The night before Christmas Eve

The boys are all tucked in to bed and Shannon is hard at work in the kitchen getting the fixings ready for tomorrow. If all goes well we will be having tamales with chili con carne and beans for lunch and the boys will be decorating their gingerbread (aka graham cracker) houses. Next year Shannon swears that we will get the gingerbread made and frozen by November.



Check back tomorrow so you can see the finished results of the house decorating and the fruits of our hard labor in the making of the tamales. If all goes well perhaps we will be able to have them more often, you know like once a year instead of once every time we go back to Texas.

Shopping Trip

This morning we took the kids on a surprise shopping trip. We have been planning this for several weeks. We were supposed to head up into the Taunus after the shopping trip but Mother Nature isn't cooperating. It is warmer this week than it has been in over a month, even up high in the Taunus mountains it is too warm for snow. We wanted to go up into the snow fields because this morning we bought a sled, snow saucer, snow pants, snow boots and I finally have a heavy coat. David's only request was that my coat not be black so he can spot me in a crowd, I don't think he can loose me in that green!  Anyway now the kids are anxiously watching the extended weather forecast hoping for snow so they can try out the new gear.  Yesterday was the first official day of winter. I think they will get plenty of chances to use it yet this winter, and next!

OK We're ready it can snow now!

Letting our true colors hang out!

In the mean time the kids are enjoying some outdoor play. It is still very gray and overcast but it isn't too cold so they are outside riding bikes and playing at the playground. When they are inside they have been playing cars and blocks for he last 2 days (TV is STILL dead!). I discovered an old roll of painters tape and used it to make a roadway on the floor. The boys have been building and demolishing cities every since. If you try this make sure you use painters tape not masking tape. Yes, there is good reason for this. Painters tape is low tack so it will come up off the floor easily and leave little or no residue, the bright color is just a bonus. Masking tape on the other hand is very sticky, and leaves mess after you pull it up.

The young hip urban designer considering what to build next.

Wallowing in Christmas

There seems to be so much to do at Christmas time in Germany. Drives into the mountains to play in the snow. Christmas markets in every city and town. Ice skating downtown. Parties and Christmas shows at school and cub scouts. I am beginning to feel a bit like we are overdosing on yuletide spirit. Today's activity was Breakfast with Santa here on the Siedlung. We told the kids to get dressed we are going take a picture with Santa. A few minutes later they showed up downstairs in matching outfits, honestly I didn't plan the outfits, I was too busy sucking down my morning caffine. Colin and Grayson even match down to thier socks. David grabbed the camera to record the cuteness, these were the best of the pictures he took. We left the house a little worried about the photo session with Santa.


While we waited our turn several babies and young toddlers took pictures with Santa. Everyone of the them burst into tears. Poor little things. Last year Grayson looked a little concerned about Santa (and who could blame him?) but this year he climbed right up into the sleigh and smiled up at him. Grayson has caught the Christmas spirit! Santa seemed relieved to have a break from the tears.


In spite of our worries the pictures came out fairly decent. A little red eye but David can probably fix that later. For some reason my red eye correction tool is making everyone look stoned. I finally gave up and left it alone.


Tomorrow we are taking the kids on a surprise shopping trip downtown. You will have to check back to see what we bought.

Snail Mail!

As Dave came in the door I asked, "Did we get any mail?"

I have asked this question every day for the last 2 weeks. About 3 weeks ago the TV died. The parts have been ordered, but have not arrived. The kids get out of school for the holidays tomorrow and I was really hoping to have a working TV. Every day he answers the same thing,"No, not today!"

Today he answered "Yep, here ya go!"

He handed me a package and for a minute I was confused, I sure don't know what to do with TV guts! Then I looked at the address, it was from Jae! We were real life friends long before we were bloggy friends. Mail from home, how fun! When I opened it up inside was a lovely new ornament for my tree and a Christmas card, the first (and likely only one) this year. I already have both on display! Isn't my new ornament gorgeous? It's a silver dove with an quote from Emily Dickinson inscribed on the wing, "We never know how good we are until we are called to rise." Jae is just the best ever!

Since we moved overseas I have a noticed a huge drop in the number of actual paper cards we receive and a corresponding jump in the number of e-cards. Is this just a we moved overseas thing, or is this happening pretty much everywhere?

Here is my moose card holder with his lone Christmas card.

P.S. No we still haven't received the parts for the TV. Maybe tomorrow, I hope!

Wordless Wednesday- Winter Wonderland

Tour Of Homes

December must be my month for joining. First I joined We are THAT family in Share Your Christmas Tree, now I am joining Boo Mama's Tour of Homes. I just can't resist a chance to show off my Christmas decorations one more time!

Before we get started let me tell you a little something about my house. We are on the third and fourth floors of an apartment building in Frankfurt, Germany. An old apartment building with all the charm of army barracks. Our housing was assigned to us. Trust me, I wouldn't volunteer to haul four kids, all the groceries and trash up and down all those stairs every day. Oh yeah, did I mention there is no elevator? The topper is the furniture, which while in good shape and perfectly functional, is not exactly to my taste. OK ready? On with the tour!

Here is the outside view of our Christmas decorations. We can't do much decorating outside for obvious reasons but we do have some lights and the tree up in the windows. I think it is festive. By the way I took this picture at 7:35 this morning when walking the kids to the school bus. Yep, it was still dark. Welcome to Germany!

I already posted pictures of my big tree so I will move onto other decorations. This year I am very pleased with the china cabinet. This is one of those pieces of furniture I used to consider useless until the foreign service stuck me in a house with one. Do you know you don't have to dust all the nick-knacks every week when they are behind glass? Who knew? This year I put the nativity scene plates in it since it is a cabinet designed for dishes. I also set up the Christmas in the woods scene from Charming Tails. I love the way it came out and all of it is safe from sticky little fingers. Woo-hoo!


Here is the mini tree complete with Santa taking a nap. And did you ever see a better use for a vintage deviled egg holder? It's just perfect for holding those hand painted glass ornaments. The cast iron muffin pan is pulling duty this Christmas holding nuts. The kids love to crack and eat nuts. Then they chip the nut bowl by throwing the nut cracker back on top of the nuts. Hopefully they won't manage to crack cast iron!



I tried to get a good picture of the windows to no avail. This is the best I can do. The windows are my favorite this year. I have snow flake window clings as well as hanging ornaments and the kids are working on cut paper snow flakes to add to the mix. We have really wide window sills so I have used them to display all kinds of things. It adds some much needed color to the room.

One of the few pieces of furniture on the house that is mine is the coffee table. Originally bought as a safe display for collectibles it has been taken over by the kids as an ever changing museum of boy treasures. It usually contains a mix of shells, leaves, rocks, and various icky things boys pick up and put in their pockets. However for one month of the year it is Mom's table. I use it to display some of the oldest of our glass ornaments, the very first Christmas card David ever sent me (still love Ziggy!) and what ever catches my eye when I am putting together. I think it comes out lovely.


The kids have their own decorating going on upstairs. They have made several trees out of k'nex. For the large one I am going to give them some old wooden ornaments I made during college and I think they are going to make paper chains to liven it up. Makes a fun project!

















Wow this is a long post, and there is so much I haven't talked about: bows on pictures and sconces, pillows on chairs, stockings on the staircase, bells on door handles, poinsettias in pots, spray snow on windows, and most importantly mistletoe overhead. I could go on and on, but I will stop here and wish you a Merry Christmas!

Share Your Tree!

Kristin over at We are THAT family is hosting Share Your Tree. Join the fun. Post a picture of your tree, and share a bit about your family's Christmas traditions. Don't forget to sign in at We are THAT family if you are playing.

