Random Things...

Just some random things as we prepare for the big day!

*It stinks to have kids on 2 different school calendars - poor Mia is still going strong, but will finally be on vacation on Thursday!

*Speaking of Schools...I learned something new last week! I have always been a bit worried (in the back of my mind) as to how much English Grammar Mia might be missing as she goes to a German School. I don't think I have much to worry about though. She is in good hands! She came home with an English test last week that actually taught me something new (yes - I am the one that is sadly qualified to teach Middle Grades Language Arts and I did not know this - embarassingly enough!!!. The sentence went something like this... My _______ (Onkel) Joe is my favorite Uncle. She had to fill in the blank with the word "Uncle" (super easy of course). She got it wrong though because she wrote it with an uppercase "U". I immediatley got on the defensive thinking that the teacher was of course wrong. Uncle Joe is a specific Uncle, so of course it should be capitalized. I looked it up though and sure enough - I was wrong. Because Unlce is preceded by a pronoun, it should be lower case. I have asked many of my English speaking counterparts what they think it should be and almost 100% unanimously, they agreed with my rational (that it should be capitalized). My German friends on the other hand, knew the correct answer. Wow - I think she might be just fine :-)

*We must quickly stock up on bread and milk (and anything else we might need to survive ;-)) - as this year falls in such a way that ALL STORES will close up on Thursday and not open again until Monday . I am used to it now - but thinking back - can you even imagine this happening in America?

*Speaking of having 4 days of everything closed.... Almost all of our friends here take 2 weeks off for Christmas (Christmas ends on Jan. 6 when the 3 Kings come - hence the 12 days of Christmas). Anyway...Can you imagine having so much vacation time, that you can just use 2 weeks of it at Christmas to be home with family! With 6 or 7 weeks of vacation a year, to spend 2 of them at Christmas is such a gift!!!

* Funny smiles - You can't necessarily tell it, but Camden and Bailey have braces on their bottom teeth. 4 more months to go - yeah!!! (I told you this was random)

*Because Bailey and Camden are off, Bailey came with me to watch some of Mia's Tennis practice. Mia was so proud to have her there and Bailey was impressed with her sisters' tennis skills. It filled my heart to see!

*We went to Bamberg last weekend (hence the photo above :-)). We celebrated the 4th Advent with our "Bamberger" Friends. It was a weekend filled with visiting and it was so nice to catch up with everyone! We even got to see our upstairs neighbor (who we adore). He is in a nursing home now, but is doing well. What a gift it was for us to visit with him.

*The Germans celebrate Christmas on Thursday. The tradition is that families go to church in the evening, and when arrive home, the "Christkind" (Christ Child - A.K.A. Jesus) brings the tree and gifts. It was so funny for Mia's friends to come over and see our stockings hung :-)

*Our cookies are made, packages and cards were sent long ago, presents are wrapped - we are ready for Christmas (I can't ever remember being this ahead of the game). I think after 20 years of Christmas', I have things finally nailed down to a science. I am not sure if that is a good thing or if it is ridiculously neurotic!!??? In any case - So looking forward to Friday!!! :-)

Busy Weekend

We had a fun weekend. Friday night was a home Basketball game and we went to watch Bailey Cheer (and of course to watch the games). Bailey's team had a cute new dance for the halftime show and all of our teams won - so it was a lot of fun to watch!

We got home late, only to wake up early on Saturday and head right back to the school so that Bailey could take the ACT (she took the SAT last weekend - so she is really quite done with testing at this point). Mia's friends came over in the late morning and they all went together downtown to go Christmas shopping. This is where I get such a kick out of it. I think if you sent four 10 year olds into the city by themeselves in the U.S, the parents might get arrested. The girls were so cute though and spent 4 hours shopping (even going to a restaurant by themselves :-)). I did make my way down in the middle of it, to peak in on them - they were absolutely adorable (and so responsible too!). After she and her friends came home, Bryan and I went up to the top of the Mountain in our town to a cute little weekend Christmas Market that they had. It was so quaint (I love the little ones). Lots of homemade items for sale and of course Bratwurst and Gluhwein too. The only thing missing was snow (it has been unusually warm here for this time of year). Later that night, I went to a German/American Dinner. It was the first time I had done something like that here and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Very interesting conversation and very interesting people for sure.

On Sunday, Bryan and I went to a small Christmas Market about 30 minutes away from here (Mia had informed us that she had been outside "the entire day" before and that she just wanted a lazy day - so she didn't join us :-). Of course Bailey and Camden had other agendas too. Sometimes we can get them to join us, but not too often :-) We laughed and saw a quick glimpse into our future as just the 2 of us are doing things more and more - I do miss the the kids hanging out with us, but it is also nice with just the 2 of us. In the evening we went back down into the city for dinner at the main Christmas Market - it was packed with people - but so festive! Somehow I wish the Christmas Season extended into February - then it would be perfect....

