Life: Idiotropic

Today was sunny and beautiful, a big change from last year’s winter of snow and ice. Last year we decided, one morning, that it would be a good day to take the train and we did it, just like that with no planning or forethought. This year I’d checked online and noticed the increasing days where the train rides were completely sold out. I think word has spread well on how special the St. Nikolausbahn is and people are coming from quite far to make it part of their Christmas tradition. It will be part of ours while we are here.

Last week I stopped at the little ticket office by the train station and bought tickets for all 6 of us. It was a good thing. This train today was sold out too.

The little steam train is only a five minute walk from home. It was returning from the Schierwaldenrath station as we walked down, so we stopped to see it go by. The kids get exited every time they see it and since we can hear it and see it from our house, they have plenty of opportunities to jump up and down and yell “The train is coming, I hear the train!”

The train had just arrived, but people had already begun to pile on it. A little building sold gluwein and hot cocoa. Another had sold wooden cutouts the week before, but wasn’t there today. An older man stood on a really tall ladder changing the lightbulb in the street lamp above while three men stood below watching and down by the train a tall slender woman in tall black boots and a long red dress coat was boarding the train with her tall slender dog.

We walked towards the front of the train and boarded car 6 which is a dining car. It still had the little fireplace in the middle on one side that a couple kids sat on while the train was stopped. We sat down at two tables. On one side of the train was the huge grain mill at the Gruenwarenhaus and on the other, a vast green field dotted with yellow rape (horrible name, I know, that that is the name of the flower that they grow here for oil).

Each train window had little paper ornaments hanging in it that the school children had made.

A nice lady came around taking orders. Kirk and I had gluwein, the traditional hot spiced wine served here at Christmas, and the girls had fanta and cocoa.

The train started up and the kids were excited and happy. We saw our house and crossed the main road. A man with a little flag waving stopped traffic even though there is a railroad crossing there.

About 10 minutes into the ride, I spotted the old black carriage that we’d seen last year. The train slowed and stopped and I hopped out just to the little platform at the back of the car to take photos. The driver wore a black top hat with his grey sweater and a white scarf. St. Nikolaus and Black Peter sat in the back and men dressed like the conductor walked behind the carriage with sacks of goodies. Everyone in the car was buzzing. Parents stood ready with cameras all pointed at the door waiting for the anticipated knock. Kids squirmed in their seats. I also had my camera ready, so I didn’t notice Elise disappear.

Soon the train started again and then we heard the knock. St. Nikolaus came in with Black Peter carrying a large burlap bag. He went from child to child, shaking their hands and handing them little plastic bags with the traditional weckmanbrot (bread), a clementine, a printen cookie, and a chocolate santa. I ended up getting stuck behind St. Nicolaus so I couldn’t get pictures of my girls, but Kirk had a good enough view to notice that Elise wasn’t there to get her goodie and before St. Nikolaus left the train, Kirk told him (in German) that there was another one under the table. Elise “hat angst,” so Tiara took her goodie bag for her.

On the rest of the train ride the girls nibbled on their goodies and Elise and Luci played house with their chocolate santas.

This year we knew what to expect, so we were ready to jump off the train at the end and find our places in the big building around the corner. We sat at a long table near the front. A man on stage played the piano and sung traditional Christmas carols in both German and English. Kirk got in line to get waffles covered in hot cherries and whipped cream, cocoa, and bratwurst in brotchen. I got out a couple euro for coffee. The tent filled up with people and soon St. Nikolaus and Black Peter walked in and took their places onstage. Then the line formed and children went up one at a time to tell him their name, age, and to perform their talent. Some young ones said their ABC’s and counted. One girl played the recorder. But, most kids sung songs including what I thought was “glowstick,” a song that both Arianna and Luci learned in school and sung a lot at home. Kirk told me later that it wasn’t “glowstick,” but “lustig” meaning happy. Either way, it's a cute song and we've all been singing the tune most of the month.

