Santa Claus came to town!

Sunday was Christmas Eve, but just another day for many people in the UAE. We made several trips to the supermarket because we kept forgetting things. Cathy and I headed to the mall and the bottle shop for some libations. I had to pick up the Nespresso pods for Stuart’s new Nespresso machine I bought him for Christmas. 

Once we returned, Cathy and the girls came over for the evening. We had lasagna and a great deal of laughs. We exchanged gifts with Sean as he had to work all Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so wouldn’t be home until the night of the 26th. 

I was able to Skype Grammie and Pop after Jack and Millie were asleep. Mitch FaceTimed me and they were all together in Branson. It did make me a bit sad. Stuart had said he would send me and the kids home for Christmas, but then we would be without him. That wasn’t ok. 

Once the kids were in bed, Santa came to visit and we were off to bed. We had told the kids they had to stay in bed until 6 am. To allow us to sleep longer, Stuart set our microwave clock an hour earlier. So when Jack was up and downstairs, he saw the clock and it said 5:07 am, then he came upstairs and into our room. He then saw Stuart’s alarm clock, which read 6:07 am. Jig was up! Sadly, we were then forced to get up. 

Within an hour, the carnage was over and the kids were playing with all the items they got. This year was very exceptional. After each gift, each kid came to hug us both and say ‘thank you’. It felt good to know they actually appreciated their gifts. 

Just after 9 am, and a bit of a clean up, Cathy and the girls came over for a breakfast of ham, eggs, toast and roasted tomatoes. The table was set again and we got ready for dinner. In total, there would be 15 at the dinner table. We opened gifts from Cathy and the girls and then just prepared for guests to arrive around 2 pm. 

I collected Clare and her kids so that they wouldn’t have two cars at our house. Scott had to work and would be finished around 2 pm. Everyone arrived and the festivities began. The food was plentiful and everyone enjoyed their table gifts. Once we started the clean up we discovered having two refrigerators wasn’t enough. There were so many leftovers, it assured there would be a great deal of bubble and squeak the following day. 

Tuesday morning we were up and about, kind of a lazy day. People were coming for Boxing Day bubble and squeak. It was Henry’s birthday, so the boys went shooting while the women stayed at the house. Once they were back from the shooting range, we had dinner. Sean came home from work and after dinner Cathy, Stuart and I played a good game of Trivial Pursuit. 

Wednesday morning we got up and Skyped Grammie and Pop. The kids told them what they got for Christmas and were nuts as usual. Millie was more animated than normal, which is always good. We had breakfast and a lazy day for sure. The kids didn’t even ask what we were doing because they were exhausted. I didn’t leave the house all day. Cathy and the girls came over later. Stuart made turkey pot pie and a turkey stew that we would have on Thursday for dinner. Sean stayed up later with us as his holidays started until after the new year. 

Sean had these shirts made for our tattoo day. 

Thursday was ink day again. Once my new tat was finished, I took the kids to winter Bounce camp. They bounced for 5 hours and were wiped out when they got home. Jack reported that he had clocked over 22,000 steps on his Fitbit. Yikes! Clare and Scott picked the kids up from Bounce and brought them back to our house for turkey stew. Henry spent the night with Jack. Clare and Scott left around 9 pm and then we were all off to bed. 

Sean’s birthday was Thursday as well. 

The boys were up early. Once we were all awake, Stuart made a full English breakfast. I then started sorting the bricks in my Lego. Millie wanted to help me, but being possessive of my own Lego, I couldn’t allow it. Cathy and the girls picked us up at 2:15 pm and we headed to Riverland, which is comparable to Downtown Disney. There are amusement parks all around it. It was all lit up for Christmas. It was pretty, but there wasn’t a great deal to entertain the kids. We decided against staying until the fireworks went off at 9 pm. It was just going to be too late for Jack and Millie, and me, to be honest. Once we were home, the kids went straight to bed and we were pretty close behind them. 

Always a goofball!

