W
hen being younger, during the holidays I would hear my grandparents wishing health and I remember thinking are they for real? They should wish luck or money or something like that. At the age of 33, I find myself wishing for the people I love to have good health, so they can fight their own battels during this new year. We said goodbye to 2022 from Brussels and I was surrounded by the people I love the most, my family. We traveled on the 25th of December from Tirana to Charleroi Airport. For these holidays, we had an intensive itinerary planned but due to the cold, and the fact that the kids got sick, we adapted on the way. Still, we had a wonderful time.
This was Doen’s second trip by plane and I kept thinking that maybe the first time was a charm and that I probably got lucky then, to have a baby behave that good on a plane. But it seems I got lucky a second time. Doen was feeling sleepy before the flight and we let her play around the airport so she would get a little more tired. As soon as the plane departed she feel asleep and we could enjoy our flight stress free. She woke up just as we were about to start our descend, which she spent playing with the stickers and toys I had packed for her.
The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories..
The moment we arrived at the apartment, and her little cousins opened the door, she was ecstatic. As you can imagine we spent the afternoon exchanging Christmas gifts and a lot of hugs were involved. I cannot hide it, panettone, chips and beers as well.
On the 26th of December we planed on spending the day in the center of Brussels.
We traveled by car since it was raining, cold and the metro station was around 10 to 15 minutes walk from our home. We started with the Grand Place which by this time of the year is full of people.
G
rabbed a waffle on our way and kept walking towards the Museum of Illusions. We didn't book any tickets in advance, online and were happy to notice that not a lot of people were waiting on the line for the tickets. At the museum, as soon as we got the tickets, left our things in a locker and proceeded to discover everything.
After a considerable amount of time that we played around and took photos at every illusion of the museum we left and kept walking towards Pl. De Brouckère 33 where we noticed an ice rink and a Christmas market. My nieces (Inid 9 y.o & Ilisa 8 y.o) and I had planed to go ice skating on this trip and that made us super happy. So we got on the line for tickets, supper excited for them to try for the first time ever. The rink was composed of a smaller section for kids and a bigger space for people that felt more confident. So we stayed for around 10 minutes on the first section to then proceed with the “big guys”.
Doen on the other had had fallen asleep with daddy while they grabbed a coffee and waited for us to finish ice skating. Directly in front of the ice rink was Brussels Grill and considering how hangry we were by this point, we directly entered there for lunch. Can you guess what we ate? Grilled meat of course 🙂
After lunch we continued strolling around the city, enjoying the festive atmosphere.
It was then that we found ourselves in front of a vintage carousel. The kids got to excited and we could not refuse them a ride, even though it had gotten terribly cold by this point in the evening. We waited 3 rounds to get a spot on the stork which was the only one that could sit 3 kids. You can believe me when I say it was a tough one to get on. Here are some shots of the kids having fun on it:
The day ended like this and during this festive time it is the perfect one for us:
On the 27th of December we decided to spend the day in Bruges, a city close to Brussels.
My husband and I had been there when we were dating and this time around we were looking forward to return with family. We were a group of 9 people + Doen, so a total of 10. We rented an extra car and drove there. When I looked at bus ticket prices before departing for Belgium, they cost around 20 euros/p for a return trip. Last minute the prices had gone to 80-100 Euros per person. So it was much more economical to rent a car. We thought of a minivan but last minute we could not secure any.
In the morning, of course after painting our nails and getting dressed with pretty yet warm clothes we departed towards Bruges. The trip on google maps was around 1.5 hours but add here a quick stop for coffee and restroom on the way + parking inside the old town, it took us more than 2 hours.
Bruges is quite small so you can easily explore it on foot and there are plenty of restaurants, gift shops and chocolate shops around.
After lunch, we bought some chocolates and some candles for my nieces and strolled some more. Bruges, especially during this time, gives you a positive feeling with the cobbled streets, horse carriages around the city and Christmas markets.
We took some final photos at the Christmas tree and got in our car to head back home so we could rest for another exciting day to come.
On the 28th of December we traveled towards another destination which was located within a drivable distance to Brussels: Amsterdam.
Again it lasted much more than the google maps directions calculated. For us it lasted a bit more than 3 hours. But it so was worth the trip.
Since I had promised my nieces another try at ice skating, we parked next to #IceAmsterdam and within 5 minutes of walking, found ourselves at the ticket office for our favorite experience. For 2 adults and 2 children for a time limit of 2 hours, the tickets cost around 60 Euros. Everyone had red skates and the atmosphere were amazing. What was special about this place was that everyone was using chairs and not penguins when they needed help skating around. My nieces were terribly scared because it was much smoother than the one in Brussels, plus it had water on the rink since it had been raining. Still, I adore their courage and approach towards new challenges.
After finishing ice skating we went inside the bar to warm up with some beers (lol). We sat by the fire and ordered a big can of draft beer, French fries, meatballs, pizzas and they were all delicious. While we ate, my bigger niece Inid, dried up by the fire because someone pushed her while skating and she fell on water. If you’re reading this before your trip be careful to pack up extra clothes even for your bigger kids. I didn’t think to pack up extra clothes for a 10 year old 🙂
When we finished eating we hoped to have the chance for a stroll through Amsterdam but by this point it had started pouring. Luckily for us, Doen fell asleep so we put her in the stroller and covered it with a raincoat that we bought with the logo of Amsterdam. Even though we had brought 4 umbrellas, we bought many more on the spot but they turned out to be completely useless because since it was windy, our umbrellas kept turning to the other side, protecting us from nothing.
We managed to walk only 2 blocks before we became totally wet and decided to give up. We ran to our car but by this time we and especially the kids were freezing. Unluckily, we couldn’t fight the crazy weather with our positivity. Doen woke up just as we entered the parking garage. I don’t know how we would have managed with a toddler running in the rain.
By 9pm we were home, just in time to return the rented car. By this point things got a bad turn because the three girls got sick with temperature and we had to spend the rest of our holidays warm at home. The staying at home part was not so bad, because it was great watching TV and staying on the couch together. We would just have preferred for them not to feel sick.
On the 30th of December by midday, we got bored 🙂
So we decided to visit Woluwe Shopping Mall which was located around 15 minutes walking distance from our home. It was a great place because it was not that big that you would get exhausted walking. We bought some clothes for Doen at ZARA and then we checked the other shops there. Since we were traveling with a backpack we couldn’t buy many things. Then we went at the playground were Doen enjoyed playing with some basic games they had there. We ate hamburgers, got an ice cream and headed back home to my nieces. During the afternoon we went at Decathlon to spend some money again and my nieces got new waterproof shoes, Doen got a scooter, a jumping ball and many other small things that we didn’t actually need.
For the final day of the year, December 31st we stayed at home all day watching movies, eating healthy and not so healthy food until the afternoon.
In the afternoon we decided to say goodbye to 2022 with a final trip at the center of Brussels. We drove to the metro station and traveled by metro from there to the center. My nieces were super excited to use their student metro cards and Doen was trying the “train” for the first time. She kept saying choo choo train..
We strolled through the center of Brussels but only cafes and restaurants were open. Everything else, was closed. So we made some videos with our wishes for 2023 and called it a year!
The week went by so quickly that we found ourselves on the morning of 1st of January 2023 packing our bags to leave for the airport.
So after some tight hugs and some tears we departed and left our loves behind until we meat again in February. While we wait to hug them again, time doesn’t go by soon enough.
And just like that, we were back home, wishing and hoping for 2023 to be the best year for our three girls and everyone we love to have good health and a great year ahead.
Thank you for taking the time to go through this blog post.
With lots of love,
Bica, the family 🤍
BICA FAMILY
Hi, we are Bica family! We are Eneida, Dolsin, our 3-year-old Doen and our golden Shadow. As a blogger family we love to share our stories, experiences, and trips with the world! From fashion to parenthood, parenting to travel, we have a wide range of experiences that we love sharing with our online friends. We strive to bring our followers unique content that is both informative and entertaining.
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