When it was time to go St. Nikolaus and Black Peter made their way from the stage stopping to shake hands with the children as they left. Arianna and Elise were both happy to shake “Santa’s” hand and Arianna also shook hands with Black Peter, but when Black Peter turned to shake Elise’ hand, she turned away and hid. He is a pretty scary guy and rightly so, as the bad children are supposed to be beaten with the sticks that Black Peter usually carries.

The ride back to Gillrath was nice and uneventful. The kids and Kirk sat inside sipping cocoa and Tiara and I stood freezing in the back taking pictures of the billowing loops of steam spilling into the air as the train went by.

Nikolauslied is the name of the wonderful song that Luci has been singing. The lyrics are below. For more wonderful German children's songs, here's a great site to find them: http://www.kinderreimeseite.de.

Nikolauslied

Lasst uns froh und munter sein
Und uns recht von Herzen freu'n!

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Bald ist uns're Schule aus,
Dann zieh'n wir vergnügt nach Haus.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Dann stell ich den Teller auf,
Niklaus legt gewis was drauf,

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Steht der Teller auf dem Tisch,
Sing ich nochmals froh und frisch.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Wenn ich schlaf, dann träume ich.
Jetzt bringt Niklaus was für mich.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Wenn ich aufgestanden bin,
Lauf ich schnell zum Teller hin.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Niklaus ist ein guter Mann,
Dem man nicht g'nug danken kann.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Usually we like to do crazy shampoo hairstyles in the bath, but today, with especially high bubbles, Arianna decided to make a bubble hat. I can still fit three kids in the bath, but it's all legs and they're starting to get squished, so another month or so and we're going to have to split them up.

Tonight was the IWC Italian night at the Frisbee Club.

Italian colors hung from the ceiling, music played, and an elaborate stage depicted a table at a traditional Italian restaurant. In the background throughout the evening, a slideshow of the Italian Air Force ran and many of the Italian ladies wore their countries colors.

The tables were set beautifully with candles and the lights were dimmed a bit for ambiance. The ladies served us themselves with large silver trays of bruchetta. Then we were each served our own individual small margarita pizza. After we ate, they brought out more pizzas and then foil so we could take some home. The food was great.

Music played - music from Italy, Spain, Brazil, and the U.S. and the ladies danced. We danced to Camisa Negra, La Bomba (different one), Prince, Beach Boys, YMCA, Black Eyed Peas, and a lot of other tunes. It was quite a mix, but all the ladies knew the moves and they knew the American dances better than the Americans did. If you don't want to dance, it is wise to stay in your seat and look completely engrossed in conversation, because those that were up or looking around were led to the dance floor. We danced a lot and had a great time. I stood in a circle of Spanish and Turkish ladies - the only American dancing - looking out into the room of tables. The right side of the room where the Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese ladies sat was almost completely empty. They were all on the dance floor. The left side of the room sat the Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Canadians, and Americans. Those tables were almost completely full with onlookers unwilling to dance.

I really think that the cultures are affected a lot by temperatures. The warmer climates tend to produce friendlier, "warmer" people. They are outdoors more talking with their neighbors and interacting. The women are confident and dancing is part of the party. The people from colder climates tend to be more reserved. They are friendly, of course, but not as outwardly open until they know you very well - and they don't dance much. I suppose the cold keeps people indoors and more to themselves.

After the prizes were rewarded, coffee and cake were served and people began to leave, but the dancing continued. When I left the only people left were the Italians. They all had an Asti toast and started singing with the DJ. It was the own private party then and very fun to see.

I took Tiara to the doctor today, but we entered at the end of the building and were met there and led into the first room by the door so Tiara wouldn't contaminate anyone. One look at her and, "yep, those are chicken pox." One of her friends said she only got 7 spots. Seven! What a lucky kid. Today I counted 42 just on her face and neck. There's at least that many more on her back and torso... poor thing.

