It’s day 21 and we’re going back somewhere we haven’t been for a while.

After Christmas and to ring in the New Year, we headed to Belgium. My mom had not been back there since our wedding so it went without question that Liz’s family wanted to enjoy a bit of time together with her as well.

… We drove through the northern French city of Long and even saw Long Castle, before crossing the border into the country of French Fries & fine chocolate!

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme

Welcome to day 20!

If you were here yesterday, you already know who our special Christmas elf was a couple years ago. The VVVIP was my mom, and today I want to share a couple special memories from the first part of her trip…

… starting, in a Castle!

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

Welcome to day 19!

Today… a little bit of a hodge-podge, with a couple of memories on deck, including the first of a couple posts featuring a VIP…

… but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

It’s day 18 and by now, the faces you are seeing in our family pics are beginning to look a little bit more like what you’d see today, as our kids grow and mature.

There are also some new faces beginning to appear in the church family photos, who are part of the church family still.

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

It’s day 17 and although it wasn’t the first visit of someone from Liz’s family (her parents had come in October of 2016), it was the first time that a family member was there during Christmas.

You’ll also see our kids’ reaction at receiving treats from home.

Let’s go…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

We’re 16 days in and today I’ll share a memory or two from our first Christmas in France.

As I look through the photos, it feels just like yesterday, although it’s clearly not… the photos of the kids will tell you that straightway.

Welcome to Christmas #1 in Châtellerault…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

We’re 15 days in to our 24 Christmas Memories calendar and today’s post will bring you right up to the cusp of 2015 (a happy coincidence… it wasn’t planned).

There are wayyyyyy too many photos that I could include here, since Christmas 2014 was our last Christmas in Canada. We said a lot of goodbyes, were invited to a lot of homes and had a lot of people in our home.

So please indulge my drastic over-simplification…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

It’s day 14 and I’m taking you to France… thought not as you might expect.

You see… there’s a little bit of France located about 25km (15mi) off the coast of Newfoundland, one of Canada’s easternmost provinces.

Allons-y! (let’s go!)…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

It’s day 13 and today I’d like to take you back… wayyyy back; well before our family was founded and even well before Liz or I were born.

Yesterday I talked about things from the past that act as vehicles of memory or at leas as a connection to the past, even if they were too early for us to attach memories to them.

Curious? Keep reading…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

It’s day 12 and today’s post will be, to a certain extent, a celebration of normality if you will…

I can’t say that today’s memory is of one thing in particular, rather it’s about 2-3 things that were part of pretty much every Christmas, when we were living in Canada.

Ready?

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.