Life: Idiotropic

With a flight to the states early the next morning, we decided to spend New Year's as a family in Brussels. Think big international city on New Years. You expect a few fireworks at least... some music... and the Christmas market that they always advertise as running until after the New Year.

The Grand Place is beautiful no matter what the season, but the relative quiet was strange. No bands. No parties. No fireworks. No market. People - yes. Lots of people. Shops open late - especially some of the chocolate shops. Restaurants putting out menus with elevated prices. Over-sized Christmas trees with oversimplified decorations not fit for this city. A large nativity.

That was it.

So, we walked around, listed to the street musicians, enjoyed a decent meal on the narrow "fish" street jutting off the Grote Markt. This was where Tiara wasn't carded nor questioned, but served a sweet (yes, alcoholic) aperitif. Dinner, chocolates... and back to the hotel for the kid's highlight - swimming in a pool that was much to cold for the wimpy mother. Brrr. I'm more of a hot tub girl, I think.

Cuddled together and watched a New Year's party in London, then the fireworks in Berlin... woke up to the New Year's countdown in New York.

Oh... and the cool moon picture above is one that yours truly took just before we left. Supposedly this was some cool astronomical occurrence. Moon aligning with a couple planets though I only saw one planet.

More Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84140&l=6e786&id=674507268

Photos:

1. Things you wouldn't ordinarily see in the middle of a lake. (But I'm not volunteering to fetch it- brrrr)

2. Something that you would normally see at a lake; however, not normally "walking" on the water. I think his feet were cold, hence the funky chicken dance.

3. Two adventurous girls proved without a doubt that these geese at least do not eat stale popcorn nor old gingerbread - and you'd think a layer of ice would encourage broader eating habits.

20th -- Lazy Saturday... painted our salt dough ornaments a little more and decorated them with jewels and puff paints. Elise made this very fancy yellow airplane for some lucky family member. (Ok, so I was really truly ahead of the game... holiday boxes almost ready and pretty much filled just as December hit... and then life hit warp speed and I've been behind every since. New Year's boxes will, with luck, be mailed hopefully may be by New Years. Yes, that's when cards will go out too... again... with luck.)

21st -- A complete blur... I know that we must have done at least one Christmasy thing... but I can't remember what. :(

22nd -- I went to a friend's home to make home made tamales - a delicious chicken version and a spicy pork version. It was the first time I'd ever made them and it was a messy process, but fun! Hint - spread the masa on the smooth side of the corn husk. It's quite disastrous to try to pry the filling from the bumpy side once their cooked. I have to make these myself and experiment a bit before posting the recipe with photos... but I think it's do-able. Really, I'd expected home made tamales to be a lot more impossible.

Anyway... I cooked, the little girls played - and then we all went shopping. Tiara spent the day with friends at Snowworld skiing - indoors - but it's better than nothing and a bunch of teenagers can have a great time doing just about anything as long as they're together.

23rd -- The girls and I went to the Aachen Christmas market. Today was the last day of the market and most likely my last time here since we're moving this summer. It was beautiful and sad, so I took a bunch of pictures. We had our last market meal - frites and bratwurst, wandered around the market, shopped a little, found a nice shaving set for Kirk in a 1600's house that used to be a basket maker on Korbstrasse, ran into several friends, listened to street musicians, and warmed ourselves with coffee at Starbucks. (I really wanted to soak up the atmosphere a bit more and join the masses standing at tiny tables with warm glasses of dark plum coloured Gluewein, but with the girls, I just couldn't do that. Sad. Oh well... the sangria in Spain will be a nice substitute.) It was sunny and beautiful, not horribly cold. Felt good to be there and people watch.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79612&l=72ef5&id=674507268

When we got home, we decorated our annual gingerbread house. This year we had snowmen, moose, and trees to decorate as well.


















24th - I wanted to go to Maastricht, but it was below 0 and I had two at home with colds who didn't need to be colder. So, it was a very nice relaxing day of Christmas movies and last minute elf errands. Arianna helped me cook a pasta dinner, the girls played, and in the evening, the little girls and I made new Christmas stockings together while watching It's a Wonderful Life. That movie still makes me cry.

