The Nutcracker

Something else we need to ship back this summer...

Farewell, German Christmas!

Predictably, I fizzled in my Reverb10 prompts. Oh well, I can always revisit them if I feel led.

Tomorrow morning, we'll fly to California for a month. Well, at least Daisy and I will be there for a month while Chris buttresses the holidays with interviews from coast to coast. We're very excited to see our families, specifically, to see Daisy with our families.

As a sort of goodbye to the wonderful Christmas season in Germany, here are some pictures I took last weekend at Muelheim's little Advent market in the Altstadt. It's become our favorite market we've seen, even though it doesn't have quite the selection of the big cities; the streets are uncrowded enough for Daisy to walk with us, the goods are local and handmade, and there are kids performing on violins, recorders, or singing carols on the cobbled lanes. This is our last German Christmas - we will miss it.

Turned the corner to a bluesy "Silent Night" blaring
from a loudspeaker; someone handed us some fireworks.
Pretty awesome.

Wooden Sled

Our downstairs neighbors have a classic European sled, which they lent us for a little try today. We are all in love! I think we've found a potential Christmas present...

On the "sidewalk" through the park

Chris'  last turn before going to work

 I taught Daisy to scream (happy screams)
all the way down. 

More of a workout for us than for her, but at least it gets us all outside to enjoy the snow!

Visitors

Paper Chain for Chris' Return

As Chris is flying across the US (interviewing at Cornell, celebrating Thanksgiving in CA, then interviewing at Notre Dame and Emory), Daisy and I have the challenge of staying sane and happy for 15 days alone at home.

Naturally, we were both completely overjoyed to have visitors this past weekend! My high school friend and fellow band member Sara now lives in Dublin with her husband as he's doing a post-doc. They scheduled their trip to coincide with the Christmas markets, and we enjoyed two whole days dedicated to shopping for wooden decorations, drinking hot wine, and sampling fried foods and bakery treats.

Here are a few snapshots of our merrymaking:

Cologne Cathedral - with a little snow on the Gothic peaks!

Reibekuchen: Fried potato pancakes
served with applesauce

Glühwein!

Watching some Lindt milk chocolate being produced
and packaged at Cologne's Chocolate Museum

Dusseldorf's Gehry buildings

I didn't take enough pictures at Dusseldorf, but we had a great day. Thanks for coming, Sara and Jon!

Encyclopedia of German Culture

We've found it: a rigorous study of life in Germany, an insightful collection of customs, traditions, and social mores. Install it in German classes, gift it to new German residents - this trustworthy encyclopedia of German culture is straight from the horse's mouth.

I present to you The Conni Books: 99 cents, pocket-sized paperbacks, each sold separately.
Oh, yes, it's written for children. But don't adults return to a form of childhood when they begin a new life as a foreigner? (I have a bit to say on that subject, but it can wait for a later post.) Chris and I like learning new vocab words, Daisy likes to - need I say it? - memorize and recite the text, and we all enjoy the mini snapshots they provide of German life.

One of the first things that Conni cleared up for us was the purpose of the Schultüte (school package). Kids here go to Kindergarten from age 3-6, and then head to their "first day of school" at age 6, like the American first grade. This is considered a big milestone; grandparents even come over for breakfast that day to send them off. Shops also exhibit a colorful variety of large cardboard or plastic cones. Chris and I knew that they were for candy or toys., but questions remained unsolved....were they presents for the teacher? Surprises for the kids? Do the kids exchange candy on the first day like Valentines in US elementary schools?

Would you have guessed that the kids get the exciting package that morning, carry it to school and place it beside their desks...still unopened...and schlepp it home again at the end of the day to finally see what's inside?
Well, that's the tradition. Thank you, Conni. The text here kind of translates as "Once she's home, Conni's finally allowed to unpack her cone. So much is inside! Too bad you only get a Schultüte on the first day of school."

Here's Conni at a trip to the sea - yes, topless. It's all part of that European comfort with nudity. You should see the page where they're waiting in line for the showers in the dressing room!

Here's the St. Nicolas tradition of cleaning your boots on the night of December 5 and finding them filled with treats the next morning:

Later in that book, there's this cozy portrayal of a Christmas market. Everything's here: the Lebkuchen (gingerbread), Heisse Maroni (roasted chestnuts), the organ guy...this will bring back such good memories someday.

Apparently, I've been wasting my energy as I try to come up with my own descriptions of life in Germany - it's all published! It's a little deflating when I realize that I'm hardly a Lewis or a Clark as I explore this new country. I guess the good part is that now I don't have to photograph other people's kids at the beach or creepily stalk children on their first day of school to add pictures to my blog posts. The Conni Books will surely stay on our bookshelves for years to come, a wonderful "encyclopedia" for teaching Daisy and reliving our experiences here.