But, she's my fashion diva and wearing them well. Tiara, the queen, is donning beautiful pale cream skin dotted in a lovely shade of calamine pink. Each center of the large pale pink polka dots has a pretty red spot in the middle just like a posy. For her hair, she's chosen to highlight it in large oatmeal chunks like dandruff gone wild. It's quite a fashion statement. Walking around in baggy shirts to prevent itching, she is something right out of the latest hobo fashion mag. I'll have to send her photo into the editor.

She's really a trooper and hasn't scratched. Benadryl is helping more than calamine or oatmeal baths.

The good news is that the doctor thinks that we'll still be able to leave for Paris late next week.

I would like to be relaxing with a cup of tea and finishing up the blogs of last week with cute pictures of the kids with Santa, but instead I am in full mother mode with Elise on my lap at 10pm since she's apparently inherited my night-owl gene and would prefer not to sleep. I know that if I cuddle with her, she'll fall asleep, but then, so would I and that defeats the whole night-owl thing that I so love.

There is a certain insane satisfaction in filling up my outlook express calendar. I thrive on back-to-back activities and love knowing that my day is jam packed with stuff to do. This week has been full throttle with a lot of stuff to accomplish and no decent block of time left to squeeze anything else in. I love that. But today I was horribly tired and decided, for once, to shift some stuff around and give myself the morning off. I laid on the couch, put on a movie, and pretended not to know that Elise found the candy in the snack basket (it's put up, but she knows how to scoot chairs and climb), so I had a couple hours rest. Good thing. Tiara's got da pox.

I arrived at the school for a yearbook meeting and saw a bunch of Tiara's friends walking past. "Tiara's sick." Ahhh... so I found my drooping daughter at the other end of the school with her friend who looked equally ill. They were troopers through the meeting, but Tiara was shivering by the end and then I noticed the spots. By bedtime tonight the spots had increased and the itching intolerable. We'll see how this goes. I've never had the chicken pox, nor have her sisters. We've all had the vaccine... but, obviously, that isn't a guarantee for pox-free living.

Kirk arrives home tomorrow after a week long "work" trip in Lincoln, England. So the question is, how many spotty females will he come home to? Should be interesting.

Between local activities and school activites, we have an entire month of Christmas here. It is wonderful. Today Arianna's class went walked over to see Santa Claus on the base. This Santa was particularly wonderful - a large German Santa with bright twinkling eyes, a sweet smile, and a lovely accent. He was great with the kids and really looked like he'd enjoyed all the cookies set out for him the year before. The kindergarten class posed for a photo, then sung a song for Santa - the BINGO song, but with S-A-N-T-A instead of B-I-N-G-O. They had fun. After the photo session, they all colored. Luci, Elise and I got out photos with Santa too - the first time for me in, well, quite a few years.

Luci is, well, Luci. She is uniquely her and unlike anyone I've ever met. Extremely bright and creative, but strong willed and stubborn. She is both the comic relief and the button pusher, but is sweet and sincere as well. So, bearing all this in mind, I'll share Luci's most recent quotes... she is a fountain. And it seems that the drive to school is when her mind is the most free to ponder...

The other day on the way to school Luci and I were talking about the color of our eyes and she asked who had purple eyes. "I don't know anyone with purple eyes," I said, "people don't have purple eyes." To this, Luci replied, "Jesus gave Mr. Potato Head purple eyes."


Another day, but again, on the way to school Luci asked, "Mom, on Saturday can we go to heaven and play with Jesus?"

Both of these questions, of course, led to lengthy discussions. To the first we talked about what God created and what He gave man the wisdom and ability to create. To the second, she was quite indignant to hear me say no. That started the "it's not fair" style argument that is nearly impossible to win. She obviously cared enough to talk to Arianna about it because the next day Arianna asked the same question that led into another quite lengthy discussion of God's will for our lives and that we really have no say in when we go to heaven to play. Whew. Like a little child takes on a whole new meaning with my middle two.

