Christmas Market in a Cave: Sounds cool, right?

Spoiler Alert!  Major Disappointment!

This is actually an old church converted into a restaurant called "The Church."  Ummm, something is very wrong here.

Thanksgiving was uneventful as we had a close friend over and then another family that we are very close to as well.  It was low key and not too stressful.  Brian smoked a turkey and fried one too.  I stayed home from Mass since I was needing a little more rest and chance to make the last dish that the kids did not do.  The next day we left for a trip.  We met up with different friends in Holland for these famous cave Christmas markets.

Although I had heard one friend say she didn't like them and it was more like a mall than a Christmas market, we thought it was worth a try.  Turned out to cost around 60 Euros just to get in.  We had been waiting to eat and it was 1:30 or 2pm before we actually walked into the cave and the oldest children and the adults were starving.  (I had fed the little people some PB&J's in the van.)  There was a food stand outside of the cave and I thought that was weird.  Why have food outside the cave Christmas market?  After all, what else is there to these markets if not for the food and drinks?

Turns out this market was not all about the food, but all about the shopping instead, and it had only two food stalls at the very end of the cave.  We were famished, we almost didn't care that the only food choices were pre-made waffles or mediocre hot dogs.  

One might think, "Well, at least there was Christmas shopping!"  But one should be warned that said "shopping" was for mostly dollar store and Made for TV quality items.  There were a couple genuine gift stalls along the way, but still nothing like the real Christmas markets.  On top of all that, they tried to charge for something else every time you'd turn around, for bathroom breaks, selfies, etc.

Some of the walls were decorated, painted, etc which was pretty.

After a very long day of walking through two caves, we decided to try out the local above ground Christmas market that didn't cost money just to be in to find some food for dinner.

Ran into Santa while we were there.

After looking around a bit, we all went to our hotel rooms for the night.  The next morning, we headed back home and saw a rainbow on our way.  That was our 2nd Christmas market of the season.

You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em

The next day after the Metz Christmas market Brian took our guests to the airport and we went to Sunday morning Mass without him.  He was going to the 12:30pm Mass at a different church when he got back.  I really started feeling even worse that day, but we had commitments that, in my mind, couldn't be cancelled.  I had a completely neglected and fast approaching Thanksgiving to plan and a friend that was coming to spend the night that night so that I could take him to the doctor the next day since his wife had to be out of town.  I had to turn over the guest room and make a meal plan for Thanksgiving, and I felt really badly.

By the next day, my throat felt like it was on fire all the time and I could barely swallow without a tremendous amount of pain and now I had a fever.  I finally decided that I needed to go to the doctor because I had caught Drew's strep throat.  I took my friend to the doctor and then called to make an appointment.  It had to be the next day, but I talked myself into one more awful day and night before getting antibiotics and feeling better.  It got to the point before my appointment that I could literally only whisper.  That makes my job as a mom of six very difficult since no one could ever hear me whispering over the noise of the house.

At the doctor the next morning, the PA looked in my throat and said it didn't look that red, and he thought it probably wasn't strep.  I'd heard that before with Drew so I did not take that to be sufficient evidence.  He mentioned that I had sores on the back of my throat though that were most likely associated with a virus.  He ordered a strep test anyway, a quick five minute one and a longer term one.

A nurse did the swab and the test was negative.  I burst into tears.  All hope was lost.  I was in so much pain and had stopped eating anything other than milkshakes and tea.  I could not see pulling it together before Thanksgiving without antibiotics.  How was I going to function?  The kids still were supposed to be doing schoolwork up until Thanksgiving.  We'd had plans to go climbing with our homeschool group on Wednesday.  How could I disappoint the kids, and yet how could I carry on teaching and taking people to events when I was so very sick?  I told a friend of mine that asked if I needed prayer for anything and she said that when we gets sick their world stops and she cuddles kids on the couch watching movies.  The older kids do all the necessary work for her and bring her water, etc.  Plus, they do not go anywhere.  If she wouldn't take a sick kid out, she doesn't take herself out.  Moreover, she said that she feels it is an important lesson to teach the children that sometimes we have to stay home from what we really wanted to do in order to take care of someone who is sick.

Sadly, I never had thought of it that way.  When Brian got home, I went to bed and he took care of the kids for me.  The next day I barely got out of bed.  I assigned the older kids dishes to make for Thanksgiving and gave them the recipes to do so.  Then they all went out on the trampoline where I could even see them from my bedroom window and jumped for hours all together and with no fighting.  It couldn't have gone better, and it even seemed that I was feeling slightly better, although I still couldn't eat solid food or talk about a whisper.  But the rest had done some good.

At 4pm, Hannah needed my phone for the recipe she was in charge of, and she set it right in the one single spot in all of our house that gets a phone signal.  This was Divine Providence because just then my nurse called and said the long term strep had turned up positive already.  She wanted to know if I could come up right then to the clinic for an antibiotic shot.  It is 40 minutes away from our house because of the closed road and long detour, but I said yes and practically flew into the van leaving the girls to babysit.

