We start with Christmas of 1999.  It was our first holiday celebration away from America.  We made the most of it - decorating our home and having dinner with friends (although the homesickness was truly felt).  Below are some pictures at Christmas.

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Next came the wonderful New Year's Eve celebration in Paris at the Eiffel Tower.  What a once in a lifetime experience!  We loved it.  Above are pictures of us at the Tower after midnight.  We then went home, stayed up all night and watched all the world's celebrations.

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In January, France celebrates
La galette des Rois.  There is eating of a traditional round, flat cake, usually filled with apples and a toy surprise.  Whoever finds the toy, wears the king's crown.  There was a school celebration of singing and dancing by the children (above are pictures).
March brought a Muslim celebration for us, Eid ul-Adha.  It is the major festival for Muslims celebrating God's mercy towards Abraham in sparing his son.  It is celebrated at the end of Hajj, the time when Muslims make their pilgrimage to Makka.  Below are pictures of Mohamed, with the boys, cooking our food on the barbecue in our living room!  :-)

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Mohamed and Samir's birthday celebration - both born on April 5th (Samir turned 2 this year).
Nezar was lucky enough to have two celebrations for his 4th birthday this year - one in America at Grandma's and the other back home in France.

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Our little scary monsters on Halloween!  We painted their faces with some face-paint that was included in one of their boxes of cereal.

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Moroccan Wedding in Paris!
 
We attended the wedding of one of Mohamed's friends.  He married a neighbor of ours.
Finally, November saw our first Thanksgiving celebration in France.  Plenty of food and fun enjoyed by all.  The picture below includes Mohamed and the boys.  At the far right is Mohamed's father, who was visiting us from Morocco.  Also included in the photo is Hamid (Mohamed's brother) and his fiancée, Virginie - they live in France.  Gobble, Gobble!

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