California Familying

We are so thankful to have seen all of our family in our visit to Orange County, California. During our two weeks + two days, we bounced back and forth between the two households. The weather was beautiful, we celebrated Christmas, the New Year, and our 6-year anniversary, and had a wonderful time reconnecting with our roots. Although Daisy got sick, antibiotics helped and we were all healthy by the time we needed to trans-Atlantic again.

Highlights with Chris' family:
4 Cousins = Heaven for Daisy. Katie, Jeremy, Bekah, Levi, Faith, and Claire made the trip down from Redding so that we could all spend Christmas together. I loved seeing Bekah teach Daisy how to ride a scooter, Claire (only 3 months age difference from D!) and Daisy playing and "communicating," and the whole gang work on some gingerbread houses. After they all went home (sniff), we spent {quieter!} time with Chris' parents reading Piglet books to Daisy and planning for our upcoming Italy vacation together. We also took a memorable trip to Balboa, complete with dinner on the pier during a blazing sunset.

Highlights with Holly's family:
Daisy kept asking for "more tea" at her first Ladies Tea, hosted by her Great-Grandmother (Gigi), and stepped into a piece of Holly's childhood when she played with Great-Granny and Grandpa in Palm Springs. She learned about basketball and guinea pigs from Opa and Uncle Joel, tea parties from Grandmommy, and Snow White from Aunt Rebecca. We all had fun at an inspirational family New Year's Eve party {salon} where our topic was Carpe Diem. The Galileo brothers (aka Joel and Chris) took a trip to LA's Griffith Observatory, talked physics, and spent cold (haha) nights outside with Joel's cool new telescope. It was hard for all of us to say goodbye!

Christmas Markets, part 2

How did it come to be January 14? With our 2-week trip to California and a fire-cracking start to the new year back in Germany, my blog posts have certainly piled up. On to number 1:

No need to belabor these Christmas markets, but I had some images that I thought were worth sharing. Köln, a city 1 hour southwest of us, and home of this magnificent Gothic cathedral, had some wonderful markets. Popular, though; our regional train was standing room only the whole way there. Here are Chris and Daisy in front of the Dom markt, one of the seven markets in the city.

Another market had a medieval theme, with costumes, demonstrations like hammering iron, and the most wonderful bread. (It had way too much sugar in it to be authentically medieval, though.) It was hard to choose, but Chris chose "Viking Blood" as his hot beverage, while I took the opportunity to sip some Mead. (It was alright, kind of watery, I thought. That probably is authentic!)

From Köln, we traveled another hour west to Aachen, where we had first visited on Father's Day. This time, we were able to see Charlemagne's simple marble throne, perched on the 2nd floor of the chapel, which was not available for viewing last time. A French tour guide was saying something about how they believe that the marble was significantly brought over from Jerusalem. Also, I've read that Charlemagne symbolically placed his throne in the chapel instead of in a secular building, thus linking his authority with spiritual authority. We had time to see the market briefly before Daisy needed to go home. Here is the glowing city hall, and you can glimpse the tops of some of the tents below.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember that we're in Europe. But when I see a picture like this one of Chris, I realize how distinctively European these cities and sights are. We're hoping to soak it up during the rest of our time here!

Finally, here is a little video clip from our homey Mülheim market, which winds down through the old town and circles up by the church. Daisy loved all the Christmas trees that lined the streets! There were just the typical food and drink stands and decorative, handmade items for sale.

Christmas Market

I was prepared to enjoy the Christmas Market season in Germany, but I am just swept away by the festivity, popularity, and sophistication of it.

Here are some sights from our recent evening spent in Düsseldorf:



Throughout the downtown, 6 different markets with different themes and emphases exist. It's huge, and practically the whole city is ablaze with lights and frolicking people, many of them tourists. More than 250 huts are set up, offering delicious food and hand-made Christmas decorations, jewelry, or other accessories. It feels almost like an amusement park. A huge undertaking for cities all over the country!

Hot, mulled wine, called "Glühwein," candied almonds, decorated gingerbread-like "Lebkuchen," Stollen, and roasted chestnuts are traditional staples. We are also learning about things like Reibekuchen, Eierpunsch, and Poffertjes.

In the center square, there was a very large nativity scene hand carved from Bethlehem wood. I think Daisy made it on the news somewhere, because as she ran up to get a closer look at "Baby Jesus!" some news crews zoomed in on her...

Chris took Daisy on a restored 100-year-old carousel. She loved it, of course. She also had fun chasing, spinning, and jumping with some other kids around the square. Apart from this, though, she quickly became miserable after too much time in her buggy, out in the cold. We, too, tired of negotiating the crowds and came home empty-handed. Next time!

We're hoping to reach Köln and Aachen next weekend. I am sure that I'll want to share some pictures from those places, as well.

Daisy's Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Chill at least one hour, roll out and cut into shapes, bake at 400 degrees for about 6 minutes.

Let cool, then top with icing and sprinkles.