25th -- Merry Christmas!!!

Luci's letter to Santa:


Luci saw Santa in November and didn't know what she wanted. Then, she figured it out, wrote 3-4 letters to Santa (one is above), and came to me so worried that she didn't tell Santa what she really wanted.

It was especially fun to play the elf on Christmas eve late setting everything out under the tree. And it was just perfect to wake up in the morning to my sweet girls asking if they could go downstairs and see if Santa had come, and to hear the happy squeals getting louder as they ran all the way upstairs to tell me excitedly that they'd gotten American Girl dolls for Christmas.

Tiara was kind and got up early and we all sat around the tree together. It was a happy Christmas and we were all spoiled.

All day the girls played and watched American Girl movies. All day I relaxed and cooked. In the evening we had some friends over for a quiet dinner together. We had our first taste of Yorkshire pudding compliments of my friend, Maria who'd lived in England, ham, blue cheese rosemary scalloped potatoes, and a few other things. Pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust for dessert.

26th -- A cookie party with friends was enough to mark the day as special and still allow a lazy day to relax. The kids are especially happy having a few days at home. And I'm using the time to clean and sort though things.

27th -- Another sunny, beautiful, below freezing day that is better spent inside (2 sick people here), so friends stopped by in the evening for coffee, cheesecake, and a visit. And the rest of the day has been carefree and stress free.

15 December: Elise rode the NATO Santa Train with her class then she sung a bunch of Christmas songs with her class before sharing cookies with all the camera toting parents waving and watching. The teachers gave small gifts to the kids and the kids gave the gifts they make to their parents - daring edible snowmen made with white German cookies for the bodies and a domino cookie for the top hat.

16 December: I should have been at a meeting this morning, but I needed a day at home and so did Elise, so when she didn't want to go to Tinny's and I couldn't find another sitter, we spent our morning napping and cuddling on the couch. So my morning wasn't super productive, but it did recharge me to tackle painting dough ornaments with the girls after school. The girls are making all sorts of random crafty things that they'll wrap and we'll get mailed out after the holidays.

17 December: This morning I baked gingerbread boys for one of the kindergarten classes. Two years ago when Arianna was in that class I brought dough to the class and the kids rolled, cut, baked, and decorated cookies. The teacher had taken that activity and turned it into an entire day of fun for the kids. Elise still talks about the gingerbread boy who popped out of the oven and ran away. So, this morning I brought 20 prebaked cookies for the kids and one large unbaked boy who ended up running away just like the boy in the story and leaving notes all around the school. It was fun to watch the kids run screaming from place to place so excited to find the big cookie they'd seen earlier. From the kitchen to one playground, then another, to the Principal's office and finally to the library where the gingerbread boy had gotten tired and gone back to his book. It was cute.


18 December: My day. These last few weeks have been so crazy that I'd only been to one Christmas market - ok two, but the second one I was dancing in and didn't shop. It's sad. This is my last Christmas in Germany and I feel like I haven't seen enough or done enough here. So many markets... so much to see... so much tradition and beauty. And I've frittered away my time being busy with stuff. Stuff just happens and my calendar fills before I have time to schedule in the fun. But today, instead of being sucked into some unnecessary things that I could do, I kidnapped a similarly fun deprived friend and we headed to Aachen with no agenda but to wander and enjoy the city and the market. Coffee at Middleburg, wandering around the tiny streets, having what will probably be my last Christmas market meal here, and shopping for a few treasures that are made in Germany... that was my day. Beautiful, peaceful, and needed. We even got a bit of sun before it turned dark and cold. Elise had her last day of school and a pizza party. Arianna had her class party and store where she could spend the play money she'd earned all year. And I just relaxed and met them at the end of the school day.


19 December: Last day of school before the holiday break. Luci's class had her party. The principal read two stories to the kids. I baked sugar cookies for the occasion and so the kids rotated through centers: cookie decorating, bingo, bean bag toss with prizes, and a craft. Then food and heading home. Arianna and Luci got out of school at 11. Tiara was done at 1230. The girls relaxed and watched movies... I went to Rita's house and learned to make flodni.

