December without Pictures

Why does Blogger Hate Me?!
I am having a time trying to upload pictures...grr.  I am not liking the blog right now.  I tried to google the answer (I am missing the button that says browse for pictures) and it looks like it is a blogger problem.  Who knows if it will ever be fixed.  I can tell you all about December, but it is better with the pictures. 

December was super busy with all the stuff that the kids were involved in.  We were also trying to go to as many Christmas markets as possible.  It didn't help that December started out bitter cold.  We went to two different Christmas markets and would have liked more, but the weekends were filled with necessary shopping and scout campouts.  The Trier market was crowded and cold, but filled with amazing smells and food.  It had a huge spinning pyramid with moving animals on it (not real).  The other market was St. Wendel's.  Darin took a day off and we went during the afternoon with only 3 of the kids.  It was fun with lots of different nativities around and live reindeer.  My favorite part of St. Wendels market was the "Elf Village."  Scary little elf dolls that moved and reminded me of my childhood when I would walk through Valley Fair Mall at Christmas time and see the moving dolls then.  These elves were scary looking.  There were numerous little houses...elves dancing, elves at the barber, elves in a bakery,  elves at home, elves dropping their pants...the naked elf sauna, the elf sex shop...HONESTLY!! It was hysterical!! I couldn't stop laughing as Darin and I tried to shoo Jag and Noah away from the Elf Red Light District.  Oh, the Germans.  The naughty elf dolls were followed up by creepy large elf men who did bathroom humor tricks.  Yes, one large elf grunted and grunted until he fake pooped in the other elf's hand.  This was a market unlike the others.

We also went to our little village market where Noah and the other Kindergarten Kinder sang songs to open the market.  Then a really tall and skinny Sankt Nikolas  passed out large gift bags to all the kids.  I will miss German Christmas Markets a lot.  You never know what you are going to find.

We did all the traditional stuff.  We built our Christmas trains and gave gifts to our neighbors.  We once again sat and visited for at least an hour in our little neighbors' house trying to have a conversation.  It is frustrating and at times awkward, but one of my favorite things.  I also taught the boys how to dip chocolates.  I made a bunch of "centers" and they each got to make their own chocolates.  It was fun and it is something that I want to pass on to the kids.

We went to a Christmas band concert and listened to Christmas music constantly.  It was a very busy and fun Christmas season.  By the time Christmas eve arrived all the snow and bitter temps were gone.  Herr Cappel, my cute little neighbor, said that we were having the warmest Christmas eve ever.  He said it would be a white Easter because of it.  I really hope not.  I say warm, but really the temps were only in the 40s.

Christmas day was wonderful.  The kids were so happy and excited.  I loved just sitting and watching each child as they enjoyed their day.  It was a very good time for all.  And I got new shoes...always a good thing. Oh, and ABBA Gold.  ABBA reminds me of my parents' 8 track and listening to it while I cleaned their bathroom.  I should have gone to the museum in Stockholm! Dang.

We had hoped to go to Italy after Christmas, but the friends that we were going to go with totally backed out on us had something come up.  So we didn't get an adventure.  We did get lazy mornings sleeping in, afternoons watching movies,  visits with friends, and time together.  It wasn't all bad.  In fact it was a really great December.