Saturday morning, Cathy, Kayleigh and Claire came over around 8:30 am for a cup of tea. Claire and Cathy were taking Kayleigh to the airport for her journey back to the UK. She was sad to be leaving, and we were sad as well. We had a wonderful 10 days with her. 

Clare and Scott picked up Jack and Millie and took them ice skating. Stuart and I went to do our grocery shopping. Our holidays were coming to an end, so back to normalcy and reality, which meant an actual grocery shopping trip that didn’t include mince pies or chocolates. 

Once we were home and I had done two loads of laundry, we headed to Scott and Clare’s. Stuart took his new remote control car, which he had bought at Riverland the previous evening. The kids, Scott and Stuart took the cars to the empty lot next to their house while Clare and I had a chat. Clare actually made dinner and I just sat there. We had lamb for dinner. It was delicious. We were home by 8 pm and the kids were in bed. Cathy came over for a bit and then it was off to bed. Christmas week was wonderful with a lot of fun friend time. 

The week before Christmas and all through the house.....

We woke up early to speak with Rony and Brittney and the kids. My parents were in Oregon visiting and we haven’t seen the kids since Nolan was born, and he’s almost two years old. Mya was chatty, as was Nolan. They were so funny. Jack and Millie enjoyed speaking to them as well. 

Claire came over to babysit, while Cathy, Stuart and I headed to do some Christmas shopping in Dubai. We finished up our gifts and then went to Waitrose, a supermarket in the mall. It’s one of the supermarkets that has the best produce and meat, so that’s where we did a great deal of our Christmas food shopping. Stuart determined he would need to return on Friday and get our turkey because we didn’t have enough room in our freezer to keep it frozen until Friday. 

While we were in Dubai, Millie went with her friend Abbey to Fun Block and Jack played outside most of the day, so Claire’s job was relatively easy. Once we were home and packages were away, we decided we would order Chinese food. Cathy stayed for dinner, but Claire headed home.

Monday Jack went to Bounce with his friend Adam, and Millie went to visit Santa. He was at a book store in the mall. She asked me who it was. I told her it could be the real Santa, but she said, ‘Naw’, but I think she did wonder. We shopped for and bought table gifts for Christmas Day, for the 15 people coming to our house. Once we were finished at the mall, we came home and chilled for a while before I had to go collect Jack at Bounce. In the meantime, Kayleigh arrived from the UK. Millie was so excited! Once I was back with Jack, we ordered curry. 

Tuesday we went shopping with Cathy and the girls. We had lunch at the food court and then came back to their house for a lamb dinner. Sean came over as well. It was a late night, full of laughs. 

Wednesday we headed to Abu Dhabi to a winter festival. We do whatever is offered to help us get in the Christmas spirit. The festival wasn’t open until 3 pm, so naturally a trip to Ikea and our favorite mall was necessary. We had lunch at the food court. I had tacos and Jack had his first chimichanga. He loved it. Once we were home the kids showered and had a chocolate roll up (Nutella in a tortilla), which is their ‘go to’ when they can’t think of what they want to eat and I’m too lazy to make them anything remotely healthy. It’s a bit shameful, truth be told. 

Thursday the kids and I went to Abu Dhabi, again, with Clare Richardson, Henry and May. We dropped them at Adventure HQ so they could go to the skate park, and we shopped around for about an hour. We picked them up and fed them at Buca Di Beppo, where the best meatballs in the world are served. I ordered salmon and risotto, but then ordered a take away of two meatballs, anticipating having them the following day. 

After lunch, the kids returned to the skate park, while Clare and I sat and had a cup of tea. At the end of their second hour, we all visited the toilet before getting in the car to head home. The kids were sweaty and exhausted. 

Thursday evening we headed to the rugby club for dinner and for our chairman’s surprise birthday party. Once he arrived and we all sang happy birthday, we decided to go home and call it a night for the kids. Cathy came back to our house and had a glass of wine. It was a nice evening but the kids were wiped out. 

