Christmas is in the Air

Yesterday we took a drive into Germany. We live an hour and a half away from the border, so day trips to Germany are not difficult to do. We drove to Dusseldorf to experience a Christmas Market. Nearly every town in Germany holds these markets this time of year, Dusseldorf was one that was recomended. There were 3 or 4 different areas around the town set up with "Christmas stands" selling food, jewelry, nutcrackers, pottery, and other christmas type goods. Another stand which was very popular was for gluhwein, a warm, spiced wine. There was also a carousel which Jason and the kids took a spin on. This would have been a very fun outing if it wasn't for the rain that came pouring down after we had been there a mere 20 minutes. Luckily we were prepared with raincoats and umbrellas, but we couldn't really enjoy ourselves. So our trip to the Christmas Market was cut short and we returned home. We were put into the Christmas mood though and listened to Christmas music all the way home. Then today, we put up the tree and Christmas decorations. The kids were so excited to do the tree you would have thought it was Christmas morning! Now for the next few weeks I will be listening to "When is Santa coming?" and "Is it Christmas yet?"

First Holiday Away From Home

Thanksgiving has come and gone without a turkey in sight. It was like any other Thursday, the boys even had school. Jason was in Germany so the kids and I had left over pasta for dinner. Sad really, but even if I wanted to do the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings I wouldn't be able to. You can get a turkey here if you order it from the butcher ahead of time, but when you get it you have to finish plucking it and cut it's head off yourself. Potatoes are not hard to come by, but sweet potaotoes and stuffing are another story. Forget about canned pumpkin. If you want a pumpkin pie, you best buy a pumpkin and start gutting it out. I talked to one mom from the boy's school who said they were having turkey burgers because that's all she could come up with. Now there are a few families here who work for the Embassy and have access to the military base stores. I am sure they had a nice Thanksgiving meal. They can even get zip lock bags and Kraft Mac N Cheese at the military base stores. Fortunately, we will have a Thanksgiving dinner, just a couple weeks late, when we come home to visit. We just need to make sure that it is early enough during our visit so we can enjoy leftovers too.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

We have watched this DVD one to many times as evident by our experience trick or treating last night. We went out at 6 o'clock joined by two of Brooklyn's classmates and their parents. The kids were all very excited. We got to the first house and the boys followed the "older kids" up to the door. They said "trick or treat", were given the candy and came running back to us saying "mommy look!". It was tuff getting them to stay focused on the task at hand and forget about the loot they were collecting. After a few houses, Carter seemed sad, disappointed with what was going on. The problem? He hadn't received a rock yet. He even started asking the people passing out candy for rocks. They were confused, obviously they had not seen "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" recently. Due to watching this movie, Carter was under the impression that he would be collecting rocks in his bag, not candy. I personally don't understand why Charlie Brown was only given rocks while he was trick or treating, but it seemed like a great thing to Carter.