ROBIN HOOD

Being the Robin Hood fans that we are (our good friends the Axtells are from Nottingham!), I bought tickets months ago for a performance in German at the famous StaatTheatre in Wiesbaden. It was in German, but we did pretty well following along. It was very festive down in the central area-this photo is about a 20 min walk from our house!

Christmas Preparations..WINTER PERFORMANCE

I have spent a few days down at the Wiesbaden Christmas market. It is so festive and traditional....just all that I love about the season. I heard about a book called "Unplugging the Christmas Machine" that I plan to read while home. Anyone read it?? I think Chris and I have done a good job of remodelling our Christmas. More focus on being together, baking, seeing, doing, advent calendars, advent wreaths, simpler decorating. I plan to continue this while in the states and its something my sisters and I share. We are all going to a children's service together on Christmas Eve...there will be 15 of us. Im really looking forward to this!!

Layne had her WInter Performance at School. She was the child who got to welcome everyone and then thank everyone for coming. She LOVED the microphone and all her "roles" and when the principal came up..she stuck close. WHAT A HAM!!!!

Dec. 6 St. Nicholas

St Nicholas came last night! In Germany, children leave their boots out on Dec. 5 for St Nicholas lto come and fill with some sweets, treats and maybe a small present. Luke and Layne left their Christmas lists in their boots and recieved chocolates, a pocket knife for Luke and a doll sweater for Layne.

Its really nice preparing for Christmas here. My German teacher broughtme a small box of homemade traditional Christmas cookies. Very sweet. Its all about the preparation-advent wreaths everywhere, advent calendars for the children, old fashioned Christmas markets, its just very "old world" and a welcome change from the consumerism/ flash/and over stimulation of some Christmas in our past. We are looking forward to flying home and spending the holiday with our families. I can actually say that I am looking forward to Christmas this year ( and most of you know in the past it was NOT my favorite holiday.) I encourage everyone to prepare their hearts and spirits for the season.

Snow in Wiesbaden

Its been snowing a lot lately...to the right is our house and above is the castle which is across the street

THANKSGIVING

Something is up with my camera, these photos didnt come out very well. We had a very low key Thanksgiving. CHris saved the day, he took off work to make the turkey! We invited our friends The Coffey's ( who are from RIchmond) and my friend Wendy and her two children, ELiza and Henry, over to share the meal! EVERYONE contributed which was great ( I was feeling a bit flu-ish and only had to make 1 casserole and set the table-easy!) We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole, cranberries, gravy, green beans, corn, chocoloate cupcakes (vegan, thanks Wendy!) and pumpkin pie!


Luke and his friends Sy, Davis and Henry!

Here they are, my only two friends in Germany !( as you guys know, I'M PICKY!!!!!) Wendy on the left and Jessica on the right.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Day of Thanks!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Ok, Im going to need to check the spelling on that! CHris had a conference in Sonthofen in the Alps, so the kids and I drove down to meet him so we could visit this famous castle. It has such an interesting history and was the inspiration for the Disney Cinderella castle. Its probably the most famous castle in the world! It was a rainy/cold snowy day=no lines!!! That night the snow really started and we ended up with almost a foot of snow!!! It was very dreamy- snowy day in the German Alps!

ST MARTINS DAY Nov. 11

Still waiting for Halloween photos so you get a GERMAN holiday- ST MARTINS DAY!

The history and meaning of the day is here:

http://www.travelsthroughgermany.com/website2/stmartinsday.htm

We had planned to go to a procession in Naurod about 10 minutes away, but Layne is still recovering from a bug, so we decided to have our own procession. Along with Angel, we lite our lanterns and went for a walk thru the Kurpark. Layne sang the "lanterna" songs she had learned in her German classes. (Oh, and we ate M and M's!) It reminded me of our homeschooling days--the night was crisp and quiet....we really enjoyed our time. (Missing daddy who is travelling)

Luke made a POKEMON lantern