Bluebird's Nest

We did some little out trips during the holiday season. We went to the Montreux Christmas Market (Montreux Noel) and savored some good food, handmade crafts, absinth, and abominable weather.

We also went to Vevey Noel where there was more of the same thing but the wee babe got to sit on Santa’s nap this time around. It was a little anti-climatic.

We travelled with my hubby’s parents, his cousin, her boyfriend and our family to Rocher de Naye to visit Santa once again (where the wee babe was none to impressed) but it was a beautiful train ride up the mountain. I had done this trip once before when it was my staggette although this time we didn’t stay the night.

And lastly, I could hardly believe the sight of snow in our backyard so I absolutely had to film every last second of it (ok I trimmed the video but my hubby was still convinced that people would be falling asleep. Whatev’s! It’s snow man!)

Without further adieu…

I know, it’s spring now. But I haven’t had a chance to record what our incredible, memorable Christmas season was all about. There was food, new traditions, food, family, food, crafts, presents and more food.

First up: Chirstmas crafts.

Since we didn’t have a lot of money near the end of our trip (isn’t Christmas always the most expensive time of the year?) I decided that I wanted to make crafts for presents. You read how well the cookie episode went, thankfully the wreaths that me and the tweenager made went a lot better then the cookies.

Here are some photos of our “couronnes”.

Christmas

Then there was Christmas. I gotta give my mother-in-law a big shout out for all the wonderful food she prepared for Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day. Honorable mentions go out to my father-in-law, sister-in-law and Luc’s aunt and boyfriend. The following are photos that we took through out those 3 days.

Traditions

There are many traditions that the Swiss have that I had never heard of. I don’t think I mentioned yet the day of Saint Nickolaus. This falls on the 6th of December. You put your shoes outside so that St. Nick can come by with candies, oranges, peanuts and little treats.

There is also the Couronne de l’advent. This is a wreath that is placed like a plate and four candles are placed on it. The 4 Sundays before Christmas, one candle is lit each week until on the last Sunday all four candles are lit. It’s really quite quaint.

Most people open their gifts on the night of the 24th. And when I say the night, I mean like 11pm! I had to put my Canadian hoof down with the girls… The tweenager would never be able to stay up until then and the wee babe would just cry. I was told that the girls could come down in the morning and open the gifts without us (as we would have opened them all the night before) but for me, Christmas morning is about sitting around the tree with family and watching everyone open presents.

Candles on the Christmas tree. You heard me right. I think I might have mentioned that I was pretty excited to see real candles on the tree. As well, maybe my apprehension that our whole house might come burning down with this tradition. I made sure that the tweenager and I knew where our closest fire exits were in all situations. I would like to tell you that it all went off without a hitch – except when my mother-in-law was bending over to pick up a present, she caught her blouse on fire. She was pretty lucky as her hair wasn’t that far away… We laughed but come on people! Can you say fire hazard? Below is a photo of my mother-in-law with a little corner of her blouse missing.

Oysters… I never would have thought that oysters (in a land locked country) were such a delicacy at Christmas time.

Disclaimer

One thing I’ve realized in my baking endeavors, is that the Swiss have a much different way of baking.

I’ve been talking with my hubby about what happens here in Switzerland with baking, and what people do is, they buy ready made dough, roll it out, cut it, cook it, and then decorate it. All you Canadian’s out there, does that feel a bit like cheating to you?

I know when Pillsbury came out with their Holiday shaped cookies, we did see a lot of them given as gifts.  I think I received a few batches and what I chocked it up to was that it was way easier for kids to bake them. Just unwrap, cut and bake. But let’s be honest. We make cookies from scratch in Canada right? Is it just me and my friends and family or is it everyone out there? When we need to bring something to the bake sale, we don’t make pre-made cookies. When we need to bring something to a potluck, we don’t bring pre-made cookies. But we feel just a little bit ashamed when we bring something to a potluck that we didn’t make… I guess that’s why I always hear “Of course I made it!!” while the sticker from Safeway is plastered all over the the packaging.