I love Christmas. I love the family traditions we repeat year after year. I love the lights, the color, the music. I love the look on my children's  faces when they come downstairs Christmas morning to find their stockings full, and presents waiting under the tree. This year the kids are begging to sleep under the tree on Christmas Eve. I am not sure how Santa will pull off leaving presents and stuffing the stocking without waking the kids. We will see if that happens.


I am finding that as we move around the world our traditions are changing. A long standing tradition has gone by the wayside this year. Normally we read a new Christmas picture book each evening, but my box of holiday books didn't make it here from Jakarta. Instead we are listening to an old time radio show each night, Cinnamon Bear. It is great fun.

We continue to buy a new ornament for each person, each year. Since we are a family of six that means there are a LOT of ornaments crammed onto our little tree and almost no two are the same.


We used to make a trip to the tree farm to cut our tree every year but when we were posted in Jakarta we found that Christmas trees were in short supply and VERY expensive. Huh! Imagine that. Largest Muslim nation in the world and they didn't have a whole lot of Christmas trees. We gave in and bought a fake tree. I miss the smell of pine, but I will admit it is a lot easier to set up. No stringing lights, just unfold and plug it in. Ready to go. Yeah, I'm no fool. I bought a pre-lit tree.

A new tradition we are starting is having family members play Christmas music on their instruments. David has taught himself a few carols on the piano, Cody as been fiddling around with some tunes on his violin. (sorry couldn't resist). Both Colin and Alonzo can play a song or two on their recorders and the piano. Hopefully by next year I can join in on the guitar and Grayson will be learning piano by then too, although he already pounds on the drums and sings Jingle Bells at the top of his lungs. 

No matter where we go, no matter what changes, Christmas is time for family.

Cody shows his brothers how to make the violin sound just like a dying cat!

It's Official!

Last night when David open his e-mail I knew instantly something good had happened. He finally got the message he had been waiting for. It is official, all the paperwork hoops have been jumped through, all the red tape barriers have been broken. Dave is now a grad student. Way to go babe, we are so proud of you!

Wordless Wednesday -Frankfurt Christmas Market

Holy Smokes!

I was sitting at the computer this morning when a movement in the snake cage caught my eye. Yes, I said snake. Child number 3 got a snake for his birthday. Mom got a snake cage with a padlock for her peace of mind. Snakes, in my opinion, are my cuter when there is absolutely no chance of escape!

Snakes are basically boring pets. Ribbon spends all day, every day, laying very still under a bit of bark hiding from the world. Check out the video below to see what was going on today. Sorry about the quality of the video. The only camera at hand was my point and shoot Olympus. Great little camera, and I love that I can take it into the pool, but it isn't the best video camera ever. Better than nothing though.



Holy Cow, I had no idea she could move so fast. I guess it is time to buy a new fish!

In case you are wondering Ribbon is a ribbon snake. She (pet store guy said it was a she) is about 2 feet long and as big around as a pencil. Really she is cute for a snake but the one time she got loose, I suddenly found myself balance atop the sofa shrieking like a girl, hence the padlock. She is completely nonvenomous, and harmless (unless you are a fish).

This video is basically real time. The only things I cropped out are when I filmed the wall for a few seconds because I was watching Ribbon not the camera, and when I put my finger over the lens, see reason above. I had to pull back a few times because I didn't want to get her upset and have her barf the fish back up. She has done that before and it is gross! From start of the hunt to slithering back to her hidey hole was less than 4 minutes.

Movie night

“Movie night” without the big TV is not the same. Since the TV blew four capacitors and no longer turns on we have resorted to Shannon’s 13” apple to watch movies. The kids don’t seem to mind though and with any luck by next week’s movie I should have the new card for the big one.

Clean Shoes

"Don't forget to clean your shoes!"  This was Colin's announcement of the evening.  It was a weird announcement because Colin never cleans anything voluntarily.  Thank goodness someone had clued me in at Cub Scouts Monday or I might have been worried I had the wrong kid. 

