December

December was a bit of a blur.  It seemed we had so much time for December since Thanksgiving was so early but as is always the case December zips past so quickly.  As he has every year, Mikuláš visited the girls in the night and left them Czech Christmas cookies and a Czech candy bar.  We are now all out of Czech treats so I will have to have Jason stock up on his next trip to Prague!  Just to ensure the kids were still believing, Mikuláš left a message for the girls in Czech on the windowsill with the treats.  The kids look forward to Mikuláš and they weren't sure if he was going to come this year so they were very excited that he came and they feel extra special that he makes the trip all the way to America to give them treats.  It is a fun tradition and one I will continue as they get older.  I think it helps keep their memory of Czech alive.

There are not really any Christmas markets here like there are in Europe and since we miss them we wanted to try to do something similar.  Newburyport is a cute town with a village feel with lots of little shops to go in so the kids, Jason and I met up with Jason's parents and spent the day walking around the town.  Santa was also in town that day so the kids got to see him and have their picture taken.  Unfortunately he must have been one of Santa's helpers and not really Santa as Ali quickly pointed out since he was wearing slippers and not boots.  He also did not have his beard affixed properly!  Oh well, the kids believe that Santa sends helpers around b/c he can't be everywhere at once.  They felt confident Santa would get their requests.  We walked around the town and it was fun although definitely not a Christmas market.  Ali found a model of the mayflower ship and bought that with her own money.  She did a good job of looking at everything and keeping in mind the things she liked the most and at the end of the day we went back to the shop with the boats and she bought her own Mayflower.  It is now on a shelf in her room where she can see it when she is in bed.  Her reasoning for buying it was that it would always remind her of the day in Newburyport but it also reminds her of the day she went to see the Mayflower with her Grandma.  I thought both of those reasons were good reasons and she bought a quality wood ship and not a piece of junk.  After having some coffee and treats we headed home.