Anyway, today I made cheese sticks – home made. They turned out not too poorly. They definitely aren’t like my mom’s: crispy, spicy, crunchy. But I feel good that I finally succeeded in making something edible and pretty.

Pre-made gingerbread peeps (that I'm now too lazy and discouraged to decorate) and home-made cheese sticks

My hubby and I bought pre-made gingerbread and some other type of Swiss cookie that he really likes where you put the icing on BEFORE you cook it. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

The pre-made cookie dough, he cut, and now he's decorating pre-cooking. So I guess there is a bit of work involved

What I’m reminded of during this past few baking-filled days, is the differences between our countries. Something that I had no idea that was a difference, is different. Something that is quite obviously a tradition in Canada (my BFF just sent me a photo today of her annual baking day with her mom and 5 kids. There they are standing in a plethora of baking, proudly displaying their handiwork – I have no idea how they accomplished so much in such a short time and where they are going to put it all!) is just not a tradition here. Or not in the way that I’m used to.

And now a revelation: I feel as though I can’t pass judgement as easily about ‘cheating’ on baking if a whole country does it a different way. It has been a challenge to overcome the lacking ingredients and tools, but it has made me more aware of a totally different way of thinking when it comes to something that is just so ‘normal’ for me.

I’m looking forward to writing a follow up post on Christmas traditions here in Switzerland. I’ll be writing this AFTER Christmas in case there are some other curve balls that come my way (like the pre-made baking).

As I mentioned in my last post, holiday baking in Switzerland is far from easy peasy. Evidently, after talking with my father-in-law, he said that I need to buy quite a few of the things that I’m missing from a specialty shop. A specialty shop? These things are found normally in a grocery store back home. Ok, I understand how it works. Not everything is exactly the same as back home.

Everything looks ok, pre-baking

After baking in oven. Cookies on steroides.

So not only am I challenged in the area of lacking key ingredients, but I also botched up my baking as well. The sugar cookies I tried to make decided to double in size for the first batch and gradually decrease in size each time I put more in the oven. Go figure.

The icing we made, well it was glaze (exactly what I WASN’T looking for) so it was runny for decorating with. AND the stupid food colouring here is so diluted that when you try to put in the red to make red, it turns out pink. Then you add more to try and make it more brighter, but before you know it you’ve added the entire little squeezer bottle of it, the icing is still pink, and to boot, it’s now turned into liquid instead of thickish frosting.

That was the sugar cookies.

"Dontcha wish your cookies look just like these?" Trust me, they taste better than they look.

A close up of the green frosting we made. That's right. Green.

Then I tried Gingerbread men from Martha Stewart. Wowsers, without  the true molasses and brown sugar, they didn’t taste half bad, but I got the tweenager and the hubby to try a sample of one, and it didn’t pass the gift giving inspection so there’s not going to be any Gingerbread men in people gifts this year. BUT, good old Martha came through for me and had crafted up this wonderful wreath idea. So I had enough gingerbread peeps to make 2 wreaths. Of course the first one broke immediately (sure, kick me while I’m down) but the second one was an absolute work of art and will become a wonderful gift for one of the hubby’s friend’s or family members this Christmas.

After coming out of the oven. Looks pretty good right?

Annnnnddd... 5 seconds later a gingerbread man mess...

The one gift worthy thing I have to show for hours of baking today.

Tomorrow I tackle Cheese Sticks. God help me. My mother makes these every year, and after checking the ingredients, we have absolutely everything and no substitutions (except for Cheddar Cheese) so I should be all good unless, I absolutely suck at baking. Which is exactly what it’s looking like to me.

Keep in mind, my wonderful idea was to make cute little sugar cookies and cute little gingerbread people with cute little cheese sticks, put them in a cellophane bag, tie them up with a ribbon, put them in fancy Christmas canisters, and give them as gifts – is looking like a thing of the past. My homemade gift giving intentions have come crashing down on me. Time to get real with myself and maybe just buy the cookies from the grocery store, cut, bake, and package.

