Each year, from the end of November through January 2nd, several blocks of downtown Brussels are turned into an amazing "Winter Wonderland", complete with a Christmas Market, beautiful lights and decorations, a huge ferris wheel and wonderful food to taste! In French, they call this celebration "Plaisir D'Hiver" - or the Pleasures of Winter. The day after Christmas, with our car stranded in the snow at our house, we hopped on the metro and headed downtown to the Brussels Christmas Market.
Unfortunately, the battery in our good camera had run out from all the fun on Christmas day so we took along Jenna's new camera and I've also borrowed a few photos from the internet to give you an idea of what we saw.
Here is a photo of the market area near Place St. Catherine. There was a temporary ice skating rink set up with booths along the side and at the end was a giant ferris wheel. (photo courtesy ACM photography)
Here is a view at the top of the ferris wheel. It was really high! Ethan and Drew weren't quite so sure, but Jenna loved it. And here we are bundled up enjoying the evening.
After walking around the market for a while, we were ready for dinner. It was pretty cold outside, so we opted to walk to the Grand Place and have dinner at a well known spot in Brussels, Chez Leon. It's a tourist spot, but kid friendly and we were hoping to try out the traditional Belgian dish - mussels and frites!
Seems like many people had the same idea to come in from the cold as the restaurant was packed. However, we were tucked away on the second floor. Jenna snapped this picture of us waiting to place our order. 
Speedy service is definitely not top priority at most Belgian restaurants. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they just do not want the customer to feel rushed; however, that doesn't make waiting 20 minutes to order any easier with three small children! Thankfully, there were paper sheets covering the tablecloths and I had a few pens in my bag. The kids enjoyed making some "art" for the waiter.
After finishing dinner around 9:00 pm, we headed to the Grand Place to see the decorations and light show. Each year, Brussels organizes a sound and light show which is displayed on the Hotel de Ville in the Grand Place. Jason and I actually saw it last year when we came to Belgium for our initial visit. We liked the display much better this year. Last year, the lights were pretty but the music selection was not even Christmas music and mostly sounded like euro-techno pop and just various colors displayed. This year, the music selection was actually Christmas music and the display was interesting with colors, shapes and intricate patterns on the building. The kids LOVED it!
Here is a photo of the large Christmas tree at the center of the Grand Place and in the far background it the stable with a life sized navitity - complete with real sheep! (photo courtesy of ACM photography)
Finally, here are two shots showing the Hotel de Ville with the lights. The first is borrowed from the internet and the second is one Jenna took with her camera. Not bad for a 7 year old!
I am so thankful we had a chance to experience this Brussels tradition with our family. I think they will be eagerly anticipating it next year!
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