My friend, Rita, is Hungarian. She was also a cook for a family in England. And, she's a foodie. Meaning, she has a wonderful appreciation for food. Last week we'd made tentative plans to make flodni today. Then earlier this week she sent me a note telling me about this amazing baked apple dessert at my favorite cafe that she wanted to analyze with me. Today we got together and did both.

The sun was actually out, so we walked to cafe Schleypen, sat, and savored their seasonal baked apple dessert trying to figure out what was inside so we could make it ourselves. The chocolate covered star cookie sat on top of home made vanilla speculatus ice cream - a creamy vanilla ice cream with little chunks of German speculatus cookies (or may be a bit of printen?) inside. The baked apple sat on a square of pastry. The inside was filled with marzipan and raisins, then topped with warm vanilla custard sauce which pooled on the plate under everything. Sweet whipped cream sat to the right and it was all sprinkled with cinnamon. Absolutely delicious! Worth trying at home.

Stuffed from our cafe treat, we headed back to her house to make Flodni - a traditional Hungarian dessert that I'd had at the Froliche Pastry Shop in Budapest. The version that I had had halva as the bottom layer though - a Jewish sesame sweet that I am not real fond of - so I like Rita's version a bit more.

Rita's Flodni
Line 9x13 baking dish with pie dough (store bought or home made).

Cook 2 cups finely chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup raisins (more or less to taste), and 2 T. white wine (more or less to taste) in a small saucepan. Stir together for 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Set aside.

Cook 6 apples thinly sliced with 2-3 T sugar and 2-3 T white wine for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Set aside.

Process 2 cups poppy seeds in a coffee grinder. Add 1/4 cup sugar (more or less). Cook over medium heat for just a few minutes with a bit of fresh squeezed orange juice and some orange zest. Set aside.

Spread nut filling over the crust in the pan. Top this with another crust. Spread poppy seed filling over the second crust. Top with another crust. Spread apple filling over the third crust. Top with a final crust. Seal the edges pulling to the sides of the pan and tucking into the rest. Brush with egg yolks and bake at 300 for 60-90 minutes.

Serve at room temperature. Stays delicious for a week. Best the second day.

The panto...

A couple months ago my quiet girl got up on stage and tried out for a play and my loud girl got shy. But, by the end of tryouts, Arianna had come out of her shell enough to tryout and both she and Tiara ended up getting parts and practicing every Sunday plus a bit.

Then last week was the blur... Monday and Wednesday dress rehearsals until late... and Thurs - Sunday performances, 5 in all with 2 on Saturday.

Tiara was upset at first that she didn't get a big part, but her part actually got a lot of stage time and she ended up having a lot of fun with it. Arianna was a munchkin and had a line too that she did great with. She's a natural up there.

On Sunday, Elise was wearing red. Munchkins wear red. So, since she'd seen it twice before and she was in the right color, she was asked if she wanted to be a munchkin. She went backstage, got her hair and makeup done, and stayed with the munchkins the entire show! She did the movements, the lines - everything. Amazing!

Luci didn't miss out entirely... though she wasn't in the Panto, she played the part of Mary in our church's Christmas Pageant and did her lines beautifully. Arianna was given the part at first because she's older. Luci's age group were not supposed to get speaking parts - but my amazing Luci - she had those lines memorized in five minutes flat and didn't hesitate one bit on stage. Elise was in the pageant too - a non-speaking angel, so she was in two different plays on Sunday.

Yep... we may have a few thespians here.

Photos of mostly just my kids:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77202&l=cc003&id=674507268

Friday and Saturday afternoon performances - complete photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=tifany74&target=ALBUM&id=5280076969529526033&authkey=SFmZ9oAkgzI&feat=email

Sunday afternoon show complete photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=tifany74&target=ALBUM&id=5279729610907254529&authkey=c0soL66rxzI&feat=email

Photos of Luci and Elise in the pageant:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1834619&l=d503d&id=674507268

8 December - went to our local produce/seasonal stand to get out Christmas tree. We've gotten one there every year. They just got a shipment from the Saurland the day before, so they were still unloading huge fat trees from the truck. I pointed to the tallest fattest one I could find and a tiny man probably half the trees height unbundled it for me. It was a Christmas moment. My eyes got big like a kid in a NY toy store and the woman who runs the place gasped, "traumbaum!" Dream tree. Yep. It was. After she and I oohed and aahed about how traumy my baum was, the sapling sized man bundled it again and helped it into my van. Kirk helped it into the stand and by midnight all the lights were on and twinkly. Now it really feels like Christmas.