So, that, and moldy pumpkins. While reading stories to the girls all cuddled up on Luci's bed the other night, Luci reaches down into the crack between the bed and the wall where her most special stuffed animals fall and pulled out a very white fuzzy pumpkin. "It was special." So she put in in the crack to "save it forever." The next day she pulled out another old saggy pumpkin. This one she'd colored a face on. This one, thankfully, did not have hair. Good. I like my pumpkins bald.

Today I walked Arianna to the bus and let Tiara stay home from school so we could have a mother/daughter day. It was the best day since Luci was going to a friend's house after school giving us until 3 to get home to meet Aria at the bus stop.

We drove down to Aachen to go to the Christmas market which is always fun, but the weather wasn't particularly cooperative. It spit cold rain at us and the wind pushed us so hard that there was one time in particular that we couldn't move forward at all until the long gust was over. I felt like I was at the beach during a storm, the wind was so strong. Being early on a weekday, the crowds had lessened a little, but there were still large groups of people at the market in spite of the weather. French and British groups were abundant.

So we walked quickly through the outdoor market area and only stopped where Tiara really wanted to stop - the jewelry stands. It was nice though because the cold wet wind forced us to escape inside the shops most of which I'd never been in before. Some of the windows with the 1800Euro purses and coats are intimidating enough, so I don't ever think of going inside... but today we did. I found a dress that would be perfect for the Christmas party that was only 1900 Euro - the sale price! Tiara found a coat that was absolutely beautiful - a mere 438 Euro at 40% off. We didn't buy anything in any of the shops, but it was fun to go in and dream and a few places were actually affordable and places we'll go back to. The truly great thing about today is that we discovered another shopping area that I'd never been to before. We always turn right at the end of the main street to go to the Dom, but today we turned left and found some beautiful shops including a toy store that Elise would like to live in.

I saw the accordion man again and this time my camera timer wasn't on, so I stopped and caught him on film holding his umbrella while playing Italian tunes. Elise got to ride the carousel again. And Tiara and I got our Starbucks fix sitting back in the large comfortable chairs relaxing with our coffees and pretending, for the moment, that we were carefree. It was a good day.

St. Nikolaus Day is on December 6th and is a holiday both here and in the Netherlands. In fact, on the eve of St. Nikolaus Day, Tiara's ballet classes were cancelled due to the holiday festivities. St. Nikolaus looks like what are sold in the U.S. as "old world Santas." He has a long staff with the beautiful long red robes and tall papal style hat. He is a saint, of course, and is dressed for the part. There are lot of stories about St. Nikolaus. One says that a man was too poor to pay for his daughters to marry, so he was going to sell them into slavery, but on each night before he was about to sell his daughter, St. Nikolaus put a bag of gold in through the window, so that the girls could each marry. Another story is that St. Nikolaus had stopped for lunch in a small village, but the flavor of the meat was not right. He went into the kitchen to see what was happening and saw that they were cooking children, so he put a stop to that. It is said that St. Nikolaus was very good and so when it was time for him to die, he was granted one wish. His wish was that he could return to earth one day each year to do something nice for the kids, so on December 5th, each year, children set out their shoes before they go to bed and St. Nikolaus comes by to fill them with goodies.

Our girls each set out shoes at home and sure enough, St. Nikolaus (i.e. Santa, Easter Bunny, tooth fairy) filled them with pens, games and treats. Poor Tiara. Kirk got the little girls up a little early, so they would have time to inspect their loot before school. They bounded downstairs excited to see what St. Nikolaus brought and then, they all ran upstairs shouting to Tiara, who has long outgrown these things, that she needed to some down right away. "St. Nikolaus was here, Tiara! Come look!"

St. Nikolaus also stopped at the schools. Luci came home with a bag with nuts, a clementine, and a couple chocolates. In Host Nation class, Tiara made a stocking and Arianna made a paper bag shoe. Both came home on Wednesday with their shoe and stocking filled with candies that they shared with their sisters.

