Christmas festivities

In early December we visited the Darmstadt Christmas market.

 

The giant Pyramidin has a Nativity scene that goes around and around. If I am inappropriately capitalizing nouns, I apologize... that happens to me in Germany sometimes.

 

We ate yummy food, which is our go-to Christmas market plan, Flammkuchen and crepes.  We also bought some treats to take home- spiced pecans and walnuts.  And let the kids pick a ride to go on.

 

That's just ducky.

 

I think Charlotte has gotten a bit old for this scene, but she is not convinced.

After we left the Christmas market, Rob wanted to show us something new he saw at Mathildenhohe.  This is an artist colony in Darmstadt that I used to love to visit when we lived in Germany last time.  It's a new building installation, made of wood and recycled car parts.  It was pretty awesome. 

 

And one of the bumpers had this sticker on it.  "No kids with goofy names on board." Why not "am Bord" Germans?  I dunno, we see a lot of English/German mixes on signs lately, but I thought it was funny.

 

Charlotte and Toby had a Winter concert at their school and it was very cute.  Toby even sang two songs in German with the other German immersion kids. I forgot to take the camera and Charlotte was mad at me.  I offered to take their picture when we got home and this was the end result.  Clearly, I haven't been able to convince the kids of the value of just being in the moment sometimes and not always having a camera in hand.

 

In December, we said goodbye to Bingo.  He was re-homed by the rescue that we adopted him from because we simply could not handle him. He chewed constantly, but not on the items we bought him to chew.  In fact, he flat out snubbed the Kong stuffed with peanut butter in favor of the stairs and moldings.  He was a lot of dog to deal with, and required CONSTANT attention and caused constant stress, and the kids were not sad to say goodbye to him.  The same day he moved out, we went and bought a Christmas tree.  (We had been waiting until that day and as you can see there are no tears.)

 

Christmas itself was so calm and cozy.  Once again, I didn't pull out the camera, but cooked, baked cinnamon rolls, and cuddled my babies.  Rob played every board game the kids asked him to and we enjoyed staying in our jammies and spending the day together.

 

The day after Christmas we put together Pie Face.  Yes, Jake got this game for Christmas, and yes we all played it.  This occasion did require a camera.

 

The kids loved it. Especially because Daddy was the first to get it.

 

At first Jake didn't want to play, but then he insisted on continuing to turn the handle until he got smacked.  He now wants to invite all of his friends over and "smack them in the face with my game."

 

I did ask the kids what their favorite gifts were and Jake's was HANDS DOWN this homemade soccer trophy that Uncle Mark made for him, followed by his Star Wars tent. Toby's favorite is Battleship. Charlotte's favorite is a giant stuffed Polar Bear (bigger than her) and second place is Elsa and Anna Barbies. Amelie says her favorite is Legos, even though she didn't technically get any Legos.She does seem to really like her Little Red Riding Hood doll. (If you flip it over the other side has Grandma and the Wolf.)  

It just reminds me how very little it takes to make these kiddos happy at Christmas time and I am thankful for the simplicity of our celebration this year. Every time I set up this Nativity scene some little hands rearrange it so that all are gathered around the baby Jesus.  I realize my Nativity won't always look like this, and I want to remember it, because it is so sweet. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!