Keeping Tree from being a Fire Hazard within the Week Solution (yet to be properly tested)
Full container of warm water
1/2 can 7-up
1 T. bleach
1 T. vinegar

9 December - I put up Christmas decorations... my new German Christmas elves and my Polish nativity set... among other things. The girls came home from school and we played Christmas music and decorated the tree (once they had all their homework done... that took a while). Now I have a thick girdle of ornaments just at that median height of my three youngest. The tree is pretty now!






10 December - My English Conversation group came to my house this morning to make gingerbread. It was a cookie factory. I had balls of dough out and each lady rolled and cookie cuttered that dough until it was done and I had pan after pan in and out of my oven. We probably made over 100 cookies. As one pan cooled, they'd decorate them. I had frosting and sprinkles and red hots out. The cookies got pretty colorful and we all had a lot of fun.





11 December - Luci's class went on the Santa Train at school. I went to take pictures of all 4 classes that did the train ride and got to hang out a bit with my girls. It was fun. Elise rode twice. This was also the first night of the Wizard of Oz panto that Arianna and Tiara were in. Kirk took Luci and Elise to see the play. I went to our IWC Spanish night to celebrate a Spanish Christmas. We had tapas and paella. The Tres Reyes brought gifts to us (as part of our gifts exchange), and at the recorded "strike of midnight" we ate 12 grapes - one grape with each dong of the bell - a New Year's tradition in Spain. Felt especially good to be there soaking it up... thinking that my next Christmas will be in Spain.

12-14 December was consumed with 5 performances of the Panto, one Christmas pageant, and a pathetic attempt at a batch of sugar cookies... still looking for the perfect recipe. So, it was almost Christmasy every day and those couple days that weren't specifically spent decorating or baking, I was surrounded by red and green kids... so I figure that counts towards my 25 days of Christmas goal.

...I went shopping and bought a couple new "local" Christmas decorations... some neat lit trees in red and white that are very common here and a Dutch Advent train with a little drawer for each day.


On the third day it snowed and for me, there isn't much that is as magical this season as snow. Elise walked to the Natex with her class through the snow to buy an ice cream. We drove around for an hour extra on the way home to take pictures before it all melted.


On the fifth day of Christmas I learned about Christmas traditions in Italy and December holidays in Turkey as we sat together at Cafe Schleypen for our English Conversation group. Rosella told us about Epiphany on 6 January in Italy when the white witch comes to fill the children's stockings with sweets for the good ones and coal for the naughty ones. In Italy though, they do make candy coal which is quite good! Christmas is not celebrated in Turkey, but in December they celebrate a holiday that comes from the Old Testament story (also in the Koran) of Abraham. During this 4 day spiritual holiday, they pray and all families who can afford an animal like a ram, buy one and sacrifice it, giving the meat to poor families. Decorations in December? Not too much in Turkey, but they do decorate a bit for New Year's and one of my friends even buys a tree for her house - her New Year's tree.

In the evening, Kirk and I went to his work Christmas party at a castle barn in the Netherlands and when it was time to draw a name for the ever popular "Man Wagon," the announcer read, "Stahlbaum better half." So, the queen of the estrogen palace, miss mother of four girls, ran up excitedly to claim her prize - a darling German wagon filled with all sorts of odd man things: underwear of all styles (we gave those away), random junk foods, Popeye's Spinach, a SI swimsuit calendar and a Maxim (gave those away too), lots of tools, some beer and whisky, and a myriad of other things. Estrogen queen (moi) happy hauled her wagon back to her seat, then started to "sensor" it by giving away all the things that she (and her man) didn't need. :) Just before we fell asleep, we filled the three little boots lined up by the front door and put a few chocolates on one of Tiara's pink flip flops.