Kids get spoiled here. It seems there is no end to special children's days and they give out candy all the time. Tante Tinny gives lollies to the girls each time she sees them, but she says it's grape sugar and is healthy. There is no arguing with Tinny.

Every year, or at least most, we make a gingerbread house together as a family. Each daughter gets to decorate a wall and Kirk and I each decorate a piece of roof.

This year I decided that if I was going to make gingerbread, I might as well make a lot, so I volunteered to bake gingerbread for Luci's, Arianna's, and Tiara's classes at school. Thankfully, not all on the same day.

Yesterday I made dough, divided it up into segments for Luci and her classmates, and put it in the fridge. Today I packed up the frosting I'd made, the dough, and a ton of candy and cookie cutters and brought it all into Luci's class so her friends could all make gingerbread cookies. I worked with each of them individually so it went smoothly and all the kids were very well behaved. They all rolled it out and chose a cookie cutter to make a cookie. We baked them right away, then they decorated them at snack time and ate them. It was fun and I think Luci enjoyed it. Then again, it was sugar. Luci always enjoys sugar.

When we got home from Tiara's ballet class tonight we all sat down at the table to decorate the parts of our house. We just used candy canes, red hots, marshmallows, and some hard candy drops, and red vines but the walls turned out pretty cute. When everyone was sleeping I assembled the house, then stood over it, holding it still for a while as the frosting set so it would not collapse. By morning it looked like a hurricane had been through - my first complete failure in gingerbread house construction. The up side was that, now destroys and un-pretty, my family members did not feel the need to wait to eat it and all gobbled it up that day.

I've been using the same gingerbread recipe for years and it's a really good one as long as you don't get caught up folding laundry and leave the cookies in the oven for an hour. Then you'll have gingerbread that truly could withstand a tropical storm and could probably break your jaw as well.

Here's the recipe - don't double it. I doubled it this last time and my kitchen aid went on strike and started throwing dough out the sides before I'd even finished adding all the flour!

In large mixing bowl:

• Beat 1 cup softened butter and 1 cup white granulated sugar at high speed until fluffy. Add 1 cup molasses and 2 egg yolks (save the whites for frosting) and beat until smooth. Continue beating as you add the flour mixture a little at a time. Dough should be stiff and slightly dry.
• Flour mixture to be added slowly above: 6 cups flour, 3 t. cinnamon, 2 t. ground ginger, 1/2 t. ground allspice, 1/2 t. salt.
• Shape dough into two balls and wrap one while not in use. Roll out the other to desired thickness. I like thick gingerbread - 1/4" thick is good. Just keep it even. Use cookie cutters to cut it or press it into a lightly greased cookie mold. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, then let cool for 10 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Royal icing: Combine 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 egg whites, and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar in mixing bowl and beat ingredients on high speed for 5 minutes or until still peaks form and icing is glossy. Tint with food coloring if desired and cover when not in use.

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.

Too much fun leaves very little time to write. I still have piles of laundry to fold and a million other random jobs flocking onto my to-do list. So, blogging is slow, but I have finished half of my France blog and should be posting it tomorrow.

I could have blogged today, but I drove two hours one-way to go shopping. Nuts? Yes. I am. But so are a lot of other American women. For some reason, the American women here go absolutely crazy over Polish pottery. So much so that they frequently plan special trips in which they get up ridiculously early to hop into a crowded van or bus, drive straight through to Poland, shop like mad, then drive straight back.

Unlike many of them, when I go to Poland, I want to see Poland, not just pottery shops. And while I do like some of the pottery, it's not worth driving 10 hours for.

But, in the spirit of being social and hanging out with friends, I drove to Zieke, NL today with Elise and three of my friends to a Polish pottery wholesale distributor who was open to the public today just so we could go shopping. This place is two hours away - almost to Amsterdam, but made the easy drive there, shopped for two hours, then drove back. The place was packed with pottery, American women, and a group of Japanese women. There were too many patterns to count and people were sifting through boxes on the floor. The aisles were narrow and though it was obvious that an attempt was made to organize it, keeping it organized would be a monumental task. I didn't think I'd find anything that I'd really like, but I did manage to find a simple pattern and got a much needed teapot with the matching sugar and creamer. I am excited as all the Asian teapots that Kirk purchased in Korea are much to small to serve tea to a group of friends.