Friday we got up and went to church. It was the last service of Advent. It was also the Cristingle service. A Christingle is a symbolic object used in the Advent services of many Christian denominations. Christingle means 'Christ Light' and is used to celebrate Jesus Christ as the "Light of the World". Used primarily for Advent and Christmas, it is also used for Epiphany. It was a great service, and hopefully now Millie knows we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus’s birth, not Santa’s birth, which is what she told me the first week of December. 

We came home after church and just lazed around the house. Stuart got home from his food shopping trip just after 2 pm. He was very excited and felt very ready for his few days of cooking to come. Friday evening we went to the Richardsons for a lamb dinner. We ended up getting a cab home because we both chose to have some wine. Fortunately, Stuart had packed the truck with all the necessary things for the breakfast in the desert the following morning, except for the food of course. Millie came back with us, but Jack and Duke spent the night at the Richardson’s. 

Saturday morning I changed the sheets on our bed, and we headed to the desert for breakfast. We sat up our shade structure and let Duke run and run and run, as well as the kids. The Richardsons and Davisons came with us. We had bacon, sausages and eggs on rolls. We had a kettle for tea and coffee. The kids rolled in the sand and made their own fun. 

Once we were home, Stuart unpacked the truck while the kids, Duke and I had showers. Duke laid down the entire time I showered him. He was so exhausted from his morning in the desert. Stuart and I discussed that we had never had a dog that you could take somewhere, let it loose and know it wouldn’t run away. Duke is such a wonderful dog. He doesn’t bark, he doesn’t wet or poo inside, and he doesn’t jump on people. He does, however, shed like crazy and he eats camel poop. I guess no one is perfect. 

Once everyone was clean and Stuart returned from some last minute shopping, I headed off to get a much needed pedicure. It was a couple of hours to myself, which was really nice. When I got home our cleaner was at the house. We found this a great opportunity to head to Cathy’s for gingerbread house making. As you can see from the pictures, the houses may have had some structural issues, but everyone had fun. 

We ate dinner at Cathy’s and watched Santa Clause 3. We headed home just before 9 pm, when the cleaner was finished. The kids then went to bed. Stuart and I finished wrapping presents and headed to bed as well. We were ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

Time for Christmas break!

Sunday at school I was testing kids on the online exam we had to give.  The exam was supposed to be given a few weeks ago, but with everything else that had been going on we never had time to give it. I tested over half of our grade three kids, which was as good as it was going to get. We had very few students at school on Monday. Our grade 4 and 5 were there but only because they had exams. 

Just as I was finishing the exams, I got a call from our cleaner about Molly. It seems that Molly was barking her head off and the neighbor called security again, telling them he was going to call the police. Sadly, we had tried everything we could to get her to stop barking but she just didn’t seem to learn. It was decided that we would have to take her to find a new home. We couldn’t risk getting kicked out of our complex. We told the kids after school and they both cried and cried. I cried as well. It was very sad, but necessary. The kids were devastated. 

We stayed around the house Sunday evening as rugby training was over for the holidays. Clare, Scott and the kids came over so Scott could help Stuart pick up the new/used stove. We had a few cups of tea and chatted for a bit. I fed all the kids and when Stuart got home with the new stove, the Richardsons left. Jack and Millie moped around about Molly. I felt so badly. 

Monday morning the kids said goodbye to Molly and cried. Stuart took Molly to Abu Dhabi to a shelter. When he got there they told him they had a family who had been waiting for a dog just like Molly. That made us all feel better for sure. 

School was full of meetings as the principal wanted to meet with the English teachers. She told us how much she appreciated us. She asked for things that had gone well this term and things we wanted to see done differently for the next term. Not many teachers spoke. I’m not sure how comfortable they feel expressing their real opinions. 

I left school at 1:30 and went to the mall to get the rest of the things I needed for our Christmas craft day on Tuesday. I brought home KFC for the kids. I had made beef stew for dinner in the crock pot and it was delightful, but he kids would rather have KFC. 

