Nikolaustag

The girls have had a fun filled day celebrating St. Nikolaus. When they awoke, they checked their boots outside our door and found numerous goodies and treats tucked inside each one along with other chocolates next to their boots. They compared with each other what was in their own boot as they emptied them and then selected a treat for school before putting the rest of the goodies in a basket.


At school, St. Nikolaus visited Emmie's class. They sang songs together and then each received a stocking filled with fruit, nuts, and little chocolates. 

In the afternoon, we visited the Wiesbaden Christmas Market. While we were strolling around, we saw St. Nikolaus by himself. Even though he was heading in another direction, he stopped when the girls approached him and talked with them for a few minutes. Afterwards, he gave them each a little bag filled with nuts, chocolate, and a carousel ride token. Taking a ride was a great surprise for them to end our time after walking around another market.

In the evening, the Wendel family invited us over for a holiday gathering. After we indulged in delicious homemade holiday treats, the doorbell rang. When they answered the door, it was Eric who just arrived from being out of town. A few minutes later there was a loud knock on the balcony shades. This caught the girls by surprise and when the blinds were opened, St. Nikolaus was standing there. This instantly brought screams of joy and excitement along with many smiles as all of the girls recognized him. 

When he came indoors, he chatted with the girls and then informed Adeline and Emmie he has been to Michigan and then Stuttgart and he was happy to finally find them here in Hofheim. Adeline, Emmie, and Hanna just stood and listened to him in awe. He then brought out his book that keeps a record of each child's behavior. 

Adeline's name was first as she was the oldest. He discussed the good things she has been doing and some areas she needs to improve upon. She listened very intently while he spoke to her. When it was Emmie's turn, she shied away a little bit while he was addressing her, until he discussed her thumb-sucking habit and then she had to come and show him her thumb. Hopefully, St. Nikolaus can help us stop this habit. Hanna was a trooper and immediately gave him her pacifier when he asked for it, so we hope this be a clean break of her habit. 

The girls sang a song for St. Nikolaus when he was finished reading in his book. When it came to handing out presents from his large sack, little Marie understood this portion very clear and was so excited with each present that sometimes she forgot when there was more than one given to her. Before St. Nikolaus left, the girls sang one more song and then all of them hastily opened their gifts.

The Wendel family hosted a fabulous St. Nikolaus gathering.  We had a wonderful time sharing in their holiday tradition and are very grateful and thankful they invited us to partake in it with them and experience one of the joys of the season.

Case of the Missing Boot

Sunday afternoon, we walked to downtown Hofheim when it was misting to enjoy our town's Christmas market. We also had some boots to find as an organization partnered with various city businesses for a children's boot search on the eve of  St. Nicholas Day. We gave the organization one of each girl's boot the previous week and now had to search throughout the display windows for their other one. 

When we reached downtown, the rain was still light and we carefully searched in each window for their boots. We listened to the Jazz band while taking a break from our search. We walked through town  in the mist that had turned into a shower inspecting the windows and over to the mall to find out it was closed. It was not until the last street on our loop, we found Emmie's boot in the bookstore. 

Her boot, #272, was filled with candy and nuts and there was a wrapped book next to it. She was super excited to pick it up on Monday, St. Nicholas Eve. On our way back through town, we stopped for a some festival food as the rain had finally stopped. Eric then took Adeline over to the mall to try to get inside to see if they could find Adeline's boot as she was in distress about her boot being lost. They entered and exited through the parking garage for the movie theater and searched the interior, but did not find it. 

Monday morning, while I was in class, my mom searched the downtown again and could not find it. On our way home, we marked off each business on our checklist as we checked out the displays and still did not locate it. It was not until late in the afternoon on one final round of searching, I checked the hair salon at the mall that had a window on the outside of the mall away from the main entrances did I find Adeline's boot. She was so thrilled and happy to know her boot was not missing and enjoyed the treats inside. 

Amongst the Rain

The rainy days have continued, but we have not let it dampen our holiday spirit. Friday evening, we pushed our way around Frankfurt's Christmas Market. We knew it was going to be crowded when we crossed the busy street and saw the lines of buses, but then we felt the crowd as we quickly found ourselves amongst the tour groups when we turned a corner after browsing a few booths. We did locate some good food and glühwein served in collector boot shaped mugs out of the main traffic to make the most of the chilly evening.

Saturday, we traveled to Michelstadt, a historic old town deep in the forest that has a quaint Christmas market. On our drive there, the weather was clear, but as we parked the car, the drizzle began. Under umbrellas, we walked around and stopped for a beverage to wait the downpour out, but it only seemed to get heavier. We then had lunch with hopes  the rain would clear, but even after an hour wait for potato soup, the rain appeared to be coming down heavier. We weaved our way through the rest of the neat timber framed town and journeyed back home. 