Anyway... I will be posting a lot of beautiful travel pictures soon and filling you in on everything new. Here's a quote from Elise to wrap this up:

ZUCCHINI AND SAUSAGE CASSEROLE
I found this recipe about 4 years ago online and it was such a hit that I make it every Thanksgiving. I usually put in just a bit less sausage than it calls for and milk instead of cream would be a good "healthier" choice. It is also a very good idea to absolutely drain/press as much of the liquid out of the zucchini as possible or the dish will get very watery. The nuts are a wonderful addition and to add a lot of texture - don't leave them out unless you have to!

2 pounds zucchini or yellow squash, coarsely grated
3/4 pound sage sausage
3/4 pound hot sausage
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 to 3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups chopped pecans
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce

Topping
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a wide, 2-quart baking dish, or spray it with nonstick spray.

Put the zucchini in a colander to drain for about 30 minutes or wrap it in a clean tea towel and gently squeeze it to remove the excess liquid. Put the zucchini in a large mixing bowl.

Heat a large skillet and add the sage sausage and hot sausage. Cook until the sausage starts to brown, stirring to break it up. Pour off all but about 3 tablespoons grease. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Combine the sausage and onions with the zucchini.

Stir in the cream, the 1 cup bread crumbs, the eggs, the 2 to 3 cups cheese, and 2 cups pecans. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. The casserole may be refrigerated at this point for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

For the topping, combine the butter, the 3/4 cup bread crumbs, and the 3/4 cup pecans. Sprinkle evenly over the casserole. Bake, uncovered, until hot through, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the top with the 1/2 cup cheese and return to the oven just until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Makes 10 (side dish) or 6 (main dish) servings.

Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining
September 1998
Nathalie Dupree
Viking

Two of Luci's closest friends are sweet Italian girls that go to her school and I've been fortunate enough to become friends with one of the mothers whose willing to use her English a little more.

I think that's one of the mixed blessing things about living here. There truly are some amazing opportunities being in a multinational community like this one where we can share friendship and cultures with people from Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, France, and, of course, Germany. The difficult thing then becomes the language. As many things exist that can transcend that language barrier, a there are a lot of things that rely on the use of words. I've been fortunate with the use of my Spanish language skills to get to know and become friends with several wonderful Spanish women here, but not all the communities are as open or speak English as well (and I certainly can't learn all of their languages). We really are limited in our friendships to those that we can communicate with.

Marica, Martina's mom, is very nice and one of the few Italian women who has been very willing to try to speak English, and so we've enjoyed visiting with her family and felt very honored to be invited to Martina's birthday party today. We were the only non-Italians there.

It was held at Pee Wee's, a favorite party location among many preschool parents of all nationalities. It an enormous room full of climbing things, slides, and every piece of Little Tikes type plastic available. Kids love to take off and explore the ball pits, slides, and myriad of climbing things. Parents love to sit with the endless cup of tar-like coffee knowing that the worst thing likely to happen to their kids, is the complete blackening of the bottom of their socks by the end of the afternoon.

The Italians were all very warm and friendly and even Marica's mom, visiting from Italy, talked to me in her broken English, but we understood each other and where English failed, Spanish worked.

The kids never care what language is used. They just play. Luci ran off with Martina and Federica. Everyone was happy. Then about 20 minutes later Martina and Federica ran back crying and talking quickly to their mom's, shaking their hands as they talked in true Italian style. It was amusing in that it was so typical of kids. Talking over each other to tell their side of the story and arguing over what the other had said. I didn't need to understand Italian to understand what was going on and the one word that did ring out loud and clear was Luci. They were fighting over who got to play with Luci.

