These are a few of my favorite things...

It's surprising what silly little things I miss about home: Target runs with my sisters (occasionally for fabricated reasons), baking cookies and shamelessly dancing around the kitchen, hanging around the studio during Nutcracker commotion and rehearsals... Now that the holiday season is arriving, my nostalgia is heightened.

The weeks leading up to Christmas have always been favorites of mine, and they are especially cozy and exciting at home. Reposeful, delicious Thanksgiving dinner announces the official start of the Christmas season. I am flooded with memories of our giant advent box, "Santa's elves" keeping watch, and growing anticipation as the big day draws near; watching Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, I'll Be Home for Christmas, Elf, and cheesy made-for-TV movies; listening to (and obnoxiously singing) endless Christmas songs for weeks and weeks; waking up each morning hoping that the curtains conceal a blanket of downy, glittering snow. It has always been a magical time of year for me. As Le Perray, Rambouillet, and Paris decorate with Christmas lights and festive window displays, I'm reminded more and more of the holidays and memories from home. While part of me is sad that I won't be eating Mom's incredible cinnamon rolls and opening presents under our grand tree, I'm excited to see how the holiday season unfolds around Paris! It will be quite the unique experience.

This past weekend I pacified some of my anxious longing for home. I visited an American bookstore, and just a few shops down found an American grocery store! Super steep prices couldn't keep me away. I bought baking soda (not available in French groceries) and Toll House chocolate chips (chocolate chips are only sold in small bags as cake decorations), measuring cups and spoons (so I don't have to convert my recipe to grams to weigh on the little scale...now I can make my cookies!!!), graham crackers for s'mores with the kids, Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets, and a little bag of peanut butter M&Ms!! It's a good thing that they only carry Dr. Pepper and not Diet Dr. Pepper (DDP...my addiction) or I would be back in an expensive habit! ha. The store carries American cereals like Lucky Charms and Capn' Crunch (I resisted the urge...9.50 euro!!! yikes), peanut butter, yams, cranberries, turkey basters, goldfish, Campbell's soup, instant mac&cheese, and a myriad of other familiar foods that I was tempted to buy merely for their familiarity. It's just comforting knowing of another portal to the United States.

Saturday night I finally attended my first ballet class since July!! That was by far the longest I'd ever gone without dancing. Needless to say, I am beyond sore. I have never ached in so many places. I am sore in muscles that I didn't realize my legs used in dance. I am sore in muscles that I didn't realize I had! The class itself was wonderful, though! Strictly based on appearance, the instructor reminded me of a French Ms. Karen, one of my previous ballet teachers. It's amusing being the "new girl" in class; ballet classes in particular are so competitive. I could feel the curious, threatened tension from the older girls in the class...haha. As a fairly confident person with nothing at stake, I was pretty entertained. I'm sure they loved it when the instructor asked me to demonstrate part of the adagio for the class to emulate my port de bras. Ms. Valeria would be proud...haha. The French style of classical ballet, by definition, focuses more on the athletics of dance - jumps, turns, etc. They are known for being accurate and impressive technical dancers with more reserved, "no frills" upper body expression. This contrasts with the Russian/Vaganova method (my high school/more serious training) which is very much concerned with control, port de bras, and quality of movement. I'm naturally a fairly technical dancer, but the Russian method refined and enlivened my technique. These training methods both have their strengths and weaknesses, naturally, and I find that the combination of schools creates a more well-rounded dancer (mind you, I mean strong training in more than one school as opposed to an incongruous modge-podge of schools). After class I spoke with the instructor and some of the students (in French - woo!), all of whom were quite welcoming and kind. One male dancer, Julien, was prepared to be a French-English liason, but I'm proud to say that he did not need to play translator. Overall, it was a great experience, and I'm really looking forward to further classes there!

Following a great Saturday, I spent much of Sunday in Paris with Helena! After church I met Helena at the Catacombs, which are essentially a mass grave. That's right, she and I walked through a dimly lit, eerie, cavernous maze of carefully arranged 18th century bones close enough to touch (they routinely check your bags on the way out to make sure you haven't stolen a femur or tibia). I will spare you from my prolific picture-taking and give you just a sample for this one. We broke the morbid mood with a coffee and some showtunes after leaving :)

Honestly, the rest of the day is kind of a blur to me - lots of walking, talking, and musicals. We had a good amount of time and an itch to wander, so I had the brilliant idea of walking from the Bastille area toward the Eiffel Tower so that we could see it sparkle on the hour. Paris doesn't seem that huge, right? It's just across the Seine and down a little ways...haha. Of course this is in the evening after walking around Paris all day. We walked our fair share on Sunday.

Sadly, Helena leaves in a week. She'll be working in a hotel at a ski resort for the ski season at Alp d'Huez! Though super exciting for her, I'm definitely going to miss my favorite spastic, musical-loving English girl! Hopefully she'll decide to come back once the season's over.

In other au pair friend news, Janelle moved in with her new host family on Sunday! She will be spending the rest of her time au pairing for the new family in Rambouillet. I'm so glad that everything worked out for her!

26 days until my family comes to Paris!!

Minnie Mouse for Mom in response to her earlier comment :)