Visitors from Moraga!

We were thrilled to have our first visitors from Moraga!  Tim, Sabrina, Megan and Thomas Colpo came here to Zurich on Dec. 18th to visit for the weekend before flying on to Italy to visit Sabrina's family.  It was so fun to have them here - even if it was a cold, cold weekend!  Elise was especially happy to have her friend Megan here to see where we live.

Saturday we took the train into Zurich, starting at the Christmas Market at the Hauptbahnhof. We saw the famous Swarovski Christmas tree (decorated with Swarovski crystals), then walked around through the Christmas booths and letting the kids ride the carousel.

Then we walked down the Bahnhofstrasse to Burkliplatz where the kids dipped candles. This time it was with beeswax. We said goodbye on Sunday morning, knowing we would see them again a week later in Italy!

School Christmas Parties

Both Nathan and Elise had some fun Christmas parties at school, just before the end of the term.  As a class parent for Nathan's class, I helped to coordinate his party.  It was so cute with all these little 4- and 5-year-olds.

They ate lunch, danced and listened to their teacher Mrs. Harman read a story.

Then Santa / Father Christmas came and had his book, with information about each child.  And he gave them each a present, which Nathan said was "exactly" what he wanted (a Pirate LEGO set).

Elise is getting so old now - the moms who came to the party just chatted over lunch, while these 4th graders had their party.  But, it's still fun to get to go to her classroom (I wonder how much longer she'll still be excited to see me at school).

Christmas Greetings

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas,

Happy Holiday Season and Joyful New Year

The Michels Family

Dave, Nancy, Elise, Nathan, William and Meredith

Grüetzi Wohl! We had a terrific 2009. Our daughter Meredith was born on January 20th here in Zurich. What a sweet, happy, pleasant baby she is. She was born with a full head of hair and it has only kept growing, causing people to stop and say she looks like "eine kleine Puppe" (a little doll)! William (age 3) continues to go to a small bilingual preschool where he plays with his Swiss friends and does all kinds of fun activities, hikes, cooking and artwork. He is a happy, energetic boy. Nathan (5 in January) is now at the international school and has many new friends from all over the world! He loves school, and we love hearing his detailed stories about everything he is learning. Elise (age 10) continues to excel at the international school and recently took up playing the clarinet, in addition to piano. She loves music as well as sports (especially swimming and soccer), and her German has also really improved. Dave continues to enjoy his work in the Bain Zurich office, helping to grow the Swiss/German healthcare business. Nancy has learned a lot more German, especially as she has spent time serving in our German-speaking church congregation. Together as a family we have continued to explore Europe. This year, we were able to visit London, Southern Spain, Salzburg and Innsbruck in Austria, Berlin and Bavaria in Germany, and many amazing places in Switzerland. We are so thankful for family, good friends, health, and this beautiful country in which we are fortunate enough to live. Most of all, we are grateful for the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ and the joy His gospel brings. We wish you all the best this holiday season and throughout the new year. Alles Gute!

david.michels@bain.com, nancymichels@gmail.com, elisemichels@gmail.com

Thanks to the wonder of Shutterfly's direct mail service, we were able to send out our Christmas card to friends in the US as well as here in Europe.  But, we had a few returned to us because of outdated addresses.  So, this is the online version!

Swiss Christmas Traditions

There are lots of really fun Christmas traditions here in Switzerland.  And, since this is already our second Christmas here, we had a much better understanding of many of them.

We took the opportunity again this year to go candle dipping in the little town where Elise and Nathan go to school.  It is so much fun!  You start with a string, and just start dipping in all the different colors of hot wax (dipping the candle in cold water between to cool it off and help the wax harden).

We went in early December, and it was already the last week it was open in our community.  We all made some pretty cool creations (We went on a Thursday after school and I wanted to make one too, so Mer sat in her stroller drinking her bottle and being fairly patient)!

Sammichlaus comes on December 6th here in Switzerland.  Children leave there shoes outside and Sammichlaus leaves something for them (or, Schmutzli leaves something not so nice, depending on how naughty the kid has been).  Sammichlaus didn't miss our house!