Stay tuned…

Ok, seriously, what is with this country and their lack of baking supplies??

Doing holiday baking is almost impossible when there is no “regular” vanilla (butter flavoured and lemon flavoured I could find no problem), no brown sugar, no molasses, icing guns are few and far between, food colouring is only found in the third grocery store you look in and the measuring amounts are completely different. Try making Gingerbread people in these conditions! Argh!

They don’t have molasses, they have melasse which tastes an awful lot like molasses, but you can put it on bread like honey. So I’m going to use that and see what happens. But I’ll tell you: when I tried the batter, it was not what I expected. I’m not suprised though, I also had to use regular sugar as I couldn’t find dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar for that matter).

You know how in Canada you can buy a 10 kg package of flour you hoist up on one shoulder? The largest size package they carry here is (that you can buy in a grocery store) is 1 kg. I’m not even exaggerating. How can a country that has amazing bread at every corner, only carry 1 kg packages of flour? I guess no one here is making their own bread. Or baking full stop.

They do sell cookie cutters though, that I know. So they must know what a homemade cookie here is. Unless, those are actually decorations for the tree, and everyone here thinks I’m crazy for using them to make cookies with.

Ok, life could be worse. But for a country that has baked goods (croissants, black forest cake, almost any pastry you can imagine, etc…), I don’t understand how anyone could bake a cookie here. Nevermind that baking powder is also almost obsolete.

Je ne commend pas Switzerland. Remind me never to do holiday baking here again.

I guess there’s one thing that good though: less intake of calories if I can’t bake!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This year was a big year for us in the Jermann/Howe household! So much to tell – where to start – let’s start with the littlest…

Little Winter had a wonderful carrot and parsley filled year this year, thanks to my dad. Unfortunately, it was her time to go and visit her sister in guinea pig heaven due to a growth on her back. RIP little Winter we miss you dearly.

Our next littlest family member has had an event fill first year! Violette was born on January 4^th. Her adventures began in July. She drove across Canada, crawled around Egypt, explored almost all the corners of Switzerland and saw the Mont Blanc in France. Oh and we mustn’t forget the trip to the wine district of Alzace, France. 3 continents by her first 9 months isn’t too shabby. To say we think she’ll be a world traveler might be an understatement. She also keeps us hopping. She had 8 teeth by her 8^th month, she’s climbing stairs at 10 months and pushing around furniture. She’s a powerhouse! And not surprisingly for all that energy, she sleeps quite well (now). Oh and starred in her first Groupon ad!

Jaedyn turned 12 in November. My tweenager was involved in dance this year and finished off grade 6. One day after finishing school we set off on our cross Canada trip. JJ was initially nervous but after getting into the swing of road life she quickly settled in. After driving clear across the country we flew to Switzerland (from St. John’s) and began yet another chapter. JJ started public school here and fit in straight away. Her French was at the perfect level for school and she quickly began picking up Swiss/Vaudois slang immediately. She misses her friends in Canada but has also made new friends here. She likes it in Switzerland but is also looking forward to going home in the new year.

For me, I’ve been on mat leave all year and LOVING it. I’m so happy to be able to take the opportunity to travel with my family. The cross Canada trip and our trip to Egypt have really been life long dreams that I had. I’m enjoying spending the days watching my wee babe grow up and loving being able to spend so much time with my almost teenager. I’m really looking forward to Christmas here to see what kinds of traditions the Swiss have and to finally see real candles on a Christmas Tree! I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed watching the changing of the seasons. I miss my family and friends back home but you really can’t beat this weather here. Vevey is situated in such an area where it’s sunny more than it’s rainy. We’re loving it!!

Luc took a leave of absence from school for a year and a leave of absence from work for 6 months. He has been enjoying watching his little mini-him grow up and making her laugh and smile. He also has been enjoying his time in Switzerland spending time with his family and friends. He celebrated his 30^th birthday this year with him and 4 other close buddies by throwing themselves a huge dance party (the theme was fluorescent). It was a blast!! Thanks to him, we started out our first month in Switzerland rent-free by doing a house exchange. It was wonderful. Then Luc found us the most incredible apartment in Vevey with stunning views of the lake and mountains from our balcony.