The kids loved up on Duke because he seemed a bit down without Molly. They walked him when they got home. Cathy came over around 7 pm just to catch up and discuss holiday plans. 

Tuesday I spent the day making science assessments with some other heads of faculty. It was very productive and will hopefully help us do a better job with the teachers next term. I got home just after 1 pm and got some Christmas presents ordered on line. Stuart went to pick the kids up while I finished getting ready for the Christmas craft party, which was a huge success. 

Painting is fun!

Handprint manger. 

Fingerprint snowmen were a success. This might have been my favorite crafting night yet. 

Everyone left around 7, and Cathy and Claire came for a cup of tea. 

Wednesday there were no kids at school. I met with the English teachers to discuss data analysis. Riveting! Then we went into the teacher room for some food and to dance with some of the Arabic women. It’s always fun!

I left school around noon and then went to the mall to get my secret Santa a gift. I met Stuart at home and we went to lunch at a new place that serves gluten free pizza. It was quite delicious. 

I went to pick up the kids while Stuart went to help the neighbor who bought our old stove. She needed him to hook it up for her. 

Once we were home, the kids did their chores and then went outside to play. Stuart and I watched an episode of the Crown and found the relaxing time to be quite nice and a prequel to our upcoming holiday. 

Thursday was the last day before our two and a half week break. We had a luncheon at school and then were allowed to leave school at 11. I got home just before Stuart and the kids. They got out of school at noon. Both kids came home with excellent reports and a couple of achievement awards. We are so proud of their accomplishments. 

Thursday evening we went to Clare and Scott’s for curry. It was just nice to know we didn’t have to be anywhere for the next few weeks. The kids showered at the Richardsons and were both asleep before we got home Thursday evening. 

Friday morning was a lazy one. 

A hot chocolate kind of morning. 

Several cups of coffee and Skyping with Grammie and Pop was the only thing on the agenda. At noon we met the O’Rielleys, the Richardsons, and the Davisons all went to Christmas brunch. We are really going to miss the O’Rielleys and the Richardsons when they go home next summer. It’s the down side of making friends here. They do eventually go back to their home country and it’s sad. We had a great lunch and ended up taking the party back to our house.

My mini me!

My other mini me!

My favorite people ever!

We watched some Christmas movies and the kids played outside for a while. They went to bed and Sean, Cathy, Stuart and myself played cards for a while before calling it a night. 

Saturday morning we got up and went to the cinema. Sean, Stuart and Jack went to see the new Star Wars movie while Millie and I went to see Paddington 2. When Millie and I finished we did a bit of shopping. We went to the toy store to have Millie sit on a 20 inch bike, which as I suspected is going to be too big for her. Too bad, that’s what Santa ordered her and has yet to put together. I suppose she will figure it out. 

Once the boys were out of their movie, we headed home. I spent most of the afternoon on the sofa.....because I could. We watched a few Christmas movies and just enjoyed being lazy. The kids played outside most of the day. The weather right now is perfect. 

I ended up wrapping presents after the kids went to bed Saturday evening. I had Christmas with the Kranks playing on the television. It was a great way to end a perfect weekend. 

Santa Claus is coming to town.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the airport around 7 am. We arrived in plenty of time to have a coffee. The flight was delayed to Belgrade which made us miss our connecting flight to Abu Dhabi. 

We were rerouted thru Frankfurt and then got the call that our first flight would be delayed, meaning we would not make our connection. So try as we may, we could not get anyone to switch our flight to the one going to Rome. In the end, after much conversation and some yelling, we were put up for a night at the Crown Plaza, free dinner and breakfast, and got an upgrade to business class to Abu Dhabi, a 6 hour flight. I’ll take that. However, I did miss a school day, which wasn’t in the plan. I’m sure they were fine without me. But to be honest, I was ready to get home to Stuart and the kids. 

