Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

As luck would have it we’re here in “subtropical” Menton, France during the worst winter locals have seen in decades (some argue their whole lives!) It is colder earlier, and there is significantly more rain. The weight of consecutive cloudy/rainy days that is so familiar to us has afflicted us a few times here. Thankfully it won’t last as long.

Living in a stone house with lots of windows and tile floors is wonderful in the warm weather but outright COLD in the winter! We have a wall heater in the bedrooms, and in the main living room, but the downstairs toy hall is too chilly to play in so the girls spend most of their time upstairs. We’ve been doing all of our schooling upstairs this week, too (which is going better, I’d like to report). Our upstairs area isn’t all that big, and you could say we’re feeling pretty…cozy! The rain creates a lot of humidity, and being up against the mountain like we are keeps us nice and moist. One week Geoff pulled out his nice church shoes and they had a fuzzy mold growing on them! Shoes and coats that we wear outside don’t dry, and the closets all smell very moldy. We’ve always had the moldy smells, but when the doors were open all day the fresh air carried the smells away.

We’ve had such crazy rain/wind storms this past week that our pool is on the verge of overflowing, roads are closed off along the beach because the waves are crashing over leaving big rocks all over the road, parking lots are flooded, and I read that a few families had to evacuate because of mudslides.

In the mornings the girls and I bundle up and go on a walk just so we get out. This morning we went down the street and walked through the olive garden. The girls love the knobby trunks and imagine all sorts of tree house plans, or fairy habitats. At home the girls have been busy making gifts for each other for Christmas. We were hoping this would create more of a giving attitude this year, but they still handle, and try to guess, the presents under the tree and are hopeful of a big pile Christmas morning. We’re not sure where this hope comes from as we only give them one gift, and Santa only brings one as well! Tennie isn’t sure there is a Santa. She says she thinks it might be us. But she has written her letter and plans to leave out cookies just in case! They are most excited that Santa leaves presents on December 24th in France!

It is hard to believe Christmas is just over a week away. While there are lights up around town, and Christmas markets are open, we don’t go to those areas of town very often. And it isn’t a holiday season that is in-your-face. It is really nice to escape the bombardment of commercialism. We don’t have a list of neighbors, friends, and work associates to buy gifts for…and thank goodness! It took Geoff three days and about 6 total hours to mail off a few packages this week! Sounds crazy but we didn’t know where to buy padded envelopes (We still don’t!) and the post office computers were down yesterday. Things just take a long time here! It is nice to not have multiple Christmas parties/gatherings on the calendar, as fun as they are. So…if the weather is going to be frightful, and we are going to be very “cozy”…Christmas is the time for it!

Tennie's self-portrait

Ceci the "princess" (doll pants on the bottom and panties on the top)

Adele learning to pay the Penny Whistle that my mom bought them on a recent trip to Ireland