Merry Christmas!

OK, so it was like asking for a miracle on our street to try to get a good Christmas picture of all of us and

the girls, but at least we did get a couple in the end!

Carly was a sweet Mary in the Nativity at the Catholic Church's service on Christmas Eve.  Her only wish was that she could've said more than, "Shh, you'll wake the babe."  Last year everything was so new.  This year, I felt much more comfortable.  It was nice seeing so many people we knew and knowing the German Christmas songs better.  I was feeling pretty good about myself until someone asked me a question I couldn't understand.  When Myles translated, "They're asking if you feel integrated," I felt pretty silly.  Oh, well. 

Here's our Advent's "Circle" with all four candles lit and a very small sampling of the German Christmas cookies we received.  One neighbor made 12 different kinds and shared some of each of them with us!

After everyone was finally better from being sick, we had fun making some American cookies to share.  Here Macy's helping me roll some dough for snowballs, a cookie I remember making when I was a kid.  I also had fun substituting cranberries for raisins and adding orange sugar to our oatmeal raisin cookies to make them more festive.  Although, we did re-discover that Carly must be allergic to orange peels.

Carly found some cute gift ideas online and went to town!

 

We enjoyed acting out the Nativity at home multiple times, one of our favorite traditions.

 

The homemade gift surprises were definitely my favorite.

The girls are so creative and resourceful.  Other gifts included a homemade snow globe, a book with a make your own snowman kit, picture frame...

This is a sculpture Carly made with her class on a field trip to the art museum.

This year, we also enjoyed going to a big Christmas Market (unfortunately, I didn't have our camera with us) and Christmas caroling.  It is fun that we know our neighbors better.  One couple had a sled waiting for the girls when we came to visit.  Now, we're just praying for snow!

So, is it a Hansel or a Gretel?

Um, we're not really sure ourselves.  I guess the baby didn't want us to know quite yet, so you'll have to stay tuned 'til next month.

We were happy to see that the baby is healthy and growing well.  I have been able to start feeling some movement this week, which is exciting.  In just one week, we will have experienced this, Carly's B-day, our 13th Anniversary, and Christmas!  What a busy, but wonderful time of year.  We have much to be grateful for.

9 on the 9th

This year, we had a Kegeln party with Carly's friends. This is German bowling with 9 pins, which was extra fun since she turned 9. It makes it easier for kids that the balls are smaller and the lanes are shorter compared to American bowling. We had the small place all to ourselves for most of the time, which was nice. Since Carly is not a frosting fan (I know, Gram would be sad), she opted for "American" banana muffins, which everyone really liked. Macy and I had fun finishing a book for her that she had started with Grammy when she was visiting. It was Macy's idea to use a brightly colored little ice cream spoon to hold over her illustrations to find hidden pictures. Robyn had fun picking out some books for her on the Kindle. We had fun celebrating our "Christmas" baby. Carly continues to be caring and creative. In her spare time lately, she finds cool crafts on Youtube and then whips them up for us as presents. Thanks to Gram for the supplies. (She has really taken off with German and reading this year and has found some great friends. We are grateful to have her in our family!

Christmas (and baby) Countdown

Advents is really big here.  Here is an advents "circle" we made.  Every Sunday before Christmas, we get to light another candle.  Then, we enjoy something together as a family, like a special dinner, a Christmas poem or song, or playing games.  We also have a quote/scripture a day Advents calendar that Robyn made in her religion class at school, a matchbox house Advents calendar with a little surprise for every day, and a chocolate/coloring Advents calendar.  I think we're set!  Oh, yeah, and the kids all have one in their classrooms at school, too.  We still laugh about Carly coming home last year telling us that we needed to send her with matches to school.  Every kid got to light their own candle on their desk!

Here is a wreath Macy made and gave to her school teacher, which she hung on her classroom door.

Gingerbread house Hansel and Gretel style.

The girls with a couple friends who sang a song about a Christmas bakery for the Christmas party at our church.  They also sang Mele Kalikimaka and Six White Boomers.  (Myles' grandma is from Australia and taught us that one).

The girls are really good about letting me know that I'm getting bigger every day and are sure to document it with pics.  We'll be finding out soon if we'll be having a boy or another girl.  What's your guess?

Robyn caught this moment of pure concentration while we were making some Christmas cards.

The parents got to join the kids in Carly's class for their Christmas party.  It was really nice with the theme of peace and friendship.  They told a story, taught  about the Nobel Peace Prize, and shared what peace meant to each of them.  Hanging above them are socks they each brought for their Advents calendar, which included a friendship bracelet for each of them.

Our First Snow

We were so delighted to wake up to snow!  It was beautiful, and we usually get rain here.  Since it was a Sunday morning, and we were on our way to church, the girls put snow pants on under their dresses and had fun playing while we waited for the train. 

We've already gotten more snow this year than we did all of last year.  So, it's been fun!

 

Thanksgiving--German Style

We had a mini Thanksgiving feast this year with a few friends.  Everything was a little bit different from what we're used to, but still yummy.  We had a duck, mashed (German) potatoes, rolls, and pie. 

We continued our tradition of taking turns sharing what we were thankful for, which is quite a lot this year!

Grammy & Granddad's Visit

We were so glad to get to see Myles' parents again!  Myles' dad actually lived here about 45 years ago as a missionary for our church.  I was amazed how much German he could still understand.  Every time he tried to speak German back to people, though, mostly Spanish came out.  (He and Janell recently returned from a mission together to Panama where they taught youth piano).  Janell had fun picking up some of the language while she was here, and speaking Spanish to our friends from Mexico and Brazil (Spanish being their 2nd language).

We had fun showing them places we already knew, exploring new places together (like Speyer, Ludwigsburg, and the Karl Benz Museum), reading chapter books and picture books with the girls they brought (in English), making American goodies like cinnamon rolls, having sing alongs, trying new foods, visiting the girls' schools (Janell was quite brave dressing up as The Cat and the Hat to read to their English classes, and play her guitar and sing with them), playing at different playgrounds and in the leaves, carving pumpkins, feeding the old jack-o-lanterns to the buffalo, eating Berliners...just being together!