Morning Blues to Evening Cheers

Monday did not start off good. At kindergarten, I was handed a letter indicating they were going to be doing some repairs in Emmie's classroom and building. This meant for the first two weeks in January, the class would be in the gymnasium in the main building. In addition, her class along with the class who is in the same building as Emmie's class would be in the gym while they needed time to clear the air of of any toxins leftover from the repair work. The teachers asked us to keep the children at home if we could to ease the situation in the New Year. 

In the afternoon, I dropped Adeline off for drum class with the other children and a few parents and then took Emmie to her dance class. Upon returning, I found out the teacher did not show up and two parents stayed with the children as I was not the only one who left their child with the group without a teacher. It was a bummer for me as we raced out of house to attend the class and we would have had more time at home for getting things ready for the evening. The other parents are investigating why the teacher did not show up, so I will let them inform me about it.

In the early evening, Adeline's class hosted a Christmas party. It was great to see all of the crafts they have made in art class since they were the rooms decorations. The children served their cookies they made and then sang songs and put on a skit for the parents. 

Adeline's other teacher, Lily, who works with Adeline once a week when the children are in English class attended also. This was a nice surprise for us as Adeline's teacher invited her. She was very happy to be included in the celebration. 

Afterwards, Eric went with Adeline on an evening walk up to the local church. It was a cold brisk walk led by one of the mother's who knew the way along the path in the dark through the forest. They arrived home and I made some hot chocolate to warm them up.

Last Christmas Market weekend

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Sarah and Jorge in Wiesbaden. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived, it began to sprinkle. We managed to find an area in a doorway to stay dry and enjoy our hot drinks. We walked around the market and town before heading indoors for a meal. After the meal, the evening weather cleared up and it was a perfect night for enjoying the market atmosphere.

Sunday afternoon, we took a boat trip on the Rhine River with the Lotz family. It was a festive cruise with holiday music and treats. The view of the little towns with their sparkling lights as it became darker was very pretty. Afterwards, we strolled through the Rüdesheim Christmas market as the weather was excellent for enjoying our last Christmas market of the year. We savored our final meal of the tasty Christmas market food that has been part of our diet for the past month. The children had fun together going on a little train ride. They saw St. Nikolaus and he definitely added some extra cheer to everyone's holiday spirit. 

O Tannenbaum

On Wednesday morning, Adeline's class went to the Theater in Mainz. Attending a play during the Christmas season is a school tradition here, so the tickets are booked well in advance at the venue even if the show has not be determined at the time they were purchased. Adeline did not know what she was going to see, just that she had to be at the school early to catch the bus. When she came home, she told us all about the characters and then I realized she had seen Wizard of Oz. She liked the storyline very much and is now excited to watch the movie.

In the afternoon, we attended a puppet show about three penguins. Some of Adeline's and Emmie's classmates also attended, so all of the children sat in the front row, while us parents sat at the back. It was good entertainment for a rainy afternoon.

Wednesday evening, we put the tree up in the apartment. Eric and I then strung the lights after the girls were in bed. I am thankful we rushed to get the tree on Sunday when we returned from Dortmund as it has been raining since Monday and is supposed to continue the rest of the week.

Picking out the tree was eventful as Emmie first wanted one of the trees that was smaller than her, then she picked out a tree a little taller than her, but it looked like a Charlie Brown tree as many of the trees did on the lot.

 Eric and Adeline had a good eye for two trees that were fuller and seemed to be a good height. When they determined the best one, the man measured it, we payed him as the price is based on the height and then he wrapped it up. Eric tied it down to the top of our Audi and he got it home safely while driving the curvy hilly roads through town.

Thursday afternoon, we finally decorated the Christmas tree. It seemed late to me to be putting up the tree, but here most people do not do it until the week of Christmas or on Christmas Eve. After I put up a few of the breakable ornaments near the top, the girls had fun selecting a spot for each ornament. I noticed now that they are getting taller, the ornaments are spread more out around the tree and not clumped in one place as in years pass. 

Adeline and Emmie did a fabulous job decorating it and now enjoy just standing by it and admiring the decorations.

Making Cookies

I spent this morning with Adeline's class making Christmas cookies. The parent helpers were asked to bring in the cookie dough, while the kids brought in a rolling pin, cookie cutters, and cookie decorations.

The kids had fun cutting out all different shapes and sizes and then spreading egg whites and decorating with little sprinkles before I put them in the oven to bake. However, when I brought the green frosting to the table with the baked cookies their eyes lit up.

