Second Day of Christmas

As it turns out, the second day of Christmas was tonight, and we opened all the presents. 

As usual, many books. And an MP3 player for Noah.

And new bicycles for both! 

The First Day of Christmas

Was today! Our family tradition (encouraged by Frédéric's irregular work schedule) is to disregard dates on the calendar and celebrate Christmas whenever we want. We start with one present a night for a few nights, and tonight was the first one this year (a bit later start than some years).

Noah took charge of putting up the tree this year.

We usually start with a game we can play together, and tonight's was Blokus.

Teenager in the House!

We celebrated Benjamin's 13th birthday today, with a peanut butter pie.

Club meet

I've sort of become the swim club's photographer by default. So I took lots of photo of the club meet December 8th... and was so focused on trying to make sure I got photos of each kid, that somehow I ended up with hardly any of Benjamin. Sorry, Benjamin! 

The club meet doesn't count for anything official. It's a way for the younger kids to learn what a swim meet is like and get used to the signals and protocols - and encourage them to want to join the competitive team.

Noah, during warm-ups

Noah, after a race

Benjamin, first place (out of one)

Departmental Championships (Aisne)

A week after we returned from the US, Benjamin swam in the 2-day departmental championships of Aisne. 

For his age group, he placed 2nd in 800-meter freestyle, 2nd in 400-meter medley, and 2nd 200-meter backstroke. He placed 3rd in 200-meter backstroke all ages (12-25 years old).

Very happy with his results!