It was Wednesday before Thanksgiving and everything was closing down for the holiday there when I arrived.  Again I was so thankful that they got a hold of me and that I was going to feel better soon, but I was a little irritated that my PA wouldn't believe me.  I knew this was not just some sores, and I haven't had an antibiotic in 13 years since I had mastitis.  Why must the pendulum swing so far in the other direction just because some doctors over-prescribed antibiotics for a time?  Balance, People!  Although, I guess I can't blame him because he doesn't know me well and has not been my Primary Care PA for very long at all.

I ended up with a shot in the butt (I was sore for a week there!) and a dose of steroid to help reduce the pain quickly.  I felt so much better by bedtime!  That's my story about how I learned to rest when I am sick.  Maybe I'll even remember this lesson next time.  Maybe.

Metz Christmas Market: First Christmas Market of the Season

  This year Advent didn't start until the weekend after Thanksgiving instead of Thanksgiving weekend, so it was very shocking that the Christmas markets started so early this year as they usually begin on the weekend that Advent begins.  Maybe we just never thought to look for Christmas markets before then, but we had visitors desperate for the Christmas market experience and we found that Metz was opening theirs before Brian dad and friend left.

Some of the Ferris Wheel Participants:  I stayed at the bottom with Isaac and a friend of mine and her baby.

This is mainly a picture post because there isn't much to tell other than list all the amazing foods and drinks we had, and I am writing this post so late that I really don't remember many specifics about those.  The food is really what these markets are all about.  This was only the first of many Christmas markets this Advent(ish) season.  I really wasn't feeling very good that day, but Ibuprofen got me through without too much trouble.

Bobby didn't sleep a wink until around 4:30 or 5pm which seems to be his new thing when we are not home for his nap in his crib.

This ride was just for the little kids.  It was a Christmas Tree with these ball ornaments that went around and up and down pretty slowly.

The Cathedral and the ferris wheel looked pretty all lit up in the dark.

"THAT'S ALL FOLKS!"

Promotion Day

In Lourdes, France at the Grotto

I have normally kept our military affiliation out of the blog, but due to our life looking so military with constant moves, living overseas, and a year long deployment it is usually not hard to figure out.  However, since this blog has become much like a scrapbook for me and my family, I just couldn't let this big part of our lives be completely left out. I print it out each year and we have a stack of albums now starting from 2007.  (Wow, I just realized I've been blogging for 10 years now!)  The children love to look through them and re-read them every so often.  

Anyway, my husband was just promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and, as a veterinary pathologist, it is a lot more difficult to be promoted to this level.  I am super proud of him and all that he has done for our country.  He told me that we were supposed to have a reception and that usually you have a dinner for your close friends after that.  I was instructed to buy a big sheet cake and some drinks, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I just can't serve store bought cake.  It's against my religion.  Just kidding, but really I tried to make myself do it.  I just couldn't talk myself into it.  I am not a huge cake person, but I really don't like the taste of the store-bought cakes.

So, I tried to do an easy sheet cake, but it ended up sill taking a while to decorate.  Then I told myself that if I made the cake, then I could buy cookies in case it wasn't enough.  Again, I went to the store and just could not buy those pre-made things.  I bought some German cookie/candy type things to put in a bowl and some peanuts.  Then I thought, "Well, I'll just make fudge and have Genevieve make a batch of chocolate chip cookies."

Then after I made the cake, I started to think it wouldn't be enough and made a batch of cupcakes too.  In the end, we had a bunch of left overs.

Even with Drew being sick all week and all the appointments we had, etc, I managed to make most of it the day before, but decorated the cake the day of.  I probably overdid it, because that night at the dinner, I started getting a sore throat and proceeded to get very sick after this event.

The ceremony went smoothly.  Bobby did sort of roll around on the floor since we were in the first row.  He almost threw a fit at one point, but he distracted himself by rolling around on the ground which was better, I decided, than having to take him out and miss the ceremony.  

Brian's dad and I pinned on his shoulder bars or whatever they are called.

Then the oldest four kids changed out his other patches and pins.

The Oath

Here they are laughing because she forgot the end of the oath.  The oath is just a formality nowadays, and it wasn't a big deal.

One of Brian's best friends said the invocation/prayer.

Wish this could've been our Christmas card, but I'd ordered them in October in order to get them by the beginning of December. (There are long shipping times for photograph orders over here.)

Brian and his Dad

One of Brian's Godsons and his Family

Beyond the ceremony and the reception table, I really didn't take any pics.  Most of these were from a friend.  After the ceremony, the reception was fun and relaxed.  The dinner following at one of our favorite local restaurants, the Burgshanke, was a delicious and filling buffet, complete with salad spread, meats and vegetables, noodles, and individual desserts.  It was around 35 people that came and we had a really enjoyable evening.  The children had friends there and were all happy.

I am super proud of my husband and all he does to both take care of our family and to serve our country.