Anyway, it was a nice party. We stayed for three hours while the kids did bumper cars and played. The cake was German and all the toys were American. The one unique Italian thing was the Asti toast that is traditional after the cake is cut. The kids were done with the sweets and the adults all enjoyed a toast with Asti. It's a very nice tradition that I enjoy and will probably adopt for my girl's parties as well - something a little nice for the adults.

Even Tiara likes the bumper cars. I don't like the smell of rubber that surrounds that part of Pee Wee's, but it doesn't seem to bother the kids who clamber to ride them again and again. Arianna's a pretty good driver. Luci will have to learn to enjoy public transportation.

On Sunday I'd made jars and jars of my homemade cranberry sauce. Last week I baked the two pumpkin cream cheese rolls that are sitting in my freezer now. On Tuesday I'd assembled two pans of my yummy zucchini dish and the cornbread stuffing. I don't remember now what I did on Wednesday. On Thursday I made pie dough enough for four pies and on Friday I baked the pumpkin and pecan pies, assembled the candied yams, carved mini pumpkins and gourds and filled them with floral foam and created floral arrangements in them. This morning among other things, I baked two Apple Galletes, stuffed the big turkey, and did a whole bunch of scurrying about decorating and cleaning.

Today we had 32 people at our house for Thanksgiving.

Both turkeys were brined the night before. Jeff and Kirk deep fried the 15lb one. The 21lb bird got stuffed and baked. We had regular stuffing and cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and candied yams, green beans and zucchini bake, great gravy, cranberry sauce, two salads, rolls, devilled eggs, stuffed celery, nuts, clementines, ham, a cheesy potato dish, a coconut pie, and all the above mentioned desserts also.

At two the guests began to arrive. The didn't leave until after 7.

I love Thanksgiving and living here has made Thanksgiving even more special because it's one of those few things that is truly American and truly wonderful. Last year I celebrated Thanksgiving in our tiny gasthaus with it's Barbie kitchen, easy bake oven, and refrigerator too small to fit a decent sized turkey even without the shelves inside. This year I still had to contend with a closet sized kitchen, but at least I have borrowed American appliances from the nearby Army base to make cooking in Germany a bit more normal.

I was excited to share this day with my non-American friends this year, so I invited a few people. Of the 32, we had Spanish from Madrid and Spanish from Majorca, a Frenchman with an Italian father from the French-Italian border, a Canadian from Quebec, a German from Frankfurt who now lives in Brussels and his Romanian wife, and then Tinny who used to live in our house and now lives next door. Then of course a couple Texans and a couple New Yorkers, a couple from the Midwest and a couple from the west coast... it was a great mix. Everybody talked together and laughed together. The food was good and it all went well. Everybody mixed well. There weren't any odd moments or uncomfortable quiet times. There were no quiet times at all. The house was full and loud, but wonderful. The only crazy thing is that once food was served, no one left the table. They all stayed and talked as the plates were cleared and even as dessert was eventually served. They were still there. I think our last guests left just after 7:30. Tinny was one of the last which surprised me. She was the only one who couldn't speak English, but there were a few people who could talk to her and when she wasn't talking, she was listening. I watched her as she watched and listened to the conversations, her eyes darting back and forth like a tennis match and her mouth turned up in a warm smile. She enjoyed herself. I think that gave me the biggest feeling of success - knowing that Tante Tinny had a nice time. Of course, I had a lot of helpers. Mom and Jeff were there and they both helped a lot. Kirk helped too. Our American guests all brought things, and it ended up really being a great holiday. Full of family and friends. It was the first time that my Spanish friends or our friends from Brussels had ever had an American Thanksgiving. It was Fabrice' first Thanksgiving too. It is safe to say that they were all a bit shocked by the quantity and everyone enjoyed it. We had TONS of food and sent a lot home with people. Alberto decided that he really likes American food having broken his previous idea that Americans eat burgers and fries all the time.

