We ended up spending the night in Dresden and were able to enjoy some of the Christmas markets there. The city is amazing and we look forward to going there again!
Unfortunately, the month started on a sour note with Brian getting in an accident in his car and we eventually found out that our insurance company would total it. This disappointed Brian greatly as he really liked that car. As I type we still have yet to replace the car.
We had a couple of work related Christmas parties to attend the first couple of weekends in December. It was our first time to have a babysitter here in Germany. I was given the name of a German girl in our village so we hired her. She is very sweet and it worked out nicely.
Early in the month we made Christmas cookies to give to our neighbors. The kids and I had a good time making them and Daddy helped to ice them! Bella got whatever fell or dropped on the ground!
Ian also had his first hockey game here the second weekend of the month in Luxembourg. It was on Saturday morning and we had to get up pretty early to get there but we made it. Their rink is outside under a cover so it was pretty chilly. It was a good game and ended in a tie.
After the game, we explored the surrounding village a little then went to a Christmas market in another village on the German border (but still in Luxembourg). While at the market, Ellie rode a donkey through the town and I walked alongside with her and took pictures. She really enjoyed riding the donkey and wanted to do it again.
We finally went and picked out a tree and got it decorated. It seemed a little late for us but the timing just worked out that way for us!
On the 16th of December, Brian and Ian went on a bus with his hockey team to Mannheim to watch a German professional hockey game. They enjoyed the experience and Brian was glad to have along a couple of other American dads to chat with - one of them, in fact, graduated with him from the Academy! Small world! The next day we left in the morning to pick up Josh from the airport in Frankfurt. We got there in plenty of time and ended up waiting quite a while for him to come through customs and everything. It was so good to see him! We had already decided to go to the Christmas market in Frankfurt so we headed that way for Josh's first German experience! Unfortunately, Josh was fighting a pretty bad headache so we didn't stay very long at the market but we did stay long enough to enjoy some Gluhwein and German specialties like kartoffelpuffer (a potato pancake thing similar to hash browns and it's just fun to say) and schwenk steak (a seasoned pork steak that is quite yummy).
We headed home for a little bit then went to a restaurant in a town near ours and had a nice traditional German meal. The next day we had church and then came home to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. I decided to go ahead and give the boys a gift my friend, Deb, bought on clearance thinking of my boys and sent to me - the big Harry Potter Lego castle! It took them just a couple of days but they got it done. (I need to get a picture of the finished product.)
That week before Christmas, Brian was working and Ian still had his evening activities so we had a pretty normal week. The kids did make a gingerbread house one day and we did take Josh around a little to see the local area. We did get some snow one day that week and it was enough to play in and make a snowman in but it was gone by the next day.
One night after Ian's hockey practice, we took the opportunity to do some ice skating as a family!
Brian ended up having the 23rd off so we decided to take Josh (and Ian since he wasn't with us when we went before) to Heidelberg. We walked around, shopped, ate and just enjoyed the day.
Christmas Eve we went to the service at our church then went to our friend's Tim and Jennifer's house for refreshments. We have been friends with Tim and Jennifer for a while (since 5 assignments ago) so it was fun to hang out with them and for them to get to see Josh. We came home and opened our traditional Christmas Eve gift - new pajamas! Then, sent the kids off to bed!
The above picture was taken at Tim and Jennifer's house.
Christmas morning the kids actually slept in a little bit! We then had a wonderful time of opening gifts and being together.
We got to relax for a little while but then we had to get serious packing for our ski trip that we were leaving for the next morning! I will write about the ski trip in the next post so that this isn't any longer than it already is! All-in-all we really enjoyed our time celebrating our risen Savior and His coming to earth as a baby. May we never take for granted the gift He gave us!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment