Christmas in Brussels

This year was year that Ben and I have had our own little Christmas. Usually we would just split Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between our families but since we're college student's in Europe we really couldn't pull that off this year. I thought I would be really sad about it but having Christmas with just us was really special. We missed our families and friends of course but it was a really quiet and peaceful Christmas. As new parents we got our first taste of Christmas shopping for a child and now I understand why my mom always bought WAY TOO MANY presents for us at Christmas. There's something special about buy a gift for your own little one. You want to give your child everything she could possible want and you definitely try to. But, like all babies, Brooklyn was more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes than the actual present but c'est la vie!

We started a few Isaac family traditions this year. Ben and I actually read the entirety of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" which lived up to the expectations of awesomeness that it had built up. The book, like always, is better than any of the movies and the best part is that it actually talks about Christianity in the book. I thought it was really awesome. I was hoping that it would solve our yearly Christmas debate between "Scrooge" (1970s musical) and "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992 musical) but for some reason Ben still thinks that "Scrooge" is the better film. What can ya do?

We also had our first Isaac Christmas feast. We went all out and bought a turkey, non-frozen because they don't freeze anything here but who's complaining when it comes to cooking a turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and an Italian Christmas Cake (they don't have Libby's Pumpkin here so my pumpkin pie plan was foiled). Needless to say we cooked WAY too much food and were eating leftovers for about two weeks after the fact.

It was a great Christmas though. We read the story of Christ's birth, watched the Christmas devotional and even substituted the Grand Plaza Christmas lights for Temple Square (one of my favorite Christmas events).We didn't have stocking but we did have 5 bars of Belgian chocolate which made up for it and even snuck a Belgian waffle in during our visit to the Grand Plaza. We missed our families but still got to Skype with them and even got to talk to Mike on his mission (something both of us were worried we'd miss out on). Bottom line Christmas in Belgium rocked, though next year I think we'll make about one-fifth of the food :)

Atomium

One of the funnest things we've done in Belgium so far is go to the Atomium (pronounced like Aluminum with a "T"). This was a building creating in 1958 at the World Fair in Belgium and it is pretty awesome to see in person because it's huge! Ben and I took a trip there three Saturdays ago and it was amazing! Firstly because it is a really cool building and secondly because it's out of the city so it was nice to get some air. (Thirdly because it was just a tram ride away so we didn't have to spend extra money getting train tickets :) If you are planning to visit us here we're definitely taking you to the Atomium because it's a great, relaxing trip!

Bonjour!

Welcome to my first Belgian Blog. It's been six months since I moved here with Brooklyn and Ben and time is starting to fly. At first I had no idea what I was supposed to do all day because I didn't know anyone and the weather was TERRIBLE! But now I've had the good fortune of making some great friends and figuring out what one does for a whole day in Brussels.

Adjusting to life here has been one of the hardest challenges I've ever had. I was surrounded by such great friends and family in Utah that I never really had to figure out what to do for a day by myself. So when I got here I was floored by how bored one person can get in a day. I had nothing to do and, as cute as Brooklyn is, time was just dragging by. There are tons of videos of Brooklyn doing practically nothing but it was something to do so I recorded her. We had life five toys for her to play with and those got old really fast. Outside was cloudy, rainy, and freezing so we had to stay indoors and even if it wasn't I was new in the country and nobody spoke English. Side Note: if you are moving to a European country and people tell you that you can get by speaking English because they all learned it in school it is a LIE! I had nobody to talk to and nothing to do. It was awful. So awful in fact that Ben and I seriously debated going home for good.

Then one day I decided that I was going to do this one thing everyday. It was a challenge to read The Book of Mormon in 40 days. So I started with that. Everyday, no matter what I would read the selected chapters of the Book of Mormon. It wasn't much but it gave me something to look forward to everyday. That was a turning point for me.

Now everyday I make sure I take time to do the things that I want to do and life in Belgium is so much better! Brooklyn is growing up so fast! She's standing up by herself and getting into everything! Ben's research is going really well and we've grown so much closer as a family because we're all that we've got out here. I miss all of my family and friends dearly and hope to hear from you soon!

Andi