Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. One that we were lucky enough to share with new friends AND family.

The kids were fairly kind to us and waited until 7:30 am to fly down the stairs.  Mrs. Claus had honored her tradition even in Germany, and had left each of them a book or two under the trees in their rooms.  Santa had overfilled the stockings and left fun presents for everyone.  I may have been guilty of over compensating a bit since we were away from home.  There sure seemed to be plenty of presents under the tree!

Scott, Joanie, Missy & Steve

In one of those "It's a small world" scenarios my cousin Scott, his wife Joanie and their daughters were visiting their very best friends from the US who also live here in Starnberg. Seriously, what are the odds?  Terry and Paul and their kids are our new friends and have been helpful with sharing survival in Germany tips.

My mom and Scott's mom are sisters, making all of us "Thomases"

Thomas Great Grand-Children
AJ, Olivia, Anna, Rebecca, Audrey, Sophia, Rachel (in front), Stefanie & Dominic

The bonus of course was being able to share Christmas Day with them.  It was most definitely a full house!  Scott and Joanie have five girls and Terry and Paul have three kids. Their kids added to our four do indeed make twelve. 12 kids ages eight to twenty made for a fun afternoon and evening for everyone!

Instead of going the traditional route of putting the youngest kids at a table by themselves we mixed things up a little. We put all twelve "kids" at our dining room table and then setup an "adult" table in the corner, right before we ate. This turned out to be the perfect solution. The kids all had a great time at their table, evidenced by the fact that they lingered over their meal happily chatting for over an hour. The grownups had our own kind of fun at our table. It was terrific!

Missy, Joanie, Scott, Paul & Terry
(Steve is of course behind the camera)

Terry and I split the meal which made feeding 18 people much less overwhelming.  I also managed to continue all of our US dessert traditions.  Steve brought me cookie supplies from the US and we managed to find all the ingredients for grasshopper pie (mint) and chocolate silk pie.  There was some seriously searching involved but we tracked down that crème de menth and crème de cocoa. The cookie trays were full, we had red and green m&ms aplenty and delicious pies to end our evening

Christmas Crossword and Answers

I'm finally getting around to posting our Christmas crossword and the answers! (click on the puzzle to enlarge it) We hope you try to solve it without cheating!  If you didn't get one in a Christmas card this year and feel hurt, let me know, I'll try better next year!  :)

ANSWERS

Across: 5-rugby, 6-varsity, 8-photography, 12-ferrari, 14-dirndl, 15-drive, 18-confirmation, 19-stevesjob, 20-tenth, 21-germany, 22-safetypatroller, 23-yoga, 24-visit, 26-parakeet, 27-aj, 28-eagle, 29-rachel, 30-garda, 32-tennis

Down: 1-niagarafalls, 2-munichinternationalschool, 3-internationalbaccalaureate, 4-lederhosen, 7-dominic, 9-oktoberfest, 10-eleventh, 11-eighth, 13-sixth, 16-volleyball, 17-soccer, 19-stefanie, 21-german, 24-venice, 25-starnberg, 31-drink

Happy Christmas Eve (birthday)!

Christmas Eve and my birthday!  Since I highlighted Steve's I guess turnabout is fair play.  44 on the 24th seems like a good combination to me!

Dominic, AJ, Stefanie & Rachel

I started the day with a delicious breakfast in bed courtesy of Stefanie and AJ.  This is a tradition they seem to really like, they even got up early so I wouldn't have to wait... After a leisurely morning making sure Christmas prep was done it was present time.  As usual Steve made sure I was properly spoiled as did all of the kids.  Next we headed to lunch at the Hotel Schossberg right on Starnberger See.  (Lake Starnberg)  The weather here in Germany is unseasonably warm, in the high 50s.  The lake was smooth as glass and it was beautiful looking out over it while we enjoyed our lunch.

I must mention that we find it ridiculously ironic that it is sunny and springlike here in Germany while everywhere we could possibly be in the US for Christmas (Ohio, NY or Delaware) has snow.  A week ago I all but guaranteed our Christmas would be white while we were digging out from 10-12 inches of snow, but it was not to be!

After lunch we walked around out by the lake just enjoying the weather and view.

Once we returned home we started shifting out day towards Christmas Eve festivities.  Since it was my birthday Steve insisted that I not help with the cooking.  (He really had to twist my arm)  So, I read, relaxed, face-timed with my family, and the kids and I watched Christmas videos and started a jigsaw puzzle.   A perfect afternoon.

Steve made some of our traditional dinner for Christmas Eve.  Mushroom soup is the standard and it was delicious, he also did shrimp, salad and a little German stuffed potato something.  The stuffed potato something was supposed to take the place pierogis since we couldn't find them.  It wasn't the same, but that is perfectly OK, it was good to try something new.  On the list for next year is make our own pierogis - we'll see if that happens!

After dinner it was time for church.  The church on our corner, St Ulrich was having mass at 9pm which was perfect timing for us.  We love being able to walk to church; well Steve and I do, the kids aren't as impressed.  The church was beautifully decorated and mass was lovely. But we are all looking forward to when we can understand more of the mass and part of the homily.  In the meantime iMissal on our ipads allows us to follow along in English!

When we returned from church we did one last birthday thing - cake!  The kids sang and we all enjoyed cake that was homemade for me by Stefanie and frosted by Rachel.

Afterwards we did not have to chase the kids to bed.  They knew Santa and Mrs. Claus couldn't come if they were still awake.  Rachel wrote a lovely letter to Santa and left him a yummy snack of Christmas cookies and milk.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oberammergau and Ettal Monastery

Rachel, Stefanie, Dominic & AJ
Notice AJ's feet, he's not that much taller than Dominic!

