The end (of the year) is near!

Neil's new "winter bike"

Finn and Jana exploring in our hallway

"C'mon mom, we'll be late for kids' gym class!"

With Christmas coming up fast we have only a few days left to prepare the house for our visitors. We still need to buy a tree, too. Neil, unfortunately, is sick, but hopefully will be better soon! It looks like he has the flu or even stomach flu. Week before last I had the stomach flu quite bad, but it only lasted 3 or 4 days and we were happy neither Neil nor Finn seemed to have caught the bug from me. Then last week Finn had a bad fall – it only took a second of not looking and he fell down the 4 stone stairs in front of our house. He just walked off the edge while I was still putting on my coat. He wore thick clothing, but landed on his head with a sickening thud and I took him to the doctor. Except for a bad bruise on his forehead and nose he was okay, thankfully. That fall really scared the living daylights out of me. I even had nightmares afterwards. A friend suggested giving Finn homeopathic medication – arnica globules (little pellets). So I did that for a few days and it really helped his bruise heal up quickly. I was surprised!

Although the weather is still nice here and Neil is biking to work often, we bought him a “winter bike” – a small used Ford. So now we both have wheels if we want to.

I don’t know if posting will work out in the coming weeks, since we are switching internet providers and there are some problems with that. We might end up with limited access for a while.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is coming up fast!

first picture: Finn having a snack at playgroup
second picture: Finn eating yoghurt all by himself

It is hard to believe Christmas is just two weeks away! On one hand I am counting the days, because we are looking forward to having my family with us and Neil will have more than two weeks off work. On the other hand it is hard to get serious about preparations when it is so warm outside! We’ve had an unusally mild and dry fall this year. This week we again had temperatures up to 16°C (60 F) during the day. Neil even had to mow our lawn again this past weekend! Last year it was completely different; it felt like we had six months of winter. There was so much snow! Finn was just little and I liked to take him for walks in his baby carriage, all snuggled up under his down covers. But with all the snow being piled up higher and higher along the streets I couldn’t get up on the sidewalks anymore. So I remember being really fed up with yet another foot of snow that had falling during the night. Now I am curious if we’ll have some snow at all this winter!
Nevertheless, the German Christmas traditions are being carried on. Christmas markets have opened everywhere, with booths where you can buy all sorts of kitsch and lots to eat and drink. A favourite is spiced hot red wine that is served in mugs. (It is not illegal in Germany to sell and consume alcohol in public.) Because the wine is sweetened it is quite potent, though. Of course, being pregnant, there is only the alcohol free “kinder punch” version for me this year. Yesterday we even had our own version of a Christmas market in our little town. Just for one day a few booths were put up in front of the church. (Like in most small towns in Bavaria, there is only THE church here – Catholic – right smack in the middle of town.) You could buy food and drink and every now and then Saint Nick came by to distribute candy to the kids. They also had a live nativity scene in a pen – including a shepherd with 3 mama sheep and about 5 lambs. Finn being Finn was absolutely thrilled, especially because his newest animal sound is “bah” for sheep. He just stood by the pen bah-ing and bah-ing with the sheep bah-ing back at him. Finn loved it when the shepherd caught a lamb for him to pet.