We came home and made salt dough ornaments. Nutcrackers, geese, stars, and snakes... their ideas, not mine. We tried to get out Christmas tree too this day, but none of the trees were tall enough or fat enough... I'll try again tomorrow.

You ever had one of those days when you should have had a good strong layer of duct tape over your mouth and your hands firmly cuffed behind your back?

Well... my enthusiasm for all things cultural got the better of me earlier this month when I was sipping coffee with my English conversation group and one of the Italian ladies mentioned a dance class. "Dance class", I think to myself, "that sounds like a lot of fun - oh goody, I unique cultural opportunity." So me and my not-duct-taped mouth start asking questions. Bad idea.

All of the sudden, I'm invited to come to the dance class with them. Twice. The next two Wednesdays. "Great", I'm thinking. Wonderful! I get to learn a new dance and spend time with some really great Italian ladies.

The next week I show up to learn the Contradanza. We're partnered up. I'm a boy. Ha ha. Fine. I can do this. We clap. We dance. We laugh a lot because I'm not the only one with two left feet (though I'm the only one who can't understand the words to the song). It's time to go and they ask... "Can you meet on Friday?"

Oh, ok. No problem. And it starts. Wednesdays and Fridays, then Friday morning and evening. And guess what? I wasn't just learning a simple dance. There is a costume involved. Black pants. White shirt. "Borrow your husband's vest." So apparently all Italian men have a nice suit vest in their wardrobe. Mine - nicht, nada, zilch. A couple of scarves, a cap and a drawn on mustache would complete my outfit - thankfully, they forgot the mustache for the performance.

Performance, you ask? Because if you know me, you will be choking on your coffee by now. I don't dance. And I certainly don't perform. Uh, er... until now.

In September the local head of the Chamber of Commerce asked me if the IWC would be interested in doing something at the Geilenkirchen Christmas market. I passed along the invitation to my board who, in turn, passed it along to their members. How was I supposed to know that my Italian friend had jumped on that opportunity. No one told me.

So all of the sudden, I'm the sole American - the only non-Italian dancing on stage in the market place of Geilenkirchen at their Christmas market last weekend which was just about embarrassing enough... but then, wait, I was dressed as a boy.

And not a cute one at that. I don't own a lot of black pants and the two that I do own are, well, fit, uh, a bit snugger than I'd like. One was ok, but they are capries... so there I am trying to tuck the little ends of my capries into my Ugg boots (black pants, black boots). Cute Italian, I'm not. Then the top. So I don't own a plethora of simple button down white tops either and Kirk has no vest... so Mariella had lent a shirt to me. I hadn't really looked at it- hadn't tried it on. So just a couple hours before I pull it out of the bag. It's a 34. I wear a 38. Ugh. This would not be pretty. And instead of a shirt with a vest (like all the other "boys" were wearing), this one was a shirt with a black cami looking top sewed onto it - not masculine at all. So now I'm a feminine looking "boy" dancing with the girls. Not sure that's any better.

We arrived at 5:30 already in costume freezing our veritable patooties off. It was pretty easy to spot the sea of Italians waiting half with green scarves on their heads and the others with the smart black caps. We were supposed to go on at 6, but they didn't even begin to clear off the stage until ten after because, according to the director, it was gemuertliche -- the atmosphere and feeling were right. Just before we went on, Mariella told me that we'd dance twice. Twice???? Dancing once, I thought, was quite embarrassing enough, but now we'd dance once normally, then grab partners from the audience and go through it again.

It was almost time. I took off my coat and noticed a button undone on my top. Great. Something else to worry about - and we were dancing twice! So the entire time I was dancing, I was terrified that one of the buttons on the too tight top was going to come loose.

All in all, it went ok. I made one mistake, but not a horrible one... and when it was time to choose a partner, I grabbed Tiara. Generous mom that I am, sharing the embarrassment.

So, there it is. I, the non-dancing, non-performer, actually ended up dancing at the Geilenkirchen Christmas market on a stage in front of real people with a bunch of Italians. An accomplishment of sorts, and, though it wasn't exactly what I planned on, a lot of fun. All that time with my friends reinforced the little things that I already knew about my Italian friends - 1) the wear black and pretty much only black and 2) they really can't talk with out their hands and they talk and talk and talk... and discuss and argue and talk some more. Getting through a rehearsal with them is 10% actual dancing and 90% discussing the dance. Still, I love these ladies. They're a lot of fun!

