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hosted a petite soiree chez maxey on saturday night to celebrate the fa la la with some of my fab work pals. lots o’ laughs, lots o’ wine, lots o’ fun. was so grateful for an evening of holiday cheer with (per mr maxey’s request) absolutely no work chatter. BLISS. we talked of travel and christmas plans and everything and nothing and it was perfect.

and perfectly needed, as i am lately feeling a bit unsettled. there’s a million reasons and absolutely no reasons why this is, but there you have it. we’re staying in europe for our second christmas in a row, and i’m suddenly obsessed with feeling like i need to make sure the chicklets aren’t missing out and missing home. so i’ve been shopping and picking up just ONE more little thing (which turns into 2 … then 3) and trying to fill this oregon-shaped-hole with sticker books and stuffed animals (yes, really) and barbies (YEP. WE DO.) and … and … and. and today it suddenly struck me that it’s not THEM who are missing home. i mean really, bitty has virtually NO memory of christmas in the US (a fact that both reassures me and depresses me). the oregon-shaped-hole is in MOI. not sure why it took me so long to recognize this, but today it struck me right in the face, heart and mind. i’m missing those familiar faces on christmas morning and cousins playing together and my dad sitting in his big leather armchair and chocolate croissants from williams-sonoma. there’s actually a chocolate-croissant-shaped-hole in my heart, which is the irony of all ironies considering we’re going to be in FRANCE FOR CHRISTMAS. ** which will be amaze-balls and i’m so very grateful … more to come!

ANYWAY, all of that to say i’ve been a bit restless as of late, a bit uncomfortable in my own head and skin, which made a house filled with gorgeous friends and food and laughter feel like such a gift.

hope you’re feeling the peace and joy of the season. and if not, praying the holes in your heart are being filled with friends and new traditions and something beautiful … cheers.

Filed in: celebrate | haus von maxey. | life and love and stuff. | life in nurnberg. | the chicklets.
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  • December 17, 2012 - 1:51 am

    kim - I am so in love with this post. Everything about it reminds me of why I love and miss you dearly! XO, KimReplyCancel

  • December 18, 2012 - 7:50 pm

    Suzanne - Oh my goodness- LOVE your decorating style. This is definitely the hardest time of the year to be away from home. I find myself not only missing family more, but all the small things. Things such as peppermint mochas… and target… which together make the perfect shopping experience. 😉ReplyCancel

there’s a tree farm back home that we discovered a few years ago – i can’t at all remember the name of it (so strange – in the months that we’ve been here i’ve started to forget so many little details of home. sad.) but we absolutely loved it. i love looking at the pictures from those tree-chopping adventures. starting as a family of 3, then 4. bitty in the baby bjorn (not much has changed, i suppose, as she made wen carry her the whole time this year as well. if only they made baby bjorns for 3-year-olds!).

anyway, last year we didn’t get our act together to figure out the christmas-tree-farm scoop, so at the last minute wen bought one off the street and lugged it a few blocks home. we chalked it up to our new city life, but i did feel as though a certain element of the season was missing.

so this year we were determined to not let that happen. which is how we found ourselves driving down a beautiful country road, on our way to a beautiful christmas tree farm, with some beautiful new friends. * more on that to come.

it turns out christmas tree farms in germany are strikingly similar to christmas tree farms back home! (i’m not sure what i was expecting … there’s not too many ways you can interpret trees and saws). we stumbled our way through the german instructions (again, very similar! just swap “dollars per foot” to “euro per meter”) and off we went!

the morning felt like a piece of home – and not just because of the activity itself, but because we shared it with some fun new friends. friends who are also from oregon. friends who also have 2 daughters. friends who also love the lord. friends who … lived literally TWO MINUTES from us back home, but that we didn’t meet until a few months ago. amaze.balls. isn’t the world so beautifully small? i love it.

we laughed and walked and shivered (it was snowy and gorgeous, but freezing) and each family chopped down imperfect but otherwise perfect trees. and we ended the adventure with sausage sandwiches and a fire pit to warm up (SCORE for germany! i don’t recall EVER being offered a sausage sandwich at a tree farm back home).

shortly after we drove away with our perfectly imperfect tree strapped to our car, i received the best text … that was exactly what i had imagined for our christmas tree hunting experience! god is good. 

indeed.

Filed in: life and love and stuff. | life in nurnberg. | the chicklets.
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