Bailey :-)

I love watching Basketball!

Mia and her friends. I was able to get a quick picture when I checked in on them :-) They all had their pocketbooks and umbrellas with them - so German :-)

At the top of the Mountain was the cutest little Christmas Market

You could hear the bells ringing off in the forest and then the horse and carriage appeared carrying the kids :-)

The Maria Hilfberg Church is always lit up, but with the Market there, made it extra special

Lots of fire and candles...

Gluhwein (hot mulled wine) cooking in the kettle

so pretty!

And as we were leaving....

the little Chapel was lit with Candles

beautiful!!!

And then we walked back down the Mountain in the quiet darkness. Like I said - all that was missing was snow :-)

This is the cute little Christmas Market in Schwandorf 

I'm not even sure what this is called - but it was delicious (some time of Turkish bread, meat, sauce and spices) 

Tiny, but adorable!

Definitely traditional!!!

Weihnachtszeit

More pictures...

St. Niklaus came on December 6th! (he brings fruit/nuts und Chocolate :-))

At a Christmas market - the kids could pet a real owl

so cool!

beautiful

A horse and carriage ride!

Gifts from St. Niklaus

I love all of the little stands at the markets

Mia's creation from one of her art classes with my parents

The Bamberg Rathaus - made from legos :-)

And our newest addition is fitting in just fine - with the exception of being quite naughty ever since we brought the tree home :-)

Christmas Markets

It's that time of year again and the "Christmassy feeling" is in abundance throughout all of Germany. Yes - the famous German Christmas Markets are out in full force. There are lots of big Christmas Markets, but I tend to love the little ones even more. We were in a 3 1/2 hour "stau" (traffic Jam) the other day and had to get off the Autobahn and take the backroads. It was already dark and I was absolutely amazed at all of the cute little villages that we drove through that were bustling with the locals at their little Christmas Markets. Had we not gotten off the Autobahn - we never would have seen these smaller roads of Christmas Magic. It really was a nice start to the weekend (even if on a sour note due to the traffic jam). We have had dustings of snow too, which ads to the "feeling" and the only problem about this time of year is "too many markets" and "too little time"! Even the smallest of towns usually have some sort of Christmas Market - even if it is only there for one night or one weekend (opposed to the larger ones that remain for the entire Advent Season). We went to one in a village where our friends live (a village of only 280 residents) and it was absolutely adorable. I love that the community puts in the hard work to make sure that the sense of "community" stays strong even through the Christmas Season. It isn't about mass profit. It isn't about expensive gifts. It is simply about coming together and enjoying the coziness of the Christmas Season!

Our little town

puts on a cute little Christmas Market

This is our "Rathaus" or as we would call it "City Hall"

a cute little carousel

and lots of sweets

spices and teas too!

love these 2!

Delicious Gluhwein (hot spiced cider and wine) to keep you warm.  

It lasts the entire Advent Season

and the tastes and smells are so memorable!

so festive

Definitely helps make things feel "Christmassy" :-)

Art Class

Forgive me in advance Mom and Dad for posting this. I couldn't resist! Each week Mia does an art class via Face Time with my parents. She carefully gives them supply instructions in advance and then gives them specific step by step instructions as they create "the craft of the week". She absolutely loves it - it is one of the things she says she might like to do one day (to be an art teacher). Because of the time change and schedules, my parents have to wake up early and they often drink their morning coffee as they are crafting. It might be because they were half asleep (or it might be that they just didn't listen carefully enough :-)), but Mom and Dad - we will give you the benefit of the doubt that you were just half asleep :-)). Anyway, Mia carefully told them how to cut the paper and both of them totally did it the wrong way. They both proudly held up their scorned projects at the same time, not knowing they had messed up - it was so funny! I am sure it was one of those things that you probably had to be there - but it was so funny to us, that I had to take pictures :-).... The pictures will tell the story :-)

Mia gave them very specific instructions ....You had to cut the paper, so that the slits were only in the middle and the ends were still solid ....but they both failed miserably and  not knowing yet, they held up their scorned projects proudly at exactly the same time :-) 

I don't often see my Dad with a deep belly laugh - so we had to get proof - notice Mia's laughing in the top left corner :-)

Yep - "I totally screwed up and here is my pile of trash" (notice my Mom shying away - wanting nothing to do with the photo of shame :-)

But in the end - the finished products were quite nice! I love watching Mia give my parents weekly art lessons!

And there she is - the proud teacher!!!  (Even though it was touch and go for a while - the Chinese Lanterns were a success!)