We checked into the Crown Plaza, took our bags to our rooms and came down for dinner. It was total crap, but it filled the hump. I then went to my room and took a shower. I got into bed and fell asleep around 10 pm. I woke up just before 4 am to try to explain to my principal why I wouldn’t be at work on Monday. She wasn’t terribly humored, but it was out of my control so I had to just let it go. 

I didn’t ever go back to sleep. I finally turned the television on at 6:30 am. I just laid around for an hour or so. I had some coffee and then headed to breakfast at 8 am to meet up with Gina and our new Irish friend, Clodagh, who was in the same boat as us. After breakfast we all went back to our rooms and packed up. We met downstairs at 9:30 to catch the bus to the airport.  

Once we were at the airport we checked in and went to the business class lounge. Did I mention because we had all kicked up such a fuss we were upgraded to business class? I thought I might have done so. We had a coffee and waited for our flight. 

Once we boarded the plane we were given a beverage and a hot towel. The plane took off and I put my seat back. It’s like sitting in a recliner. I now hate economy class. We had dinner and I watched two movies, very comfortably, might I add. We had a lovely, plush blanket and a pillow that didn’t feel as if it was stuffed with paper. The flight was epic. We landed a bit early and I got a taxi to Rania’s, where I had left my car. 

I drove home, unpacked my bag, started a load of laundry (of course), took a shower, set up Elfvis for the following morning, went to the kids’ rooms to hug them, and then went to bed. I thought I would be more exhausted, but I really wasn’t. 

I was up and ready for work on Tuesday morning. We had been told the previous day that once students were finished testing, we could dismiss at 11 am for the rest of the term. With so much testing, this only makes sense to me. So once the students were finished testing on Tuesday, they were off to their homes. The teachers scored their exams for the rest of the day. Teachers were not allowed to leave early, but at least students were not in school. After a morning of testing the kids seem to lose control, so it was a wise decision by the powers that be. 

After school I finished up my shopping for the Winter Festival to be held at the rugby club on Thursday evening. Jack and Millie had choir practice at school. Their little group will perform at the Winter Festival. I’m sure it will be cute. They are excited about it. Stuart picked them up from rehearsal and I was home shortly before we had to go to rugby training. I unpacked the things I bought and off to the club we went. The kids trained while we sat and talked with other parents. After training, Scott and Clare met us at the club for dinner. We didn’t get the kids home until after 8 pm, but they went to bed rather easily. I followed, you know, after I had a nap on the sofa. Ha!

Wednesday I monitored the grade 5 boys’ math exam. While the students were testing, one of the boys was being exceptionally mouthy. I got down to where we were looking in each other’s eyes. When I told him to stop, he tried to slap me across the face. I was stunned. I reacted by moving back so that he didn’t actually hit me. It was crazy. Needless to say, his English teacher came in after the exam and escorted him down to the social worker to make a call home. It frightened me just a touch. He is a big boy and could probably hurt me. 

I left school shortly after testing to go work with some other Heads of Faculty and continue creating assessments for our teachers for Term 2. We are hoping to avoid confusion in Term 2, if that’s possible. 

Wednesday evening my friend Lara came over and helped me wrap sweetie bags for the winter festival. She stayed much longer than intended, but we had a couple of laughs and got the Santa gifts all sorted. We made 100 bags and thought that would be plenty. How wrong we were. 

Thursday I monitored an English exam, which was much too difficult for second language learners, but we pressed on. I left school to get something to eat and also to buy Millie rugby boots as hers had come apart at practice on Tuesday, and the youth tournament was at the weekend. 

After school I  went to buy my new iPhone. I had way too much to do, and really should have waited, but I didn’t. I got home and went directly to the club to decorate for the Winter Festival. When we first got there not many people were there. By the time the choir started to sing there must have been 200 kids there, way more than the amount of sweetie bags we had. Oh, what to do. 

Millie is next to bow tie guy and behind curly hair guy. 

