A Mostly White Christmas

     Our two weeks of Christmas vacations are only half-way over, and yet we've already had some pretty spectacular adventures. Our vacation commenced shortly after the elementary Christmas concert, where Nicole's students from last year sang the infamous "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas". The third graders sang a unique version of "The 12 Days of Holiday". This picture captures some of the precious and comical personalities of some of Nicole's kids during the concert:

     On Christmas Eve, we decided it was about time to begin shopping for Christmas presents. We spent Christmas Eve morning at the black market picking out our own Christmas presents; and then we wrapped them that afternoon so that there would be some presents under our miniature tree. We also ate a feast of triple-berry pancakes, Maine maple syrup, bacon, smoked salmon, salami, fresh peas, homemade hot chocolate, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Despite the strange combinations of food, this meal was delicious!

    On Christmas day we made donuts to contribute to a large brunch with friends and opened our Christmas presents. We bought a dehumidifier for ourselves (in hopes of eradicating our mold problem) and a futon to be delivered in the new year (we're ready for visitors!). Also from ourselves, we got slippers, boots, root beer concentrate, soccer jerseys, and chocolates. Our maid unexpectedly contributed the only surprise gift under our tree: a beautiful Moroccan teapot.

     After brunch (& the donuts, naturally, were the best part), we enjoyed Christmas morning in Maine with the rest of the Grudda family via skype:

     While we have no pictures to prove it, we spent the remainder of our Christmas day feasting on a pork roast dinner with some friends. To accompany the pork roast we ate potatoes, rice, gravy, green bean casserole, broccoli salad, and pecan pie. Delicious.

     The day after Christmas, we set off on a 4-day adventure with the Smith family to Ifrane, Morocco. Located in the Atlas mountains, Ifrane is considered to be the "Switzerland" of Morocco. The houses are built with slanted roofs, snow falls in the winter, and maple and pine trees line the roads (reminiscent of Maine). Although beautiful, we're convinced that the fall foliage in Ifrane isn't nearly as vibrant as Maine foliage...but we'll have to go back in the fall to know for certain. We'll let our pictures outline our adventures in Ifrane:

We stayed in a 2-bedroom apartment at the Best Western

Just outside of Ifrane, in Azrou, we fed the monkeys bananas:

 One monkey decided to hang out on our car and refused to let us near it for a while:

 Back in Ifrane, we went sledding!

 The Smith family:

 We explored the waterfalls in Ifrane:

 Dave played soccer with some random Moroccan guys:

 We cracked up when we realized that the "slanted roofs" were still made entirely out of cement:

 The roads entering/exiting Ifrane were beautiful:

    Experiences not captured through pictures include:

• Dave got his license confiscated by the police for refusing to pay a bribe to a police officer who refused to actually write a ticket over a traffic violation that we still don't really understand.
• Nicole accidentally ate a shard of glass hidden in a slice of pecan pie thanks to the maintenance guys who broke a dish over it while attempting to move our refrigerator (initially, our refrigerator was broken at the hotel...but it got switched for a new one almost immediately).
• We spent several hours in the gorgeous lobby of Michlifen sipping overpriced hot chocolate and listening to some live, English piano entertainment.
• We randomly ran into an American couple from Ohio who recently moved to Ifrane. Their family is ironically well-acquainted with the Smith family (whom we were traveling with). We ate dinner at their house one night.

     After 4 days in Ifrane, we took a detour toward the ancient ruins of Volubilis before heading home. On our way, we saw hundreds of these onion mounds. It was quite interesting.

    After Volubilis, we were anxious to get home. And speaking of home...a friend of ours just took this picture of our neighborhood from inside an airplane en route to Europe. I put a small red dot next to the isolated house that we call home.

photo credit: MT

     Now that we finally have a futon, you should consider visiting so that you can participate in our excellent adventures.

 -David & Nicole