We wanted to go to a Christkindlmarkt today but didn't want to deal with the crush of people in Munich. This decision led us to Oberammergau a cute little village about 45 minutes away. Oberammergau is known for wood carvings and the Passion play they perform every 10 years. Next performance? 2020.  

Rachel & Missy
Enjoying Kinderpunch & Glühwein

While it is a touristy place, it is adorable and filled with cute shops and a lovely little Christmas market. We will have to go back, because since it was Sunday, those darling little shops weren't open!  

The kids had a little Christmas shopping to finish and were all happy to find the perfect items. Steve and I were happy to walk around, sip on some glühwein and take a look in the wood carving museum. There was even a man working on an angel while we were there. This type of carving definitely takes skill and an incredible eye. He was just chipping away at a block of wood, no pattern, no markings just working with his vision.

Dome Fresco

The miraculous statue is inside the glowing part in the center of the Tabernacle.

Afterwards we drove to Ettal where a beautiful monastery is located. The monastery was built in the early 14th century and contains a miraculous statue of Mary & Jesus. It is tiny compared to the tabernacle that surrounds it and therefore hard to see. You cannot approach the altar or tabernacle so squinting or zooming in with your camera is the best bet! The monastery was amazing. It is the kind of place where you just can't believe what you are seeing. Then to think that it was created nearly seven hundred years ago is just unbelievable!

We finished our afternoon with a typical Bavarian meal at the Klosterbraü Restaurant across the street.  Delicious!

Bonus of today's visit - the kids had fun.  Our experience with teenagers has been that it is often like hanging out with Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off - they don't think we see anything good.  Not today.

Snow

So it snows here.

Yes, I knew that. I did. In theory. However the last 10 days or so have been a real eye opener.  It has snowed every day.  Every. Single. Day.  Not kidding.

I like the snow, I might even say I love it, as long as I don't have to go anywhere. In fact, I like walking and running in it.

But the driving. Have I mentioned we live at the top of a winding hill and that the kids go to school at the top of another winding hill? Just to recap, that means down one scary hill, through town, up another scary hill.  This makes the girl who is uncomfortable (to put it mildly) driving in the snow nervous.

Sure, they plow the roads, but when it snows all day they aren't clear. They are slushy and messy. Because of this I have a new appreciation for snow tires. I'm not sure I have ever driven with snow tires but now I'm pretty sure I'll never want to drive in the snow without them.  Really.

Thankfully my sister talked me through my nervousness today.  She even wrote about it in her own blog and connected it to her Daily Advent Calendar.  If you haven't seen her calendar, check it out here: http://melaniemowinski.com/

Oh and the shoveling. We are running out of places to put the snow.  Luckily I have two teenage sons who make fast work of the snow. So far they have shoveled me out every morning.  Of course on days like today I re-shoveled the car out at noon and then again at 530 when it was time to pick up the kids.  Really.

And why was I shoveling the car out of the snow? Our garage is too small for the minivan. True Story.

Frühstuck mit Santa!

AJ, Rachel, Santa, Stefanie & Dominic

Since the kids were little we have gone to Breakfast with Santa.  We have been to the country club in Ithaca, Tower City in Cleveland, Winterthur in Wilmington, the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast at St Joseph's, and most often of all at the Middletown Volunteer Hose Company. The firemen put on a great breakfast and collect toys for needy children too!

This year I was a little more challenged to find a spot until I walked by the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich. There was a poster on the window. Frühstuck mit Santa!  Woohooo! So I made a reservation. Granted, at this point in time I may have been the only one who was excited.

The food was great and my the kids were very patient during the magic show which they had to endure because I insisted they were getting a picture with Santa and he wasn't coming until afterwards.  The show was definitely geared to the five and under set, not the 11 and over group we had sitting at our table.  However, the five and under crowd was very amused and hilarious to watch!

While no one sat on Santa's lap or for that matter even lingered near him, we did get our picture!

Christbaummarkt!

AJ, Stefanie, Dominic & Rachel

Time to find a tree. Just like in America we had options, we just had to do a little more research and translating to find them!  We opted for a tree farm versus a garden store or the local home improvement store.  We found this website http://www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/ and it really helped us find a place!  Isn't that awesome that they had links for foreign countries?

Steve, Stefanie & AJ

Dominic, Rachel & Missy

Although there were closer farms to our house, they unfortunately don't open until the 3rd weekend of Advent.  This is because many Germans wait until right before Christmas, some until Christmas Eve in fact, to put up their decorations.  Since Steve was going to be in the US for two weeks that left us with the first weekend of advent to find a tree.

GPS is potentially my favorite thing here in Germany.  We never would have found this farm without it and it was perfect!  There was a wonderful Christmas market with hand crafted Christmas goodies and tasty food.  After exploring, we found the wagon that took us to the Christmas tree farm. It was huge. It had snowed too, so we hiked up and down the hills through the snow looking for the perfect trees. The kids were eating icicles right off of the branches, like popsicles.

Thankfully at the top of one of the hills a little "hut" was selling gluhwein and kinderpunch. This warm mulled wine/punch is delicious especially when you are out in the cold. Also, it really warms you, it doesn't seem like that could be possible but it really is.

Missy, Rachel, AJ, Stefanie & Dominic

AJ & Dominic

Dominic

After what seemed like hours we found two trees. For our living room we settled on a precut tree for a more symmetrical look. For our basement family room we chose a cut your own tree.  This tree definitely has more in common with Charlie Brown's tree, but it looks sweet.

AJ

We have found that there is an extra bonus having two teenage sons.  They not only cut down the trees but they carry them too.  They even assist with tying them to the roof, although Steve closely supervises that!

We climbed back on the wagon for the ride back to the market.  After so much time out in the cold it is amazing how good a steak simmel (roll) and waffles taste while standing next to a fire.

Dominic, Rachel, Stefanie & AJ