We got the house!

Well, looks like we are finally set with our house in France. We are renting the one in Sèvres that we really wanted – or at least S & I wanted. R & C aren’t as happy as we are, but I’m sure they will come around. It really is a nice house in a great location. We are still negotiating details – apparently their wood floors are super special and can’t be replaced so they want a big deposit and all these requirements. We don’t understand as we have beautiful wood floors and they are fine. So we are still working that out as well as our move-in date – right now we are looking at December 29^th. They had originally agreed to our request of 12/28 so we already bought our plane tix to leave SF on 12/27. So now we have to figure out what to do for the night of 12/28 – if it was just the 4 of us humans that would be fine, but we will have the dogs and cat with us. Could be tricky trying to find a place that will accept all that! We are renting furniture that will be delivered on 12/30, or 12/29 if we are lucky. Our packers are coming here 12/12 to get us packed up and shipped by sea – should arrive in France around January 26^th. Looking forward to getting everything in and getting all settled! I’m pretty panicked about this whole packing thing, but somehow I’m sure it will all work out. It has to!

We found a renter for our house also, so that is great. One more giant thing off our list. We are decorating the house for Christmas (& our party) even though it’s only for a little over a week. When the movers come they’ll be packing up the Christmas ornaments and decorations we decide to take with us to France. Seems silly to decorate for only a week or so, but it’s important for the kids to enjoy some Christmas in their house – this is getting harder and harder for them, and they are clinging to any sense of normality and tradition they can find. I understand – it would be much easier to be doing this move at another time of year, but we want to get to France in time for them to start at their new school the first of the year.

I’m off to the city for my annual Christmas shopping & lunch trip with my friend Karen now – still trying to enjoy the season in spite of all the stress of the move!

DW