Advent Outing

Emmie's kindergarten class celebrated the beginning of Advent with an outing. In the afternoon, the teachers planned for the children to decorate a tree in the forest with food for the animals, so we met near the edge of the woods at a restaurant. Fortunately, it was not raining; however, the ground was muddy because it has been raining for the past week. The teachers, children, their parents, and even a family's dog, along with the wagon filled with tree decorations and drinks in tow started down the path to kick-off the event. 

We had walked about 75 yards when the group came to a halt as a rope was across the path. Apparently, very recently the city decided to start cutting down trees in the area as it was not marked off earlier in the week when the teachers came to select the perfect tree for this activity. After some discussion, the plan was to find a new tree to decorate. This now meant hiking through the forest, climbing over downed trees and through piles of wet leaves. After we made our way three quarters of the way around the restaurant grounds, a tree was found. As the children began decorating it, the dog began eating the carrots and apples, so the dog was quickly leashed as the food was intended for the forest animals.  When all of the animal food was dispersed, the children sang a few songs and we munched on cookies the parents carried out with them along with some of the hot orange juice to keep us warm. The girls played for a few minutes on the playground, before we concluded the activity.

In the evening, the girls were excited about starting their advent calendars and opening the first door. This fun task seemed to mark the official start of the countdown to Christmas for them.

Christmas Market Tour

 My mom joined us this season to enjoy the Christmas Markets. I planned out a Christmas market itinerary for us around the girls' school schedule. Tuesday afternoon the tour began with a visit to Mainz. The weather was cool and misting, but we did not let it damper our outing. 

We first indulged in fresh roasted nuts as the aroma could not be resisted and then numerous other seasonal foods to warm us up. As we glanced at the booths, Adeline found a new purse and my mom found some gifts. I found my Christmas present from my family, a beautiful natural wood three tier nativity scene pyramid. After inspecting the pieces over, the lady carefully packaged it in a box for me to take home.  All of us girls were grinning on the way home with our treasures we had found in Mainz.

Wednesday, we quickly picked the girls up from school and caught the train to Cologne. Since Emmie fell asleep as we arrived in the big city, we let her continue napping which gave my mom the opportunity to tour the large cathedral. We then proceed to the first themed market in Cologne which was next to the Cathedral. The wood booths were classically decorated with red roof awnings outlined in lush green garland. We were looking forward to our return in the evening for an amazing sight when it would all be lit up.

Our stroll then continued over to the old city market. This market area, definately gave you the feeling  of  a historic market and the numerous decorative wood figurines scattered about added to the atmosphere. We stopped for a snack and then afterwards we took a ride on the carousel. Since the sun had set and it was getting dark out, the view was spectacular from above with the festive lights glowing throughout the market. We made our way back to the Cathedral and strolled one more time through the Cathedral's market, enjoying the festive beautiful atmosphere. We stopped in a little cafe before catching the trains back home. 

1st Advent

The Advent season began this weekend, so our days were filled with many Christmas spirited activities. Saturday afternoon, we met up with our friends in Bad Homburg to enjoy the first Christmas market of the season. We strolled inside the castle grounds and around the little park enjoying the tastes while browsing the booths for gifts. 

Sunday morning the children sang, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" in church before attending Sunday school. Adeline and Emmie were excited to sing and act it out as they have been practicing it all month.

Sunday afternoon, Adeline's school choir was one of many participants in a benefit concert for the Hofheim Music school. The concert was held in an old church in Marxheim and consisted of songs, instrument pieces, and a few musical acts. It was longer than we had expected, but it was nice to listen to the children sing and hear the various instruments.

We finished the weekend festivities by lighting the first candle on our Advent wreaths and reading the first day of Advent devotional.

Sleepover

Last spring, Adeline's class began a reading program online. Antolin's website is set-up so the children earn points when they answer questions about the books they read. Throughout the summer, the children continued to accumulate points, so when school began in the fall, the class had over 3,000 points.  Her teacher informed the children that if they reached 10,000 points, they could have a sleepover. At the beginning of October, the class reached this goal; however, it was fall break, so the event would be held after they returned from break and after St. Martin festivities in mid November.

The evening had finally arrived for them to spend the night in the school. At 7pm, we took Adeline to school with her sleeping bag and packed overnight bag. She picked out her spot in the classroom where all of the girls had already started to settle in and quickly put her bedding next to Clara's. While the dads were setting up the bedding, the girls were showing each other what doll or stuffed animals they brought with them.

Eric and I took Emmie out for pizza while Adeline was with her class. Emmie enjoyed her pizza!

The class first walked up to the Meisterturm in the dark and had some hot chocolate in the cold evening with her teacher and a few parents. They then returned to the school for pizza. Afterwards, they put on their pajamas and read a book. When it was lights out, twenty one children slept in one classroom while their teacher slept in the library, which was next door.

In the morning when Eric arrived at 8am to pick up Adeline, all of the sleeping bags and overnight bags were in the lobby and the children were dressed and ready to head home. Adeline arrived home a little tired, but had enough energy to participate in basketball. We did notice a few of the girls and boys from her class did not make it to basketball for practice. 

In the afternoon, she took a quick nap to catch up from the previous night's excitement.