Life: Idiotropic

Christmas was kicked off officially today with the U.S. Children's Christmas Party and the procuring of a Christmas tree.
The Christmas party began early much to my dismay (I really enjoy at least the option of sleeping in on a Saturday - not that the little ones ever make it an option. Instead they pull off the covers, grab my hand and drag me from the warmth. But, it is nice to not have to go anywhere on a Saturday morning).

From 9ish until noon when it ended we let the kids loose in the elementary school gym where they played games, stuffed themselves with sweets, popcorn, and cotton candy, met Santa, and took a train ride. Tiara stayed home. Seeing Santa is not and has never been worth getting up early on a Saturday in her book. Arianna is the only one who jumped onto Santa's lap. She was thrilled to talk to him and tell him what she wants for Christmas: a magic wand. Luci and Elise wouldn't get near him, so they played. Luci spent most of her time oscillating between the big inflatable jumping thing and this large air filled plastic bag full of whirling Styrofoam peanuts that kids were jumping around in. By the end of the party those little peanuts covered the entire gym floor. Elise wanted to sock wrestle - or so they thought, but she just liked the tumbling mats and as soon as the sock wrestling was over she began bouncing around on them with her piggie tail bouncing, "dancing" on her tippy toes to the music.

The train ride was short, but greatly anticipated and fun for the kids. This little train is used a lot by the schools around Christmas and supposedly is used by the Canadians once a year to deliver "moose milk" to all the squadrons. (Moose milk is an adults-only beverage)

After the party and a little rest, Kirk and I drove down to our local produce stand where I'd bought pumpkins just a few weeks prior, to get our Christmas tree. It was hard to pick one. She only had a few unwrapped, so I really only had a choice between about 5 trees in the size I wanted. They were all "ok," but none of them were very full on top and a couple of them were way too sparse down below too. I like full trees. That is one thing that I've missed ever since I moved from Oregon. No place has had trees quite like home.

Kirk sawed off the bottom couple inches and drilled a hole into it to encourage it to drink water. Luci took a couple of the sawed branches and wore them like antlers. Tiara and I put the lights on it, then we all decorated it together. I sorted the ornaments into piles of what belonged to who and the indestructible ornaments went into a pile on the floor for the three little ones to put up. The weird thing is, that after the tree was finished, the bottom branches are nearly empty. The three little ones all want to put their ornaments up high. Luci kept climbing the step ladder and leaning way into the tree to put her ornaments on the very tip of a skinny little branch. I was so worried she was going to fall into the tree and get stuck like one of our ornaments. So, all of the ornaments are hung in the middle or higher. Some branches have two or three ornaments on them. It's a wonder the branches haven't given up and drooped completely over.

It feels good to have a tree in the house. It makes everything feel more festive. The girls all love it and get excited every time I turn on the lights. The ornaments travel around the tree a lot, but so far nothing is broken. When my housekeeper saw our tree she was like a little kid, looking carefully over every ornament, "schon," she said over and over. She loved our small twinkling lights and our interesting variety of ornaments. Her tree only has candles (electric ones) and kugel. Kugel are those thin glass balls. Here they seem prettier than at home. They are traditional here, so they come in all sizes and colors with beautiful glittery designs on them. I bought a variety of them to hang in my window since I won't put them on my tree. The markets have other ornaments besides glass balls.... of course, they have a ton of those "old world" glass ornaments, but they also have ceramic angels and a lot of carved wooden ornaments. But, most German homes will adorn their trees with Kugel, and little colorful candies with holes in the centers instead of candy canes.