The Christmas Card That Never Was

Here are just a handful of the 70 or so photos from our annual "christmas card photo shoot".  Except I just never got the cards made this (last) year!

 I was so busy having a nice time over the holidays that I didn't take many photos!  Here we are Christmas morning in Angers.  Estelle has found Santa's letter....

 Estelle's skateboard which hasn't quite made its way to Nice yet -it's in Calvinet.

 Lego Boat!

 Tata Agnes was SO MUCH FUN as usual!

 Maybe next year these crazy headbands will make the holiday card.....

Skiing!

We had a great week skiing at Le Lioran in the Cantal.

 Above:  Sunday, our first day skiing, we were joined by Thomas' godmother Sylvette and her husband.  Sylvette is Guy's 1st cousin.  They also came with their daughter Aurelie, son-in-law and almost 2-yr-old Maeline.  So here is Léna and her 3rd cousin Maeline, sharing some fries.

 Above:  the view of part of the base of the station from our balcony.  We had lots of fun!

 This is Léna in the evening after her first day on the slopes. 

 One afternoon it rained some, and so we took a break from skiing til the rain let up, and Estelle entertained us!

 There's us looking over our balcony down to Thomas.  He was standing at the back entrance of the building, where there was a "lockeroom" for our skiis and we could just ski onto the trails from our apartment.  We never used the car the whole time we were there.

 After taking the gondola up, here we are at 1855 m up at the Plomb du Cantal.

 When the lifts closed every afternoon at 5:30, the girls would get busy making various snow things:

 This igloo was a daily work in progress.

 We had great snowman snow one day....

 One day we were joined by "des amis de vacances" (vacation friends). Christiane & Jacky are from Calvinet but live in Paris and like Guy & Andree, vacation in Calvinet with their grandchildren.    Thomas & I managed all 4 kids on the slopes that day!  Phew!

 A much deserved Nutella waffle after many runs down the slopes.

 Tess and Noé digging in.

 Such fun to have skiing buddies.

 Two nights a week, the ski station lights up a few trails and you can go night skiing.  This was a total blast and the girls loved it - so did we!  Thomas took Estelle on the red trails and Léna and I stuck to the blue & green.  We skied until 8:30 that night.  The station serves free hot mulled wine at the bottom of the slopes. 

Friday the girls got their medals for their levels (Léna is a "Snowflake" and Estelle is a "2nd star"). Saturday we packed up and headed to Calvinet.  The white house in the background belongs to Marie-Laure, Thomas' cousin and daughter to Thomas' late godfather, Andrée's brother.

 Saturday night:  Raclette!  Cheese melting apparatus (not like fondue) placed on boiled potatoes, smoked/cured meats, pickles, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli.  Yummy and a great way to round out our week!

Now Thomas and I are back in Nice and the girls are still having fun in Calvinet!  What a great time skiing.  No one got hurt and we had fun.

Léna's Report Card

It basically says she's great.  We knew that already.   :-)

La Danse du Grand Calumet Executee par les Sauvages

Here is one of the pieces Estelle was in during today's big concert.
She is seated in the 2nd row, just below the big drum, behind a girl with a shorter skirt and nude-colored hose. You can see Estelle's high pony tail and white scrunchie bobbing.
Estelle (queue de cheval et chouchou blanche) est devant la grand batterie, en mileu, 2eme rang, derriere la fille avec une jupe assez courte et des collants beige.

"Bain de Noel" = Penguin Plunge

 Dec 21st, Thomas ventured into the sea.  He was nervous (see above).

 Below:  Thomas with our English friends Abbie & Richard.

 "I survived"!

Finale - Estelle & Léna in Sheep Costumes

Finale with a lot of jumping around - Estelle & Léna visible in their sheep costumes.

Estelle's Break Class - Petit Prince Christmas Dance Show

Estelle in her Break class performance at the Christmas Dance Show. 

Léna - Break class - Christmas show

Léna literally stands out.  You can't miss her.

Estelle - 2nd song - Petit Pring - Jazz Class

Estelle's 2nd Jazz song, she's in the back to the right, not always easy to pick out in this one. Often visible just between the 2 boys. 

(Thomas made this video, so...... I was backstage changing costumes on little kids)

Estelle - Petit Prince - Jazz Class

Estelle is in the back row, to the right, often just right of the little boy with the black pants.

Petit Prince - Léna - Jazz Class

Petit Papa Noel - CNRR Dec 15th Estelle & Léna

Another Christmas song from Monday night (Dec 15th) with both Lena and Estelle.
Lena top right on the steps, green turtleneck, red hair bow, standing a bit apart (at the behest of her teacher so she could see him). Estelle front and center with a santa hat on the oboe.

Violoncelle Concert Dec 17th CNRR

Léna's cello "concert" at the Conservatory where she was so stagestruck she never opened her mouth!

Mon Beau Sapin - CNRR concert, Dec. 15th 2014

Estelle is front and center with her oboe and Santa hat, red sweater.

Lena is at the very top of the stairs, just behind the railing.  Green shirt, red bow in her hair.

Very unusual for us to have both girls on "stage" at the same time.

This concert was moved at the last minute to this hall to accommodate the zillions of parents.
I was crushed amid literally hundreds of parents, with elderly grandmothers sitting in front of me in chairs so the shakiness of the video is significant.  Sorry!

L'alphabet de Mozart

Berceuse mozart

Beethoven: Air tyrolien

More Orchestra: Greensleeves

Mozart: Ave verum

Estelle, left side, red sweater.

Let it Go, in French

Here's Estelle singing "let it go" because she was given the option to play or sing and of course she chose singing.