The Gift

Jan and his sister lost their father much too young. Jan was only 13 and his sister 16. They never had the opportunity to have an adult relationship with him or chat about their favorite sports team over a beer (or two!).

Now that we have kids, I think Jan misses his dad in a new way. In a how-I-wish-you-knew-my-baby way. 

Last weekend we found this picture at his sister's house:

That baby looks shockingly similar to this one:

No one has mentioned before that Kate might look like her aunt, but clearly at this age there is an eery resemblence.

I keep having to remind myself when I look at the old picture that is actually NOT a picture of Kate. Blaise is convinced it is. He keeps saying "KayKay" when he sees it. I hope this picture of Kate does the resemblence justice.

Now Jan has a picture of his dad holding his baby. It's really special.

St. Martin Parade

The Feast of St. Martin on November 11 is celebrated in style in parts of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and The Netherlands. The legend is that Martin was a Roman Soldier and while riding home he saw a beggar on the side of road. Playing the part of the Good Samaritian, he gave the beggar his warm red cloak.

There are many organized parades (though, I guess it is more like a procession) where the children have a lantern and walk behind St. Martin on his horse singing the traditional St. Martin songs. Luckily we go to music class, so Blaise and I learned the songs this year and he sang along! We walked through our town and ended at the newly opened town square with an address from the mayor and a sweet bread roll for all the kids. Another fun fall tradition :)

Blaise showing off his lantern:

Kate didn't want to ride in the buggy anymore, ugh:

Our lovely lighted procession: