Life

Decorating the tree....

St. Nikolaus came on Dec. 6th

He brought a few chocolates for the kids :-)

Lebkuchen - ready to decorate

Lots of great help!!!

Yummy!!!!

Life has been fairly busy lately with school, work, sports, friends, Christmas etc. It has been good though, and we are trying to truly enjoy the spirit of Christmas. After holding out for a German tree, we decided to go ahead and use the fake tree. Germans don't put up their tree until "our" Christmas Eve (they celebrate on the 24th, so they put it up on their Christmas Day). I thought this might be a neat idea, but without a tree up, it just didn't seem so "Christmassy". We had all of the decorations already up, but the tree was definitely the missing element - so the tree had to go up early. They keep their tree up until the 3 kings day (on Jan. 6), so it is a bit too long to have a real tree... Another German tradition is to celebrate the Advent Sundays (every household has their own advent wreath with 4 candles - it is a must!) My friend had an idea to get together with 4 families on each of the Sundays of advent to have a little celebration (gluhwein, kinderpunsch, cookies, singing, playing in the snow etc.) We have each taken on a Sunday to host, and it has definitely been helpful in feeling the Christmas spirit. Bailey had her Soccer party a few weeks ago, Mia had her "turnen" Christmas Party last night, and Camden has his homeschool and soccer parties this weekend (forgot to mention that we are homeschooling Camden again until next year - I will write more on that another time...). Bryan has his work party next week, and Mia has a choir concert too, and did I mention we have had lots of snow to mix in with the parties!!! One last funny thing... every year we make Lebkuchen. It is a German type of cookie/cake, and is a Christmas essential. The only way I know how to make it is with my friends' recipe which calls for shredded Potatoes. I love it, and the potatoes keeps it very moist. It is not the most common way to make it though. I usually give some to neighbors and friends. I've mentioned before how literal Germans can be... well I was talking to our older friends a few days after I had given them some Lebkucken. He looked at me with a very serious face, and proceeded to tell me that the Lebkucken was horrible - he didn't like it because it was made with potato. I honestly think it is the cutest thing, because I love how honest people are. If I was given something that I did not care for, I would very politely offer thanks. By our friend saying that he did not like the Lebkucken, it had nothing to do with our friendship, or how much he appreciated the thought, instead it was just his opinion, and then life goes on back to normal - kind of funny!! It really makes me laugh!