Our trips around Switzerland consisted of visiting Luc’s Grandma in Valbella, his aunt, uncle and cousin in Zurich area, and our Canadian best man in Thun. We also walked to Montreux and took part in Desalpe when my mom came to visit. And just 2 weekends ago we went high into the Swiss mountains to Bretaye with some friends of ours to take in the fresh mountain air in a cozy little chalet. We’re looking forward to visiting Santa at Rochers de Naye this weekend, as well as spending the new year in Valbella with family.

We have had an incredible and fortunate year touched by so many generous friends and family. We wish everyone and their families a peaceful and fulfilling holiday season with love and warmth felt throughout.

Love, Light and Laughter for the New Year
Robin, Luc, Jaedyn and Violette

Click here to view our holiday eCard
Clique ici pour voir la video

Click on the image above to view our holiday eCard

Wow, these past few days have been a real whirlwind of activity. I said good-bye to some colleagues/friends, we attended a wonderful solstice party and father’s day wrapped it all up.

In the meantime, our wee babe has been growing by leaps and bounds and I don’t want to forget any of it so here goes:

Rolling: back, forth, in her sleep, wide awake, change table, floor, grass – you name it, she’s rolling on it.

360′s: like a spinning top, she’s doing her first break dancing on the ground. Mind you, she’s only mastered the clockwise 360. The Swiss mister likes to think she keeps time to her internal swiss clock.

Bumbo: sadly, we need to say good-bye to this unforgettable piece of furniture. It’s been a constant in our house for the past 3 months. We loved to plunk it down on the island or dining room table while we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner and the wee babe stared deeply into one of our eyes trying to win a staring contest (I know you’re not supposed to have those things on anything higher than the floor). But no more. She now does a twist like no one’s business all the way around to the back and yesterday she *almost* fell out.

Rice cereal: we’ve made the plunge into solid foods! And she is definitely ready for this. No problems eating, big open happy mouth. We’re on day 3 and it doesn’t appear to be allergy inducing. Our plan is to keep up the rice cereal all the way across Canada and then start in on home-made purees once we’re in Europe. We’ll see how that goes.

Sippy cup: along with the rice cereal, we’ve started giving her a sippy cup with water. This is not as well received but it doesn’t go horribly. We’ll keep persevering.

The plank and knees up: a few times I’ve caught her doing the plank. And other times We’ve seen her bringing her knees up and then pushing her arms up but not having the coordination and balance to putting the two together. This can only be a matter of time before she masters crawling or creeping.

Sitting up: she does this with very limited assistance. She falls over a lot still but she can keep herself up for a good 30 seconds before tumbling.

Singing: The wee babe is very vocal. She’s mastered raspberries, da da da, some sort of weird grunting sounds and an array of various other interesting noises.

First tooth: her first tooth has come through with minimal disruption to her and us. There was one night where she screamed bloody murder and I thought she had been stung or bit by a spider so I ripped off her clothes but the next day her lower left tooth came through. Hindsight is 20/20. I am an extremely proud mama.

Standing: this continues to be her favourite thing to do (besides breast feeding) and prefers this any time over sitting.

Reaching and grabbing: I think I should note here that last month she started doing this but this month she’s definitely mastered it.

It’s been a big month for our baby. Did I miss anything mister Swiss or the tweenager?

P.S. I would also like to note in this post that we had a wonderful father’s day yesterday. I think we might have started a few father’s day traditions as well. We started the morning with a delicious breaky of eggs benny, followed by a hike out to our wedding spot in East Sooke Park to plant a tree (sshhhhhh… I think its illegal to plant trees in parks so don’t tell anyone.) we named Xavier. (This was going to be the name of our wee babe if she was a boy.) We had a sugar infused Swiss desert called Vermicelles that we also shared with my father, followed by a yummy steak dinner. Happy Father’s day my Swiss mister and happy father’s day dad!