By the time we had our first tray decorated with green frosting, everyone else had been by the table to see it and the boys expressed how cool the green frosting was. 

Majority of the cookie dough had been made into cookies and the kids had to return to class, so the kids left and we cleaned up a really messy area. Plus, the oven was only big enough for four trays at time, so for another hour, I stayed with a few mothers and we continued to bake cookies. In the end, we had over eight large tins of cookies for the class's Christmas party. 

One of the mother's had a small batch of unused Swedish cookie dough, so she offered it to me as the children had made several trays of cookies and she had already made hers at home. In the afternoon, Emmie made cookies for us with this dough. She had a fun time doing this project. The cookies were very tasty as they had some ginger and cinnamon flavor in them.

When Adeline was finished with her homework, the girls then decorated all of the cookies Emmie had cut out. They had a good time picking out the colors and decorations for the trees, angels, santas, and stars. We now have two tins of cookies for our holiday celebrations.

Dortmund

Saturday morning we drove north to Dortmund to meet up with Eric's cousins, the Komnik family. After we checked in, we ventured to one of Germany's biggest Christmas markets. Our train stop dropped us off right in the main shopping area and it was quite busy with everyone doing their holiday shopping, but we managed to find a quieter area at the large pyramid booth for festival drinks and food. 

We then strolled over to the Christmas tree attraction. It was not hard to miss as the center tree is made up of 1,700 Norway spruces, rises 45 meters high, is topped with a 13 foot angel, and has over  40,000 lights. It was huge and made for a nice area to put many booths around. They created a hole in the tree for a trumpeter to appear on the hour and play a tune. Hearing him play was a nice addition to the market atmosphere.

After some more delicious food and drinks, we continued our way through the market. The girls found a fairy tale themed attraction before we grabbed another hot drink to keep us warm in the chilly air. 

Eventually, the children tired, so Christiane and I returned to the hotel with the kids while Carsten and Eric grabbed some festival food to tame their hunger. When we returned to the hotel, the kids went swimming in the pool while we relaxed. Afterwards we grabbed a quick bite at the hotel's bar before heading to bed. 

After breakfast on Sunday morning, the children took another dip in the pool. We then walked over to the park and went up the TV tower. It was cold and breezy at the top, but the view was nice looking out over the city and it's surrounding area. We did spot the large tree from the market. We returned in time for the Komniks to catch their train.

It was another great weekend with the Komniks and we are looking forward to our next visit with them.

There was a huge soccer match in the afternoon at the stadium next to our hotel. We left just in time as the traffic was beginning to get heavy and they started closing down roads, but Eric talked his way through a few cones and we were heading in the right direction away from the traffic.

Christmas Party

Friday evening, Eric and I attended his company's Christmas Party, so we hired a babysitter to stay late into the evening. Adeline and Emmie were super excited to have a babysitter for the night. We were not even out the door and they were already making plans to watch a movie. 

The party was held at Tigerpalast in downtown Frankfurt. We dined at the Palast Bistrot, which is an ancient vaulted cellar that is decorated like a French Bistro. The four course meal was delicious and the unique atmosphere enhanced the occasion. 

Afterwards, we attended the international variety show that was held in a venue above the restaurant. The numerous talented performances accompanied by a live orchestra made it an excellent show. The orchestra was great as they never seemed to miss a beat even if the actors did in their performance.

Höchster Kreisblatt

When I dropped off Emmie at school this morning, one of the mother's informed me she saw me in the  Höchster Kreisblatt newspaper today. I was not surprised by this because last Tuesday afternoon, a photographer asked me to point to the mall on our city map at the bus station when we were taking Emmie to her nearby music class. It took about three minutes for him to take a few shots and we were on our way.

What I was surprised about was how large the picture was when I bought the paper later in the morning. The picture is 6.5"x7"! The article is on the fifth page of the second section and is not headline news, but it is the novelty of living in a small town and being in the news that makes it exciting for our family.

The article is not a very interesting article, but to sum it up it is about how the map still shows the mall under construction over a year later and the reasoning why. According to the article, the map has not been updated because the same map is also in rotten wood display cases in the forest and a committee's approval is required for the wood displays to be repaired, so it is a financial and timing situation before all of the city maps can be updated. 

Here is a link to the actual article:

http://www.fnp.de/hk/region/lokales/main-taunus/auf-den-neuen-stadtpl-nen-ist-das-chinoncenter-baustelle_rmn01.c.9423280.de.html