A New Year!

We are just back to Paris after a much-needed and very warm trip to Texas and slowly recovering from the long day of travel! So I figure it is a perfect time for a blog.

We arrived on the 13th of December, in San Antonio at about 10 p.m. What a long travel day it was, but boy was it nice to be back in the United States.

From the moment we stepped off the plane in Washington (Dulles Airport), we knew we were “home.” The first order of business after clearing customs was getting some food and pellet ice for Hailey at none other than Chick-fil-A at the airport!

The rest of the trip was a whirlwind full of relaxation, sun, and much-needed fun.

I went straight to Houston on Sunday to work from the central office. It was nice to connect with colleagues in Houston and get some work done there. Hailey and the kids recuperated from jet lag and did a ton of playing at “Gammie and Pops House.” I came back Friday to San Antonio, and it was time for a much-needed two-week disconnect from work and some time to enjoy family and the holidays.

On December 20th, we celebrated Emery’s 5th birthday with a small party complete with cupcakes, cake, and a bounce house. I cannot believe how much she has grown in those 5 years. I am so proud of her and how she is adapting, growing, and what a caring, thoughtful, amazing little girl she is becoming. We also went to the zoo in San Antonio and enjoyed the 85-degree weather, much different than Paris, where it actually snowed overnight here!

We quickly geared up for Christmas, which is no joke at the Granstaff house! It kicked off with a Christmas Eve church service, followed by “breakfast for dinner,” before we all waited to see what Santa brought.

The kids woke up excited on Christmas morning with many presents and holiday cheer. Thank you, ChatGPT, for giving us some fun photos of Santa bringing presents — oh, and he sure did like the cookies the kids put out for him! We unwrapped gifts, played with new toys, and enjoyed each other’s company in the morning before “second Christmas.”

Hailey’s older brother and his family came over for lunch, and we started the second Christmas. Another flurry of unwrapping proceeded, and everyone had a great time, including a harmless prank on Charlie where Loren and the kids gifted out some of his office memorabilia to the family. After the 5th gift, he finally realized why everything looked so familiar — we all got a pretty good laugh out of that.

The rest of the day was spent calling family and doing some FaceTime, and enjoying the new gifts. For dinner, I grilled out burgers, and we all ate before getting ready for a quick ranch trip.

The ranch was nice and warm. A Texas winter — where we were able to kayak and play outside. Allergies killed us all, but we ended up having a great time — again, with little to no work to get in the way (much different than when I was in sales, and even on days off the phone never stopped!).

We returned on the 29th to San Antonio, and I decided to delay our flights a few days so we could take our time packing and enjoy New Year’s in Texas. The trip went by fast, and it was a heavy few days getting ready to leave. But all in all, a great trip and a much-needed “reset.”

The flight back was long, but pretty uneventful. The kids enjoyed plenty of shows and movies on the plane, and Fischer stayed up WAY past his bedtime watching Spider-Man! We made it to Paris yesterday, and as I type at 9 a.m., the kids and Hailey are still zonked out from the jet lag. Maybe a warm croissant will wake them up here shortly.

As for Paris, we will settle in and get back into the routine. We have a CRAZY few months coming up with trips to Italy, visits from family, and a few more trips back to Houston/San Antonio for my work. I am confident we will wake up in July for summer break in Texas and say, “Where did the first half of 2026 go?!”

A few takeaways from being home in Texas… we missed America more than we thought. Or at least I did — I think Hailey knew she missed it a lot. I forgot how easy it is to navigate in America, from stores to just general life. While I love biking to work, I do miss driving (just not traffic!). I also miss just being able to understand life going on around you. While I have picked up some French, I am far from fluent. And there is a lot to say about just being able to understand what people are saying as you float around the city.

It was also nice to be on the same (ish) time zone as my family and being able to connect a bit easier. While I didn’t get to see them, we connected a few more times than usual. Hopefully 2026 will bring at least one CA and WI trip to visit!

As for the last part of 2025 (and my two-month hiatus on blogging!), we had quite a bit of fun. After our big trip to Normandy and my brief stop in Abu Dhabi for work, the last month or so flew by.

In mid-November, unfortunately, I got quite sick, then spread it to the family, which was no fun. After we recovered, we spun around Paris to see Christmas lights and decorations. The city really does put on a good show for Christmas. For Thanksgiving, we picked up BBQ from a place called “MELT,” which was phenomenal and as true to Texas BBQ as you can get in Paris.

That weekend, we visited a city called Reims for the first week of the Christmas markets. While not the biggest in France, it was still amazing. Other than going to the wrong address in a different city to start the trip and adding an extra hour to the drive, it was a fantastic weekend. There were about 100+ vendors selling everything from trinkets to churros and, of course, French fries at 9 a.m. for Fischer!

The first weekend in December, we celebrated Emery’s “Paris birthday” by going to Disneyland and staying on property at the hotel. Unfortunately, Emery got sick the first night, but we still managed to spend a full day in the park on Saturday, and she loved it. We even got a few hours in on Sunday before heading back to Paris to get ready for Texas.

So all in all, 2025 was crazy! Looking back, it is hard to believe we did so much in just one year’s time. From trips to California and Wisconsin to more exotic locations like Costa Rica, and work trips for me to Paris… and that was just the first half. We then moved our entire life to Paris to start a new, scary, wild, insane adventure living in a place where EVERYTHING is new to us.

While we have all grown, bonded, and adapted in Paris and have a ton of memories and experiences, it is safe to say we LOVE America and hope to return there sooner rather than later. Life is just a bit easier for us with the kids there. From HEB and big trucks to Diet Coke and ice in the drinks — it just makes sense for these four Americans. Not to mention that is where family is and where we still call home.

— Hunter