Tomorrow is December 6th.  Here in Germany that means Sankt Nikolaus will be paying a visit to leave a treat in the shoes of good little kiddos, and a prickle for the naughty.  My kids are flexible, they are quick to adopt any and all local customs that promise a chance at extra goodies. Tonight they prepared for Sankt Nikolaus by making sure their shoes were clean and ready to be filled.  Colin in particular really worked hard at cleaning his, even the soles are clean.  

Wonder what they will find in the morning, a treat, or a unpleasant surprise?  Maybe both since they are good and bad in turn. 

Cinnamon Bear, or Life Without TV

The TV died last week, actually my husband assures me that it is merely in ICU and should recover nicely once the capacitor transplant is complete. You have to understand that I have 4 children, while my husband has two extra babies, his 40 inch flat panel LCD TV and his Nikon D40. So the problems with the TV have been somewhat traumatic. To compound the trauma this is the season where we (the kids) watch endless Christmas videos while Mom (that's me) frantically tries to get everything accomplished without losing it and turning into a screaming banshee. Banshees aren't exactly filled with Christmas spirit and can turn unexpectedly violent when provoked by whining children.

Thank goodness for the computer and internet. It has saved the day! I found The Cinnamon Bear while blog surfing last week. Cinnamon Bear is a radio show originally broadcast in 1937. Each day starting on November 29th a 15 minute episode of the story was broadcast with the final episode on Christmas Eve. The first day the kids thought it was lame, by day three they were listening quietly (miracles DO happen) and begging me to play the next days episode early. It isn't too late to add this to your family holiday, just double up a few days to get caught up.

Youtube has allowed for a few minutes of peace when I really need them. If you search Christmas Cartoon Classics it turns up a treasure trove of Christmas classics from long ago. Such wonders as Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936) and Jack Frost (1934) are just a few keystrokes away. This is youtube though, so some parental oversight is required.

Christmas music can be found on the internet too. Mikes Radio World has been providing me with a link to home since we moved overseas. I still listen to many of my favorite hometown radio stations even though we are in Germany. In addition to the many station links from around the world, this time of year there are Christmas Music only feeds with holiday music from many different countries. Instead of watching TV we are listening to a lot of holiday music and breaking out the board games. Maybe we will just leave the TV broken a little longer.

**For a chance to win some international Christmas music on CD head on over to Live From Waterloo and check out the contest.

Wordless Wednesday--Schloss Heidelberg

A Castle and a Christmas Market

Saturday we went to the Heidelberg Christmas market. We could have gone to the one in Frankfurt but we wanted to go someplace new. We didn't actually know where the market is held but we knew it was set up near Heidelberg Castle and we were pretty sure we could find a castle.

I don't know if you are aware, but castles are big. Really really big. From a distance they look impressive in a pretty fairy tale sort of way but up close they are just huge. We didn't see the market so we decided to explore the castle first then go looking for the market later in the day.  After all we had the whole day with out the kids.  We could do what ever we wanted.  From one of the terraces in the castle we could see the Christmas market set up in the town below.

The market was fun, if a bit touristy and crowded.  We wandered around looking at the stuff for sale.  Lots of Christmas decorations, knitted hats and scarves, candles, and of course lots of food and drink. I drank some gluhwein (traditional mulled wine, warm and yummy) and shared a pastry with Dave.

I am glad we didn't take the kids with the crowds it would have been hard to handle. There were some things for the kids to do though. There was ice skating, don't you love the little penguins for the tiny ones to hold on to so they don't fall? A little train named  Rio Grande, we thought this was funny since we are from Texas where the Rio Grande is located. There was also a merry-go-round. And of course there was food and kinderpunsch for kids to enjoy. 

After we had our fill of crowds and Christmas cheer we set off to explore the shopping scene. There were lots of fun shops to explore. It made for a relaxing afternoon. We ended the day with a visit to a bookstore, an English language used book store, my very favorite kind. I found a new used book to read and we headed home. We will be back to explore the castle with the kids another day.