Feb 2009 - I just decided to randomly "google" myself to see what's out there and found this article in the Italian's Passato Presente, a newsletter for the GK Italians. It mentions me in reference to the dance above.



Totally unrelated Elise quote: Because the other day I told Elise that she was getting old...
"I'm not old, I'm new."
"How do you know?"
"Well, old people have - (pauses and looks intently at me) - skin like I have, but really old, old people have squishy skin."

Today was the first day of the Monschauer Christmas market, so a friend and I headed down there for a day. Monschau is only an hour away, but it's in the Eiffel forest region, so the weather is dramatically different. Our snow has been gone for days, but these fields are completely covered. The bit left in the valley in Monschau just made the picturesque town just that much more beautiful.

Monschau is small so it doesn't have the best Christmas market out there in terms of stuff to buy, but it is one of the more picturesque. It just feels good to walk down the narrow cobbled streets between crooked old half timbered houses that have been there for centuries. Each house is slightly different. Some almost look twisted leaning in not one, but two directions. Everyone has decorations out and if you're lucky, you'll catch a whiff of fresh printen wafting out of a bakery window. Delicious!

One of the stands had a few traditional German wooden decorations, so I got a few little things for a Christmas party coming up and stopped in the year round Christmas store for a few small decorations. It's hard to find things that are special here without paying a fortune though. So many things are either imported from other places (they love Dept 56 stuff) or made in China. Even many traditional German things are made in China now, so it's hard to know what you're getting. And if it says "Made in Germany," then the price is quadrupled.

Monschau is good for food... I enjoyed tasting a venison sausage, some elderberry liqueur, several different licorice bonbons, a printen cookie, and several other liqueurs including hot plum and champagne truffle. All delicious. The air was a lot colder than I was prepared for, but a mug of hot chocolate with amaretto kept me warm while I shopped.

Ran into a bus load of Canadians from England who were on a Christmas market tour and a German man from Monschau with a near perfect British accent. Talked to a lot of people and did some people watching as well. My favorites were the two chefs with the brightly colored mini-aprons chatting and smoking in front of their booth and the lady with 60's style glasses working at the roasted chestnut stand.

I got some beautiful photos... check them out!
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71312&l=a92e5&id=674507268

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!! I hope that you all enjoy a day with family, friends, and lots of delicious food! (ok, and football if you must)

I am thankful for...

1. The extra hour of awake time I got this morning quite by accident when my cell phone company's clocks were wrong making my alarm clock go off at an ugly 5am instead of a not-much-prettier 6. (Ok, I'm not really that thankful for this one, but attitude is everything, right?)
   
2. The dentist who filled Luci's cavity quickly today without using any anesthetic. He was very good with her and very honest about our options. Thankful that Luci is the first of all us girls to have a cavity and that it's a baby tooth so we have a second chance to get this brushing thing down.
3. That Tiara's getting a bite block now and will hopefully get a handle on tooth grinding before her life really becomes stressful later on.
   
4. The fact that although my hubby has to work on Thanksgiving, he has a great job and will be moving on to an even better job soon in Spain!
5. The kindergarten class that let Elise make butter with them and the 3rd grade class who performed their Squanto play to several classes at the school (we saw it three times!).
6. Mrs. Chmeylar and Frau Schubert who put together a really fun Thanksgiving singing program for the 2nd/3rd graders and the mom's who organized a full Thanksgiving meal enough for both classes, the parents, teachers, and siblings.
7. Mrs. Herndon and Mrs. Berlin who organized a snack share with the 1st graders and the unknown amazing mom who made a turkey out of fruit. Very cool bird!
8. My 4 absolutely amazing girls who take care of me as much as I take care of them.
9. My husband whom I'm incredibly proud of!
10. My family both real and adopted all over the world and my friends both sane and not so much that keep me sane when I'm teetering on the edge.
11. The opportunity I've had to live in Germany for 3 years and the opportunity to live in Spain for the next 3.
12. Growing up, gaining perspective, finding wings to fly.

a smile from my girl!

