CHRISTMAS AT THE LEROYS

The Leroys, one of the Belgian families in the Branch, invited us over for Christmas at their house. They have a large family and included were their married children and grandchildren, sister and brother-in-law and their family, the four Elders and us. All together there must have been about 26 of us. A holiday meal in Belgium is an event and can take most of the day. They started off with a prayer and then everyone came into the living room for hor d'oeuvres. These were a variety of little tiny pieces of toast with various toppings - cheese, crab, etc. - crackers and hard sausages, pretzels, etc.The centerpiece for the table was a creche scene inside of this tower. They put candles in the holders and the heat from the candles caused the scenes to turn around. It was fun to watch, and the kids enjoyed playing with the candle flames.Some of the girls at the kids' table trying not to get their pictures taken.Two of the boys at the kids' table trying to get their pictures taken. Ysaline looks on - you can tell she loves these boys (the one on the far left is her brother and the one in the middle (Bryan Vander Stockt) is her cousin).When all seated at the table, we started with delicious pumpkin soup.Gwen and brother - she had to hold him so he would get his picture taken.Three of the Elders (Curtis, Peterson and Kent) enjoying their soup.Next we were served what they call the "entré" but we would call it an appetizer. Clockwise from the top is a canned peach half with tuna salad, cold thinly sliced salmon, crab, hard boiled egg with crab salad topping, and cooked salmon. Then everyone got up from the table and went their way. Some of the kids played Twister in the living room, some watched a video, some, of course, played with game boy type games, and some were on the cell phone. We thought that the meal had ended, but after about a half an hour or so, they called us all back to the table for the main course.We had roast turkey rolled with stuffing in the middle and yummy mushroom sauce (gravy), pomme dauphine (a mixture of mashed potatoes and cream puff pastry formed into balls and fried), Cesar salad, warm cherries, and applesauce. It was all so delicious. By the time we had finished with this course and visited for awhile, it was time for us to get back to the apartment to get a call from Susan at our apartment.Since we obviously had not gotten enough to eat, the Leroys sent us home with this great assortment of desserts. The red and white cake was raspberries and cream and the other two were yummy chocolate and vanilla icing cakes. They also sent us home with two loaves of bread (one Sister Leroy made herself and another sweet bread), two huge bars of chocolate and a lovely plant that is just about to flower.

It was a wonderful Christmas. We so enjoyed being with the Leroy family. They are so loving and fun. It made being away from our family more bearable. Thank you so much Leroys!