Christmas Day Dinner Or the Geldern Chainsaw Massacre

As opposed to the majority of other English-speaking kids, Sophie slept in until about 9 am on Christmas Day.

After some playtime with the new doll house and Ariel Barbie, we headed over to a nearby restaurant to meet with my sister Anke and her family for a Christmas lunch buffet. 

When we took a shortcut through the bushes and behind the patio from the parking lot to the restaurant we got the German stare. An entire family seated near the window turned around in unison to watch us do the forbidden. I swear one uncle spat out his soup. It must have been quite the boring family gathering if we were the attraction...

 Sophie and Kiron were certainly happy to see each other again. They spent a lot of time catching up under the table.

After lunch we headed back for coffee to my mum's house. More presents were exchanged for the kids. Kiron received by far the coolest toy. Yes it's a chain saw! And he had the word down fast, walking around saying: Kettensäge - he he.

Putting Some JOY into German Christmas

Today, one of my sister Berit's wishes came at least partially true: she has wanted her siblings to celebrate Christmas together at my mum's house in Geldern. Well, this had not been an option for me for years, as I could never take time off over the holidays. So I quit my job in September and here we are. Not all siblings there at the same time, but in stages over the next few days. 

Andrew, Sophie and I took the train to my mum's on the night of the 23rd. I got a few smiles for the Santa hat. Some Germans take this Christmas business very seriously. Since Christmas Eve is the big day and Santa has to magically deliver all of his presents to the German kids in a very short time span between church and dinner and not before it gets dark of course, we decided to come up a night early to get the English/American Christmas Eve feel full of anticipation and last minute tasks. We brought English Stilton and some good port (it was 'sweet' enough so that my mum would drink it as well) and enjoyed confusing Andrew with ever new rules to the board games we played. He thinks it's a mean German trick. 

So here are a few pictures of our not so white but very fun Christmas in Germany. I'm still sorry about the picture quality.

 Thank you auntie Sandra for sending Sophie this beautiful outfit. She took such good care of it that she was able to wear it again on Christmas Day. 

 Three generations.

 Happy times ... and off to church (!) for the kindergarten nativity play. Sophie was mesmerized, especially since her friends from her Geldern preschool were performing. 

 When it was getting dark, Andrew, Sophie and I went for a walk trying to spot Santa. It felt very cold, but we had to stay out for a little while. Only to find out that we had missed Santa! If only we had stayed home, we would have seen him drop of all of these presents!

 Oh, and Santa knew exactly that Sophie wanted a doll house.

 Andrew's present: a bottle of Laphroaig single malt. I don't think he liked it one bit.

 My mum stuck on the floor while...

... the three big kids played with the doll house. 

We had a relaxed and happy evening together filled with good food (raclette), drink, laughter and games. And although we missed our family and friends in California, it was nice to celebrate Christmas in this constellation for a change. If we ever host Christmas at our house in future years, we might ask Santa to come during the night while we are sleeping, however. That way we will not have to come up with some weird explanation why the NORAD Santa tracker showed Santa only over Russia when in reality he had already been at our house in Germany. 

Christmas Caroling in Kindergarten

It was Sophie's last day of preschool before a one week break over the holidays. The children had invited the parents to come for the last half hour to listen to some Christmas carols.

"In der Weihnachtsbaeckerei" (At the Christmas Bakery) - I love how the chorus was always very loud (so much that the teacher sometimes had to tell the kiddos not to shout), then the verses started out fairly strong and petered out towards the end where the memorization was not that strong. 

By now this tune has been burned into our brains. Sophie sings it daily thinking of ever new verses to it, some of which have nothing to do with Christmas. 

 After the singing, there was lots of dancing to "Feliz Navidad." We felt like we were back in California.

 The boys were literally fighting over Sophie.

I managed to negotiate one dance, while the boys were waiting for her.

My camera is temporarily out of order, which leaves me with my phone camera. Sorry about the quality.

Decorating Our Christmas Tree

After the ice skating it was time to decorate our Christmas tree. We found a fitting angel for the top of the tree at the Christmas market - not easy to find here. 

So here is our very American tree - not at all like your perfectly matching German tree - but we like it very much.

Thank you Nanny and auntie Sandra for the beautiful ornaments. I'm amazed they didn't break before they went up on the tree - she played so much with them.

Picking Our Christmas Tree

Today we drove out into the middle of nowhere past Geldern, got lost a couple of times, to pick up our Christmas tree. Unlike in the Bay Area, there aren't many places out here that will chop down the tree for you right there and then. I was really glad we found this place. 

 It was almost getting dark and a major storm was forecast for the next day - very eerie.

Sophie on the hunt for the tree that was calling our name. 

Ringing in the 2011 Christmas Market Season

One of the things I've been looking forward to the most this holiday season: Christmas markets galore with all the yummy smells of Bratwurst, potato pancakes, crêpes, roasted chestnuts, sugar-roasted almonds, and of course Gluehwein. And for once the best part: it's cold enough here for it to taste right!

 Sophie discovered her new Christmas market favorite: hot chocolate with whipped cream.

She's a pro at this now.