Merry Christmas!

For Christmas Eve we went to our friends house for lunch. They made a lovely lunch complete with hot apple cider. The kids got to play a lot, and then we went to church with them. They go to the Danube Baptist Church, which is an English-speaking church that has a lot of expats, military or international relations workers, students, and other English speakers. It was nice getting to go to church with friends. We will miss our new friends when we go back home!

Christmas morning was wonderful. This definitely was a smaller Christmas than we are used to. Less presents, smaller presents, fewer people, and low-key food choices (no breakfast casserole!!!). This is the second Christmas in a row we have done away from home (last year was at the Grand Canyon with my sister), and I actually really like it!

We always make the kids wait in their room until it is time for everyone to come out together to see the presents. Here is there first look at the presents under the tree. We don’t put any presents out until Christmas day, so it’s always a surprise to have nothing under the tree and then all the presents on Christmas morning.

We always do stockings first, and this year was no different. We didn’t really have stockings; this year we had canvas bags the kids had decorated at one of the festivals we went to. Most of the things in the stockings were the same (or similar), including mini washi tape, gummis and candy, Venetian mask ornaments (from Venice of course) and Lego mini figurines. The girls each got a glass heart necklace (came from Venice) and Ronin got a glass R which he really loved. He also got a teeny tiny glass hippo (from Prague) that was so super cute. He was also excited that Santa knew his favorite kind of Milka candy bar!

Each kids got several presents, and I don’t know how we will get all of this home! From Santa Willow asked for “A horse with pink brushable hair and a foal that looks just like the mom and some apples for the foal to eat and an owner for the horse and foal and maybe a saddle too.” That was a big ask from Santa! Well, she got a unicorn with brushable pink hair and two foals. We have little wooden apples already, and I told her that Santa must have thought she was the owner!

Willow also got some leggings with a unicorn on them that lights up when you tap it. They are really cool. From Ronin, she got a stuffed olm, the animal from the cave in Slovenia. It looks like a pink worm with ears, but she likes it.

Zoey’s gift from Santa was a robe. She promised that if she got a robe she would take more showers and wouldn’t argue when it was time for a shower (right now it is a battle every time). The robe is nice and fluffy—Willow wanted to use it as a pillow! From Ronin she got a snow globe; Zoey loves snow globes and this one has the parliament in it. Zoey and Willow got matching Hungarian hand-embroidered shirts. Zoey had been begging for one every time we went to the markets. She and Willow also got unicorn pens and magic wands. Zoey’s favorite animal is a cheetah, so she got a cheetah stuffed animal (from the Budapest zoo), and at the market she kept pointing out this one necklace, so we got that for her too. We tried hard to make everything special and from our travels, not just toys that we could get from anywhere.

Ronin was so expressive and excited when opening his presents. He got a real knife in a sheath (from Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany), and he was so excited about it. He also got a wooden dinner knife, which has turned into a military knife. When we went to Hollókő we found a really cute ceramic hippo with a baby hippo on it’s back, and everyone knows Ronin loves hippos.

Even I got some great presents! I got a ceramic Christmas tree where you can put a candle in the bottom to light it up. I also got a fluffy pink scarf.

There were more presents too. The kids each got a Hungarian puzzle box and a small handmade house (sort of like a handmade poly pocket house) that they can use with their hatchables. These got a lot of use already! Ronin got a bag of plastic military toys, including hand grenades, explosives, land mines, a helmet, and a gun. Then my mom got them all swords and shields from Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and they had fun playing knights and army men with their swords, guns, and grenades.

The aftermath of the presents. Everyone got lots of presents, but I have no idea how all of this is going to get home! The rest of the day we just played with our new toys, played Fortnite on the Switches, and ate lots of chocolate. It was a low-key Christmas with just us, and was pretty perfect.

Ronin asked Santa for some Legos, so that’s what he got. JonPaul set him up in the kitchen with the tray and all his pieces. Ronin did most of it himself, and even organized all his pieces so he would be able to find everything. He had lots of fun putting together his Legos, but Legos are so much more expensive in Hungary!