Sean dressed as Santa and came in on a Harley. We had told Jack and Millie that the real Santa had asked Sean to help out. I’m pretty sure this is Jack’s last year of believing. Once Santa arrived, the little helpers starts handing out the bags and then, fortunately, the club house manager had purchased more candy. So Santa’s helpers started just putting candy in plastic cups. We ended up having one plastic cup left over. There were Winter stalls where people sold handmade goods and we even had some crafts for the kids. The evening was phenomenal and was deemed the best Christmas party ever. I felt very proud. We went back to our house for tea before turning in for the night. 

Our Al Ain family, including Santa. 

The Al Ain rugby tournament started Friday, and because we are both committee members now, we had to be there both days. Friday we volunteered, helping set up and keeping the time for the matches. It was a really long day for us and the kids. Fortunately, Jack was taken away by Scott to hang out with Henry, and Millie went to her friend, Ciera’s house. They love the rugby club, but three days in a row is a bit much for them. It was definitely a busy weekend. 

Friday evening, Stuart had a match as well, so we were literally at the club ALL day on Friday. Unfortunately, Stuart’s team didn’t win, but he played his hardest game of rugby and was wiped out. We headed home and knew the following morning we would struggle because of being so tired. 

Saturday, 6 am was not my friend. The matches didn’t start until 9 am, but we were at the club to help at 7 am. Jack was on pitch 3 all day and Millie was on pitch 5. Some of their games were at the same time so I stayed with Millie and Stuart stayed with Jack. Millie’s team didn’t do so well, but Jack’s team got to the semi finals of the cup, the highest award. In the end, they lost by one try. Jack was heart broken. He HATES to lose. I totally get it! 

Here we are at Millie’s match. I think I was video taping. This picture was taken by the club photographer. 

Millie is the one in yellow and black. 

This is Augustina and Millie. They hate having their hair brushed, equally! 

I had a bit of a run in with one of the parents on Millie’s team. I was standing at the try line and he was sitting, talking to his wife he was facing me but her back was to me. I heard him say, ‘Rugby is not suited for Millie, I think’. And then he kind of put his head in the air while saying, ‘You know, she’s kind of like do to do’. So naturally I walked over to him and said, ‘Who did you say is not suited for rugby?’ And then he said, ‘Millie.’  I said, ‘That’s my daughter and what you just said was rude!’ I was so flabbergasted. I could not believe I stood there and actually heard someone talking about Millie, and his daughter was sitting right beside them. He came over to apologize. He said, ‘Hey, sorry about that, but I just said the same thing about my own daughter.’ I told him that he could say anything he liked about his own daughter but I didn’t appreciate him speaking about my daughter like that. I told him I would never speak ill of his child, especially in public where someone might hear, like the child’s mother. So that was that. 

On the way home Stuart dropped Jack and myself off at Abela so I could get Jack’s hair cut. We got home and both kids showered, then we headed to Scott and Clare’s for dinner. We took the dogs because they had been trapped in the house the last two days. 

Dinner was lamb stew. It was a bit chilly outside and definitely time for stew. The kids showered again at Scott and Clare’s, then it was home for all of us. And it was bed for all of us as well. What a week!

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National Day, Dubai 7s, and a trip to Vienna

Sunday I was no longer in charge of the cover plan, which will be such a load off of my pate. I did monitored another test, which continues to be an adventure. I scored several exams and then left school early to go and see the eye doctor. He said my eyes were healthy and I just needed to wear my glasses to see long distances, which is not my favorite, but I will do what I need to do. 

Sunday night was rugby training for the kids, as usual. There was a bit of a skuttle about the Under 10 team that was broken up earlier in the season. Stuart stayed behind to see if he could help resolve some of the issues, but it as futile. It seems that the team Jack used to play with is not thrilled to be playing up with the next level. It’s good to know that sport parents are the same everywhere. 

Once I was home with the kids, they showered, ate and hit their beds. I followed them just after 9. 