I had some yearbook business to attend to today at the elementary school, and I just happened to be there close to lunch time, so I was able to surprise both Luci and Arianna which is always fun. Usually their friends see me first and then my girls look, see me, then come running. I'd been taking yearbook photos anyway, so I was ready to capture Arianna in full run. This is the best. LOVE it. What made it even better was bedtime when both of my girls said that my lunch time visit was the best part of their day!

Sunday the snow covered everything. By Monday morning there was little proof we'd ever had any fluffy white stuff. It was almost completely melted. By Monday afternoon; however, the flurries had started again, parents were picking their kids up from school early, everything around the base and south was turning white and the snow showed no signs of stopping. Excited, I picked up Elise and spend the next hour driving around trying to get some photos of my favorite winter treat. But by the time I got to my village, the snow had stopped and the accumulation was not as impressive. I should have gone south. That's where the action was. Still, I saw pheasant - a bird that is extremely frequent here in ones, twos, and large groups, sitting in the farm fields. I've even seen baby pheasants here, but until this day, I'd never caught one on film. They're extremely skittish birds. The picture isn't great, but I'm happy to have at least some memory of this critter I see so much here.

More photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74082&l=1f054&id=674507268

Two really smart moms got together and threw a combined birthday party for their daughters at Pee Wees, a large indoor play space. Elise was invited and Luci is friends with one of the girls too, so she came too. The kids played for 3 hours. The adults relaxed for 3 hours. And when we left, almost 3 hours of snow was on the ground and covering my car. It was beautiful!!! LOVE the snow.

Both girls like the bumper cars. Elise preferred at first to be the passenger and let the boys drive her around. When Brian left, she cried and cried, scared to drive by herself... until Brian's dad climbed into the passenger seat and showed her how to drive. Then she was a crazy girl behind the wheel. Here she is with Zoe, one of the birthday girls!

Today while Luci and Elise were playing at a birthday part in a huge indoor play center, it began to snow. And it snowed and snowed and snowed and didn't stop until about 11pm this evening, so although, sadly, it will probably be nothing more than a cold stream of water running through the gutters by morning, it definitely worked it's magic on us all today. Tiara and Arianna got to play in it since they were home earlier. The littles and I got home after dark, so they played a little while Kirk finished up shoveling the walk and the doorways in front of Finny's, Tinny's, and our house. Everything is white. Even in the dark driving home at 6, I saw kids having snowball fights in the fields, others pulling sleds down the street, and groups of people walking in it. My Norwegian friend even posted pictures of her and her kids outside in the snow with their skis. Snow is magic. Everyone is happy!

Thanksgiving, like all holidays, is one of those days when we like to gather with family and friends. Living in Germany doesn't afford us the opportunity to celebrate with our "real" family back "home," so we just adopt. Enough holidays together and our friends evolve into family. This was our 4th Thanksgiving here, but our third in our house and our third here with the Shanks who have now reached "family" status. Alice makes the best salads and Greg makes delicious cranberry sauce. Plus, our kids get along.

Obviously, Thanksgiving isn't exactly a German holiday and we're not exactly at an American base, so the guys don't get the day off and the kids are in school. And there is no way that I am going to "slave" in a kitchen all day just to plunk it all on the table after a long tiring day and go to sleep. It's supposed to be a day long family ordeal complete with naps and picking at the leftovers. In the past, we've celebrated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but this year we did it early and had our feast on the Saturday before. We had all the fixin's - 2 turkeys, mashed and sweet potatoes, gravy, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, apple and pumpkin and pecan pies... enough to stuff. And all delicious. And unlike most Thanksgivings here, we were mellow and relaxed with just a few close friends over and no big crowds. I like the big crowds, but it was nice to relax and just enjoy the day. The kids all ran around and got along though they wouldn't pose for a photo. Too bad. They're all cuties!

Back row: Elise, Thomas, Luci
On couch: Marlene, Arianna, Julian, Janie, and Alice's arm.
My oldest was MIA - upstairs on the computer chatting with friends.