So, I'm already planning on next year... I'll have to borrow some more chairs because there are more people that I'd like to bring, plus everyone that came this year, but I'll cut down on the number of dishes, because we had almost too many options to fill the plates this year. People were getting full as new dishes were still being passed around with things to try. Next year I'll plan some things for the kids too. They all did great, but towards the end the older non-English speaking kids started to get bored and it was too dark outside for soccer.

So, the star dishes this year were the deep fried turkey of which there were absolutely no leftovers, my zucchini bake that has become an annual treat ever since I first tried it, the pumpkin roll that is also a must-make every year, and the apple galletes that are easier than an apple pie and somehow taste better. I'll try to post recipes here later... but now I'm still trying to play catch up from the visit.

Today was the first day of the Aachener Weihnachtsmarkt, so we had planned on getting up early and heading down to Aachen in time for it to open at 11. We would have been there early, but we needed ice for the two defrosting turkeys in the slachthaus. Ice wouldn't have been a problem a couple years ago. I would have gone the 2 minutes from my home to the 7-11 on the corner for a couple bags of ice. Here - not so easy. Germans don't use ice - at least not whole bags of it. They don't drink coke cold and never put ice cubes in drinks. Milk isn't refrigerated nor eggs. It's just different here.

Knowing it would be a challenge, I went to the expert, my neighbor Tinny. Showing her my filled ice cube tray as a backup in case my German skills didn't work, I asked her if there was a place in town that sold ice cubes. She said no, but mentioned Aldi. So, to Aldi we went looking for ice. The lady looked at me like I was crazy. A bag of ice??? Neeee. Ok, so I went to the Rewe - a pretty good sized grocery store. This lady said they sold the trays and I could make it myself. I asked if there were any places around to buy "eis wurfel." Ne. She was probably shaking her head at the crazy American as I walked off. Truly, I must be nuts to so desperately want a huge bag of ice. As tiny as their toy refrigerators are, I'm truly surprised that ice isn't more common. If I had a refrigerator German sized, I'd have a stack of ice filled coolers in the garage 24/7.

The Natex grocery on base was sold out of ice. By then, it was no surprise why.

So, we ran home, put bags of frozen chicken over the turkeys in the cooler, then left - finally - for Aachen.

The market was the same as it had been last year and probably is every year, winding its way around the Rathaus and down to the Dom. The vendors were the same with the same things and in the same locations, so it was really easy for me to get my bearings and get around. The linens were pretty and there were some very nice ornaments. We looked at jewelry, decorations, wooden cookie presses, glass, wool hats, candy, toys, and a bunch of other things. It was the best market day for me so far since there were very few people there yet and we could walk right up to any vendor and see everything. The weather was perfect and it just felt great to be there. Elise rode a little carousel and I rode with her. She was in a great mood which has been quite a commodity these days since she's reached 2 1/2 years and the truly terribles.

When we got hungry we found the 1/2 meter bratwurst booth and each got a krakauer on a brotchen. The krakauer were shorter... the thin white bratwurst truly was an entire 1/2 meter long - a sight that made a group of high school boys giggle.

Since I had tourists, we had to go to the Dom. I'm not tired of it yet and the agreement was that it is definitely better than the Koln Dom - more special and unique. The tiny tiles set over the entire ceiling and upper walls in intricate mosaics are absolutely mind boggling in their detail and beauty.

This man played the accordion at a church near the Dom. My camera's timer got set on accident, so I kept trying to take a picture and then it wouldn't take, but he just kept looking over and smiling. The printen window near us impressed Jeff. Of all the beautiful Aachen windows, the printen shops do the best job with their elaborate displays of stacked gingerbread, Santa Clauses, and big red balls. It looks like Christmas in those shops all year 'round.

A customary stop at Starbucks finished off the fun portion of our day. And you just can't beat that - shopping and coffee in Aachen. It's always great. After the fun portion? Baking pies... cleaning, cooking... for tomorrow!