School was relatively productive on Monday. It’s amazing the things you can get accomplished when you are only doing what is on your job description. We are still testing, and we are doing our best to get ready for National Day celebration, which is the countries biggest celebration of the year. Typically after National Day holiday the students don’t return until after the new year. We have grades 4 and 5 testing this year so at least those students will need to return in December. We shall see about the younger students. 

After school I went to collect some things for the winter festival. Once I was home, the kids and I went to the grocery store to buy some things for their cleaning staff at school. The school collects items and gives them to the cleaning staff just after National Day. We can’t call them Christmas gifts, but that’s what they are. 

We got home, had dinner, the kids showered and headed to bed. Stuart and Sean came home from training and I had dinner ready for the three of us. 

There was more testing on Tuesday. These tests are killing us. I hope they serve a purpose somewhere along the way. One of my teachers was accused of cheating with her grade 1 students. She was able to justify the grades fairly well. She stated her children wouldn’t stop talking during the exam, there were not enough tables in her room to spread them far enough apart, and they didn’t have test dividers. These were all very legitimate excuses. It was a good argument. We shall see if anything comes of it. I continued to grade exams. They have to be graded within two days of administration. It’s a stressful time for all of us. 

We decided to eat dinner at the club after the kids trained. Cathy and the Richardsons joined us as well. It was intended to be our last catch up before the long National Day holiday. 

Wednesday we had the last day of our grades 1-3 exams. After the exams the school was all a buzz with the National Day celebration. The kids performed songs and dances for the mothers. There were a lot of people at the school and everyone seemed to enjoy the afternoon. The students were all gone by 12:30 pm, and the teachers followed shortly after that. 

I ran a few more errands before heading home. Once I was home I lounged around for an hour or so. I really thought the kids would want to hang out with me before I left for the weekend, but they chose to play outside instead. Stuart took the kids to the club for the evening so he could train. Millie cried and cried because she didn’t want me to leave. I’m sure she was over it as soon as she was running around at the club. I left for the airport around 6 pm. 

I left my car at my friend’s house and got a cab to the airport. I arrived around 8 pm and met Gina at the Al Dhabi lounge, where we relaxed and waited for our flight. It is by far the earliest I have ever been to the airport before a flight. Our flight wasn’t leaving until 2 am. 

Once in the air, our flight to Belgrade, Serbia, was almost 6 hours. We had an hour and a half layover, then flew to Vienna, Austria. We arrived at 8:15 am, Vienna time. We were greeted by a driver who took us to our hotel. We stayed in the city center at the Do & Co Hotel. Of course, we were too early to check in, so we dropped our bags and headed out to explore the city. We had a map that told us of 7 Christmas markets. Our goal was to visit all of them. On our first walk we found 2 Christmas markets. The shopping began. We found some adorable ornaments and even found a shop with some unique gifts for Christmas. We had a bite to eat and then headed back to the hotel. 

It was snowing when we arrived. 

Our first market experience. 

The window in the hotel bar, looking out at St Stephan’s Cathedral. 

We got back to the hotel around 1:15 pm and had a warm beverage in the hotel bar, awaiting our room to be ready. At 3 pm we finally got into our room. We faffed about and then headed back out to the streets just before 5 pm, but it seemed much later because we had gone back three time zones and had very little sleep the night before, plus, it was already dark. 

St Stephan’s Cathedral

Christmas stalls 

Pretzels for dinner!

It was blustery outside, but the streets were busy. We shopped at the Christmas market right across the street from our hotel and then hit the area where there were permanent shops. We bought some items for gifts and then decided to get something to eat. We bought some roasted candies nuts and a giant pretzel and called that dinner. We then decided we could safely call it a night. We headed back to the hotel. I showered and quickly fell asleep just after 8 pm. 

Cathy had sent me a message that the kids were fine and that Elfvis was ready for the following morning. She’s such a sweet friend to keep our kids and to participate in our Christmas traditions. 

