Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day today, and my mom must be rejoicing: she has the majority of her kids at home, her #4 just graduated college yesterday, and my grandma is visiting as well!

Grandma is my mom's mother-in-law, and they have such a beautiful, loving and respectful relationship that I've admired so much throughout the years. This picture of them from my wedding almost three years ago gives a sense of their bond and love.

Thank you both for being wonderful inspirations, and teaching me so much about life and love and happiness!  I love you both; Happy Mother's Day!!

Using our Christmas gifts!

Othman and I were very lucky last month to get some wonderful Christmas gifts, from other people and from each other, and we're so very thankful. Here's a blog post to highlight just a few of them.

A few days after Christmas we went outside for Othman to test out his new remote controlled car! Alyssa had so much fun, chasing it, being chased by it, driving it, and even being a part of the car's obstacle course! It was fun for everyone.

At work my H2O intake has dramatically increased thanks to this gift from Jess and Leny! I share an office with four other teachers—we make up the student support team of the elementary school—and this addition to our office has been very welcome.

When in France we received a big package from my family in the US for Christmas, and included for O were this tee-shirt from my mom (soon to make another appearance in another post) and a weekend bag from my big brother! Othman went on a 2-day business trip last week, and will be taking 2-3 day trips throughout the next few months for a new project at work, and this bag is absolutely perfect for them and super classy too.

Another welcome gift were these tea accessories (toast not included). Jessika got me some lovely loose-leaf Earl Grey and this super fun infuser and spoon which I've loved using!

But, in my opinion, the best present of the year had to be this one:

Othman's gift to me was a Fitbit Charge HR and I LOVE it. During the two weeks that I was healthy since I got it (yes you read that right; January hasn't been kind to me) I hit my 10,000 step mark 6 out of 7 days, and it even inspired me to join a gym with two friends, and we go three times a week now! (Well, not this past week, as I'm down with the flu, but I will be sticking to that when possible! Having two friends to make it social, and the fact that it's literally 50 steps from my house helps a lot, hehe.) 2016 is my year to get healthier, fitter, and start new good habits. What a good present to help me towards that!

Une ballade dans l'après-midi

On Christmas afternoon we all left the house to take a nice long walk. 

The path we followed went around a golf course and had some nice views of castles...

and some lovely scenery full of French flavor.

We even saw some cows who looked at the camera to say cheese!

We had with us a cute little girl who was very active and chatty but took a few moments to pose for me too.

Here are our lovely hosts and guides!

And us too.

It was a wonderful way to end the day!

Le matin de Noël en France

This is our second Christmas in France and it's proving just as lovely as the first. We're staying with Othman's cousin Jessika and her family. Her two daughters are now 7 and almost 5 and we've had so much fun with them this past week! Here's a report of our Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve saw this tray laid out for Santa... a croissant, chocolate milk, a bag of candy and carrots for the reindeer!

The next morning:

A first peek...

Maman had to work on Christmas morning so Santa left a note, thanking the girls for the snacks and telling them to be patient. (The cord blocking off the present area as seen above helped!) He also left out two well-chosen gifts to occupy their time.

But first, breakfast!

So, as a fire roared in the hearth...

we played with stickerbooks!

And very patiently tried to be patient!

And took silly photos with Papa and Othman.

Finally, mom arrived! So we showed her the gifts...

And then attacked the rest!

Clockwise: a Moroccan rug for the fam, dolls from the US, a GoPro in kid version, lots and lots of Frozen merchandise, and homemade pasta necklaces for mom!

Bonus: O's new toy!

Christmas makes its appearance

As we'll be going to France for the holidays, I decided to decorate a little early this year, to be able to be reminded of the Christmas season a little longer chez nous. Living in a Muslim country means holiday decorations are generally limited to the malls and some big department stores we rarely go to. In some ways this is more pleasant than the overwhelming inundation of all things holiday in the States, but it does feel pretty sparse. So we make our own holiday cheer!

I believe we'll to have to graduate to a bigger tree next year, with all the ornaments we have (these aren't all!) but I don't mind overloading this little one. Its branches are sparse and bare and rather sad otherwise.

Decorating the tree this morning gave me time to consider each ornament. They come from friends and Christmas markets...

garage sales and thrift stores... 

(I got this one especially for O. the car enthusiast this summer.)

"normal" stores...

and family!

They hail from the States, Morocco, and France, and each brings joy, comfort and warmth. 

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful holiday season!

Giving thanks

Othman and I were planning on a quiet Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us, but seeing as I was already cooking and that friends Jess and Ahmed left today on a trip, we decided to invite them over for dinner rather last minute. 

It was a an approximation of a Thanksgiving dinner, but I was quite pleased with our chicken (too few for a turkey!), mashed potatoes, green beans, and cucumber salad. Ahmed had soccer after and didn't want to eat that much, so I packed him a photogenic doggy bag to go.

The food was yummy, but the best part was the conversation of course!

Dessert was a pumpkin pie I made and some goodies Ahmed picked up from a nearby bakery. Delish!

We found out that Noor loves pumpkin pie! A kid after my own heart.

  

We've been meaning to get together for ages now to do another family photoshoot, but it just hasn't happened. So I took the opportunity of them being around to snap a few photos, despite the bad lighting.

He was fascinated by my camera strap and kept trying to grab it!

Feeling thankful on this chilly November evening for good food, a cozy home, wonderful friends, and a loving husband. Happy Thanksgiving!!