Les Silhouettes de Sophie : December 2016 Travels: Belfast, Northern Ireland & A Parisian Christmas

December came and went last year in a flash of Parisian twinkling lights and a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland. December is a pretty cold month in both Paris and Belfast, so we were nearly always completely bundled. Addie and Heather came to visit at the end of November, our whole team went to Belfast to visit the STINT team there for a weekend, and then we all celebrated Christmas together as a team in Paris. It was my first Christmas away from home, and it was the best one I could have asked for.

In Belfast, we went to a few pubs, took a tour of the Northern coast (Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Bushmills Distillery). We also checked out Saint George's Market (the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast) which was outfitted as a Christmas market at this point!

Christmas in France is always preceded by Christmas markets with mulled wine, pretzels, nougat and an assortment of other Christmasy things. We all went out to dinner at a French restaurant, attended the American Church of Paris on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a beautiful, traditional Christmas service, ran to Notre Dame (and missed the bells), and Lizzie and I went home to enjoy hot cocoa at our apartment and open our packages from our parents. On Christmas Day, we had the whole team over for a brunch potluck, with Secret Santa and Christmas tunes. We even had our own Christmas tree bought at Carrefour (a grocery store).