Merry Christmas everybody!
Well, it's Christmas Eve! We've been sitting around mostly... listening to Christmas tunes, doing a few Christmas crafts and thinking of all our dear friends and family scattered around the globe. Since there is no snow in Zurich (but apparently loads in Portland - what's up with that J.C.?) we busied ourselves crafting a flurry of homemade snowflakes so we would be guaranteed a white Christmas. I hope Santa comes soon because Eric is turning every piece of paper in this house into a snowflake. I should seriously probably hide the cash and our birth certificates.
**Rocky, Eric made you a special snowflake... a very special snowflake. I wouldn't allow him to take a picture and send it though. I'll let you guess why. (Hint, he said to tell you it smelled like garbage.)
NORAD is reporting that Santa is somewhere over Australia right now. While we wait for him to make his arrival in Zurich, we plan tomorrow's Christmas feast and Eric is accidentally drinking a whole bottle of wine by himself, determined to ruin Christmas. :) Anyway, we already know what Santa is bringing us. A trip to Spain! On January 3rd Eric, baby, and I will be flying to Malaga and spending a week in Sevilla, Spain with our friends Elias and Irina. Elias, a native SPANIARD!!! spends most of his time talking about his beautiful country... or just talking, period. If everyone in Sevilla is as friendly as he is, we'll have a great time. We will get to experience the day of the Three Magic Kings, including a parade on the 5th and a gift exchange on the 6th. After that we will travel to the Southern coastal town of Cadiz where we get to stay at a 4 star, beach front hotel for a mere fraction of the normal price. Thank you economic crisis!
Our other Christmas present is a new apartment! We move in January 1st. It's nice and a little less expensive than where we are now. It's not perfect, but one can't be too choosy with this housing market. It's a one-bedroom attic flat with a nice, cozy, wooden, peaked ceiling. It kind of reminds me of our adorable cottage back on Belmont Street. It's not too far from Eric's lab and there is great access to public transport. We are going to have to furnish it and will most likely be sleeping on camping pads for a few weeks. I expect that won't be a whole lot of fun at 35 weeks pregnant, but it's part of the adventure! I promise we will have it up to snuff in time for everyone who is coming to visit us.
In baby news, everything is going great! She keeps herself busy at nights by karate-chopping my internal organs and seeking out/freeing little air pockets, creating constant opportunities for my embarrassment and for Eric to laugh at someone's gas other than his own. We got some more baby equipment and are slowly getting ready for her arrival. It really is amazing...
I guess I should wrap this up so we don't leave Santa waiting. I think we'll snuggle up on the couch and watch a pirated Christmas movie or two while Eric puts this bottle of wine to bed and I eat the baby's weight in cheese and chocolate. What? It's Christmas! We miss you all and hope you have a very, very Merry Christmas.
Love,
The Hayden's