I woke up at midnight because the television came on for some reason. I quickly fell back to sleep. Then was up for good just before 6 am. Gina and I chatted and checked Facebook and just did a whole lot of nothing. 

Once we were up and ready to go, we headed out and down the shopping street by our hotel. Our goal was to get our vouchers for the hop on/hop off bus, but we got a bit sidetracked because they didn’t have their office open until 10 am, and we tried to get the tickets just before 10 am. Ugh!  Prior to that we had stopped for a coffee and strudel before getting too far into the day. 

Since the bus wasn’t an option after coffee, we continued on to the Naschmarkt where we met our walking tour guide of the market. Once we met her, we took a stroll through the market where she informed us of the history and origins of the different vendors. It was very interesting. We were able to taste some of the local foods and experience some of the local spices. It was terrible fascinating and well worth the time. 

The produce was beautiful!

Everyone enjoys a gherkin!

The Santa is filled with berry ‘punsch’. Yum!

After our time with Erica, our guide, we hopped back on the bus. We got off at another market, the 4th of 7 we hoped to see in our short stay in Vienna. We ended up touring a cathedral that allowed us to go up into the dome. On my walk back down my thighs started cramping up, because of the cold I assumed. They hurt so badly. I almost stumbled the last few steps. It was weird! 

The ceiling. 

The outside of the cathedral. 

We ended up riding the bus back around to the Opera stop, where we had started earlier in the day. We then walked up the shopping street back toward our hotel. We shopped along the way, as you do, and just enjoyed the festivities. We then headed back into the hotel to warm up and rest for a bit. Then back out on the street to find dinner. We settled on brats and pretzels (again) as that was the easiest and really what we wanted. We brought them back to the room and enjoyed our meal in front of CNN. 

Our walk back to the hotel 

Saturday morning had us up and out around 9 am to visit ST Stephan’s Cathedral. It was magnificent. I continue to be amazed at how these gigantic structures were built and remain erect, so many years ago when technology wasn’t even around. 

After the cathedral, we headed to Hop on/hop off bus. We took it to the famous, giant Ferris wheel just north of the city center. From here you can get a bird’s eye view of the city. The area surrounding the Ferris wheel is like a large carnival. The ride was 10 minutes long. The cars held 20 people and were enclosed, much to our delight. After the ride we indulged in some ‘punsch’. I chose lemon and Gina chose apple. We had to have some freshly fried chips to go with it as not to get too ‘punschy’. 

We returned to the bus and rode it to the Belvedere museum where we found the Gustav Klimt painting, The Kiss. We also found some fabulous sculptures that forced us to be silly. After the cultural stop, we headed back to the bus and hit the 6th of the 7 markets. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not going to meet our goal of hitting all 7 markets. But we gave it our best. The 6th market was by far the largest and the busiest, as it was Saturday evening. 

The Kiss

Silliness!

A tree made of sleighs. 

Another market!

We wandered down the road to a recommended cafe called Cafe Landtmann. It was a beautiful building and they had really established the essence of moving people in and out of their cafe. We waited no time at all. We had a delicious meal of Wiener Schnitzel,  a cheese platter and a slice of apple strudel. It was the only real meal we ate in Vienna and was worth the wait. 

We left the cafe and headed back toward the hotel. We were in search of this adorable hat shop we had seen on our first morning in Vienna. In the end, we found it but sadly it was closed. I guess another hat was not in our future. 

We were back to the room just before 8 pm, and after a stop off at a local sweet shop. We got our items packed up and ready to depart the following morning. This has been a wonderful trip and exactly what I needed to get into the holiday spirit 

Before going to be, I got a message from Stuart, reporting that his team had won the Plate Final at the Dubai 7s, which is a HUGE deal for Al Ain Amblers. 

The winning team!

Stuart actually scored two tries over the weekend. This is one of them. 

The weekend was successful for everyone, even Elfvis.