Sleachmour Christmas

The Rapperswil Christmas Market was our favorite of those we visited this year. Rapperswil is a quaint town on the opposite end of lake Zurich with a beautiful castle and a scenic main street along the lake. We drank (more) Gluhwein, ate sausages, browsed stalls filled with toys and tasty treats and enjoyed locals singing English Christmas carols.

Christmas far from home was difficult, especially in a city that shuts down for two days (Christmas Day and Boxing Day). Moving and settling in left little time for Christmas shopping. Living out of a suitcase provided us with very few Christmas decorations. But the food, the most important part of any holiday, was tasty.

I made the mistake of going to the grocery (Migros) Christmas Eve afternoon. Just like in the States, it was a madhouse. Browsing was difficult as Swiss hausfraus manhandled my cart out of their way and stepped in front of me to get their own items. I gave up trying to determine where the turkey breasts were and grabbed an easily found whole fryer chicken. For breakfast, we continued our tradition of trying a new breakfast treat with this delicious ham and potato bake. I highly recommend it.

We forgot to take pictures before digging in. Yum!

For dinner, we feasted on roasted chicken, mashed garlic potatoes (mashed with a whisk... we're improvising around here!) and brussel sprouts inspired by A Girl and a Goat.

Finishing up with a traditional Buche de Noel, a Christmas log cake. I can't take credit for the cake. We purchased it from a bakery just a few blocks from our house. It was so yummy. We'll be back to try other treats.

We ended the day with lots of Skype and FaceTime with our families. As exciting as our adventure is, being far from home, family and friends is the tough part. I can't imagine how people did this before these tools were available to them. Seeing our niece and nephew opening presents and "hanging out" with our siblings from afar truly made our Christmas this year.

Happy Holidays, from Matt, Becky and Henry!