The Blog

Last week I was left alone with the three children and the grandma.  Of course I would fall terribly ill and experience one of the toughest weeks I can remember.  As a good friend said though, 'mom's don't have time to be sick'.  I like to imagine that in my future family I will be surrounded by a loving husband, children, and a dog who will comfort me when I am sick and be content when we order delivery every night and watch films together till I am better.  Somehow I made it through the week after having to sing the 'Babe song' (the song the farmer sings to Babe in the film) and 'You are My Sunshine' to Clarence a thousand times with a scratchy throat and after having used up every single tissue in the house (having to resort to going into rooms I don't usually go into just to steal the tissue box).  

The day after I had finished this lock down as I had entitled the week, I boarded a train at 8:00 am with my Australian friend and a bag full of brown paper packages tied up with string and made my way to Paris for a totally new Christmas experience--I had never spent Christmas with an Australian before.  Erin and I made it into Paris safely and found our cute little hotel and boarded another train for DISNEY LAND!  That's right, I saw Cinderella's castle before I saw the Eiffel Tower.  Our faces were both aglow with all our childhood dreams being fulfilled right in front of us.  What better way for two twenty-somethings to spend their Christmas holiday than in the land where dreams come true?  It took a little while for our dreams to begin to be fulfilled as we dodged children and waited in lines, but after finding Mickey Mouse we were on our way to fulfillment.  We defeated the empire in Star Wars, we kissed Mickey, we visited the Swiss Family Robinson's humble abode(so was their last name Robinson and were they Swiss?),  we ate hamburgers and french fries (french fries in France--finally!), we sensed the tea cups, we explored the universe and screamed our guts out on Space Mountain,  we ruined little children's views of the festive parades by holding our spot in front, and we rediscovered some of the magic of Christmas that seemed to be lacking in Belgium. One problem with the place was that I am convinced that Mickey and his gang do not speak French. Mickey is American and like most Americans, he only speaks English. These characters were imposter's of some sort. I want to return to Disney Land before I leave...

The next day (what luck!)  another Australian came to join us and we wandered around Paris for awhile, taking a boat tour, doing some shopping, and eating some amazing food. There really is a lot to see in Paris  We planned our Christmas eve meal--a little restaurant that served Tex-Mex and Indian food and bought our traditional chocolate Christmas log.  The time for dinner came and we headed to this obscure little restaurant.  It's not everyday you find a place that has traditional Indian pictures along with sombreros.  We ordered some tex mex, some Indian, and some wine and spent awhile enjoying the food, the decor, the interesting wait staff, and each other's company.  We barely noticed the time passing and had to leave hurriedly for Notre Dame to try and make it to the midnight mass...however we did not get there in time to get let in which while somewhat disappointing was not so horrible.  We watched from outside and stood with the hundreds (thousands?) of other people who were so unfortunate not to be inside and we welcomed Christmas Day with the bells ringing and the spot lights from the Eiffel tower filling the sky.  

Christmas Day we awoke slowly while the realization that we had to go home today set in.  We exchanged gifts and wore Santa Hats.  As the other two Australians left I spent some time alone in the train station watching people travel to and fro on Christmas, missing my own home and family.  I appreciated the amazing time that I had in Paris and was thankful that I had found two wonderful Australians to spend it with, but used that time to make up my mind that I would always find a way to be home with my family for Christmas.  There are 364 other days of the year to travel and have adventures on.