talent for photography. When I uploaded my pictures I discovered a ton of little gems like these :

Typical Revel scene beautifully captured by Coco

The next day we took the boys to the river bench to play with their Christmas (and Josh's birthday) presents, a scooter and skateboard.

And on the 31st we celebrated the end of the year with a snowshoeing expedition with our friends from church. Finishing the year in this beautiful surrounding filled my heart with hope and gratefulness. I can't deny I was glad to bid farewell to 2013. 

It's been an emotionally draining, faith challenging, grievous year. I have struggled to find answers to my prayers and to find ways to feel close to God. I have yearned for more wisdom, more understanding,  more faith, more strength, for forgiveness and for power to forgive, and I have felt like I wasn't getting anything. I have been obsessed with finding answers to obscure questions. I have received powerful witnesses from God and challenged His existence the same day. 

Only looking back is allowing me to realize the miracle that was happening. At the end of the year I feel strong and humbled, happy and sad, but mostly guiltless and hopeful. I have gained back my sense of control and there is a blank slate in front of me, ready to receive the next chapter of my life. I have learned that knowledge comes line upon line, and that faith is powerful at changing hearts: my heart. I have renewed my commitment to give faith a chance and live a Christlike life. I'm looking forward to 2014.

Snow outing with the boys

While I hear our friends in the US are buried in mountains of snow and arctic temperatures, our winter here has been extraordinarily mild. We've had snow on the mountain but hardly any at home. Given how much I love a white winter, I feel almost left out. So today I dug up my pictures from December to get my fix of white beauty. A little selection of pictures from my favorite spot in the mountain with my favorite people :

 

Someone had just been watching Elf...