I just have to say that though autumn is just beginning to give way to the frosty cold of winter, it is still absolutely beautiful here. The trees lining the streets still have enough leaves holding out on their branches to add vibrant color to the landscape. Each wind brings a flurry of confetti swirling down in those reds, oranges, and yellows of fall. Driving through them feels almost magical. And the piles of sugar beats lining the field's edges just keep getting longer each day. It's cold. Really cold, but we've gotten just enough sunny glimmers to balance the gray. It's just nice. Feels like the holidays already. Was in a village today and saw them getting their Christmas market set up. St. Nikolaus treats are already in the shop windows. It's just fun!

We've all seen days like this when the sun bursts from behind a cloud with a fan of variegated rays of sunlight. It's not so uncommon. But I don't notice it other places around here. For some reason, it happens a lot here - over this field between the base and Grotenrath. I've driven by here many times to see skies like this and prettier. Today I actually decided to stop knowing that my time here is limited and I don't want to miss any more photo opportunities. If I would have planned better, I probably could have gotten at least 2 more church silhouettes in the background, but there just isn't a good place to stop. Time is going too quickly here. I'm already sad to go.

I live in an area where seasonally a ill-directed wind can deliver the fresh scent of cow right through your window into your home, there are more John Deers than computers, and the act of being stuck behind a slow moving sugar beat truck ranks as the #1 reason for being late. It's also where a horse drawn carriage is a perfectly acceptable mode of transport. Need a bag of broetchen? Grab the carriage and go. I've seen them parked outside bakeries. And they frequently clip clop down the busy B56 right past our house. Today, I was stuck behind one with no way to pass. A good excuse for being late, I think.

This was our last St. Martin's Day in Germany. It feels strange to think that. But, with that in mind, we went out last night into the cold to walk around our village with the children's lanterns shining bright.

Of course, I got the time wrong, so though I planned to miss the lengthy German mass at the church, we also missed the very beginning of the parade and the bonfire behind the fire station where St. Martin rides his horse around the fire and gives his cloak to the poor man. Still, the kids all had the lanterns that they'd made in school and we caught up in enough time to do most of the parade walking together with over 400 children and their families.

Our parade has gotten popular. The firemen here are in charge of it each year. They go door to door collecting donation and giving tickets to the children for a donation. They'd come by over a month ago to give out tickets. Then all the money collected is used to buy treats for the bags. For each ticket handed out, a bag of treats is put together. The ladies in the village over 80 years old get together and put them all together - large sacks full. This year they made over 450 sacks for the children. Each had a large Weckmannbrot, 2 clementines, 1 apple, 1 large package of Speculatus cookies, 1 large package of honey dominos (delicious!), a small bag of chips, a full sized snickers bar, a full sized Alpina chocolate bar, and seven other smaller candy treats - lollipops, cookies, and gummis.

The band led the parade with St. Martin on his horse. The firetruck ended the parade as the caboose keeping traffic at bay. And the firemen walked with us all along the parade route carrying long fire sticks and stomping out the bits of burning cinders that would fall from them every few minutes. We finished the parade wrapping around the church and heading to the new firehouse. All along the parade route people in the village stood outside their doors to wave or peeked from their curtains to watch the children walk by. Even at Il Genio's, our local pizza place, folks stood outside on the steps waving to the children and shouting hellos to people they knew.

At the firehouse the band played the traditional St. Martin's Day songs, the children lined up to greet St. Martin with his brass hat and Santa-like beard, and the parents gathered by the tent to the left where they sold hot chocolate, gluwein (hot, spiced red wine), and shots of amaretto to go in either. And oh, the gluwein was just that much better with a bit of amaretto in it! Delicious. And it certainly warms you up on a cold night. So we all stood together after we saw St. Martin, drinking our warm drinks and talking with our friends and neighbors before heading home. I was also able to meet the man in charge of the Carnival parade this year, so we may just have a float in our village parade!

Before we were home, all three little girls had already gotten into their bags and eaten the heads of their Weckmannbrots. So, the bread above with Arianna is actually Tiara's .... the only one that survived long enough for a photo op.