Grittibänz is a traditional bread that is made in Switzerland at Christmas time (a bit like Gingerbreadmen, but made out of bread).  William made them at preschool, and Nathan also made a giant one at school (Nathan ate his before we got a photo).
We went to our ward party in a Waldhutte - translated as "forest hut", but it's anything but a hut.  They have these all over the country, in all the forests, and they are amazing.  They are super, super nice cabins with great kitchens and all the amenities.  And, they are really in the forest!  This one was in Bremgarten, and we got there before it was dark to help set up, but I wouldn't want to be looking for it on my own in the dark!

Sammichlaus came to visit, and he had a book with lots of information about every child.  The Swiss kids recite something to Sammichlaus that they learn in school.  And Elise and Will even dressed up for the nativity scene (Elise was Mary, Will was a sheep, and Nathan wasn't interested).

The whole thing was so fun, and such a great Swiss tradition.  What a great opportunity to participate in these traditions with our church community.

Meredith on the Move

Meredith loves to crawl, and now makes her way all over the house. She likes to stand (supported) whenever she gets the chance, and walking seems to be right around the corner!

Swim Meet in Luxembourg

Elise just got back from a 2-day trip to Luxembourg with her school swim team.  This was her first international swim meet!  Apparently there were teams from Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium there.

She was selected as one of four 4th grade girls to go to the meet, but the primary as well as the secondary school teams went, so there were lots of kids.  They left on a bus Friday morning, drove all day, and got to the International School of Luxembourg around the time school was getting out.  They then split up into pairs and went home with their host families.  Elise and her friend Georgia stayed with a family from Iceland!  They had a daughter who was on the Luxembourg swim team.  They had dinner with the host family, stayed overnight, then went to the swim meet all day on Saturday.

I am glad for mobile phones, though, since Elise was able to text and call to let us know how she was doing.

Elise swam 2 individual events and 2 relays, and had a great time.  It was a 50-meter pool, so no turns involved!  They got home very late Saturday night, but what an incredible experience for Elise and the other kids!  These are exactly the types of experiences we were hoping to give our kids by living abroad - I'm so thankful for these opportunities!

Elise's Singing Performances

Elise sings with her school choir, and really enjoys it.  They performed at the school's Holiday Market on December 1st, then again in downtown Zürich at the "Singing Christmas Tree" on December 2nd.

The Singing Christmas Tree is really very cool - it's a structure with 7 levels in the shape of a giant tree - covered with real pine boughs and white lights. The singers dress in green cloaks, red scarves, hats and gloves, and stand on the different levels so they look like ornaments on the tree. It's in a cute little Platz off the Bahnhofstrasse, and there are little booths set up with food, drink and a carousel. It is the classic European Christmas feel, and it was very neat to be a part of it.

Elise looked like the happiest member of the choir at both of these performances.  She really loves music, and it makes me so happy to see her enjoying something so much!

We all had fun watching too - this is Nathan with his friend Jan (he's in Nathan's grade at school, and his sister Zofia is in Elise's class).

Meredith's First Full Haircut

At 10 1/2 months, it was time for Meredith to have a proper haircut.  On Dec. 1st, she had a nice trim, but still has plenty of locks to show off!

First Snow This Year

Our first snow came this year on November 30th!  It was quite the wait, since last year it snowed in later October.  Since I had been working on booking our ski vacation for early 2010, I was looking forward to it.  It is absolutely beautiful here when it snows - and looking out our window into the garden covered with snow is magical.  Here's William in the garden.

Samichlaus Parade

This year's Samichlaus parade was just as fun as last year's.  We stopped on the bridge to have our picture taken with the Grossmünster church in the background.  And, the kids collected plenty of gingerbread cookies from Samichlaus and Schmützli.

Thanksgiving

Of course, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Switzerland.  But, we did end up having a few festivities.

Dave and I went into Elise's classroom during the day on Thursday to talk about Thanksgiving and how we celebrate it in America, and read a story to the kids about the first Thanksgiving.  They then made a craft that showed what they are thankful for.  It was really fun to see the kids and spend time in Nathan's class.

On Saturday, we got together with some American families from our ward and had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  We met at a Waldhütte (Forest House), which was really nice, and had lots of great food, followed by a few rounds of charades.

Here's a photo of Meredith trying to reach the pumpkin cake for dessert!