St. Nikolaustag

December 6th is St. Nikolaustag in Germany. Nikolaus was a 4th century Greek that was known to be quite religious from an early age. Interesting tidbit - he was one of the Bishops that signed the Nicene Creed. He was also known for secret gift-giving and would put coins in the shoes of children, thus becoming the model for Santa Claus.

Traditionally in Germany, children place a shoe or a boot at the front door or by a fireplace on the eve of St. Nikolaustag (Tag = day). In the morning, they find small gifts or candy filling their shoe. So we decided that "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" and had the boys place a shoe or boot by our front door. Noah and Josiah chose their boots in hopes that they would get more stuff. Micah chose one of his church shoes as they don't stink as much. If you are going to eat candy, you sure don't want it tasting like stinky feet, right??

Noah's class presented a play on the evening before the 6th. It was really fun to watch him in this play as he memorized his lines in German without knowing all of what he was saying at first. I forgot my camera so don't have any photos from the play, but he got to be one of the wise men and gave his gift of straw to Baby Jesus.

~ Boots by the Door ~

These chocolate eggs are quite popular with
children as they have a chocolate shell on the
outside and then a prize on the inside. The
boys have been itching to buy one of these
just about every time we are in the store
together. Josiah was so excited about the egg
that he took it to school with him on the 6th.

We had not tried these chocolates yet either,
but these are favorites among the kids as well.
They remind me of malt balls only more moist.

We have never done something like this
before but decided that the boys would
really enjoy having some extra cash to spend
at the Christmas Market. They were all very
excited to have this much to spend without
Tracy and me saying, "No!" So far, all the money
they have spent has gone to Schmalzkuchen - for
2 Euros, you can get a very large serving of
Schmalzkuchen, which are little fried dough
balls with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
Very yummy indeed!

~ Schmalzkkuchen ~

This is what they woke up to on the 6th - chocolates and money in the shoes
and two packs of gum on top. When I give out gum, it's a half a stick at a time
if they are lucky. They love being able to make their own decisions about
gum! And I guarantee they don't ever chew just a half of a stick at a time
when it's up to them to decide. The little packages behind their shoes are strands
of colored Christmas lights. We had lights with us but didn't plug them in correctly
and ruined them the first time we used them. They are thrilled to have working
lights in their rooms each night as they go to sleep.

~ St. Nikolaustag Morgen - St. Nicholas Day morning ~

Christmas Cookies at Sonja's

Saturday afternoon (12/1) we joined quite a few other people in making and baking Christmas cookies at Sonja's house. Sonja is in the OT department with Tracy and has made us feel quite welcome here by inviting us to several events since arriving. One of Sonja's roommates, Johanna, loves to make cookies and has the philosophy of "the more, the merrier!" Their apartment was jam packed - wall to wall people with many different kinds of cookies being made. One of the neat things in living here this year is getting to meet people from all over the world. Tracy spent some time talking with a guy from Iran. I heard French being spoken at one point and wondered for a moment if I just hadn't really learned any German at all! It took me a minute of listening to realize that it was indeed another foreign language. I know we can do this very same thing in North Carolina as there are a lot of internationals living there, too, but this year has really tipped the scales with meeting people from other countries - not just Germany.


This was shortly after arriving - there were still many more to join us! We made
sugar cookies with frosting and were glad to find out the Sonja had many cookie
cutters; otherwise we would have used a glass and made just plain old circles.

Frosting the cookies - we had blue, green and white...I didn't realize that we only
had two colors when we left our house. The boys weren't disappointed though since
they still got their fill of sugar. Really doesn't matter in what color it comes!

Noah eating one of far too many cookies! He complained of a tummy ache
and a headache latter that night....I wonder why??

Joel showing his dinosaur with blue stripes. Of course, he filled in the empty spots
with white. No sense eating a sugar cookie with only little stripes of frosting, right?
Random - he's been wearing this shirt and one other for two weeks now and has
two weeks to go with his cast/sling for his shoulder. He has to wear a button-down
since he can't lift his left arm. You can see just a bit of it sticking out of the collar.
He's been a real trooper! No complaining from him. One benefit is that he hasn't
had to take his turn at emptying the dishwasher.

Once we finished our cookies, the table was used by several others for rolling
out their cookies. The only other American there allowed the boys to help him
shape his Snickerdoodles. You can just barely see behind Noah's and Josiah's
heads a couple of branches of a pine tree. I have been wondering what people
do with these as I see a lot of them being sold all over town. I found out! They
hang them on the walls and dangle a few tree ornaments from them.

Johanna is making her cookies using a mold - very time-consuming and very pretty!

Weihnachtsmarkt

Let the celebration begin! The Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) opened this past week in the City Center. The area near the old Rathaus (Town Hall) has been transformed into a Winter Wonderland. Words don't quite capture how festive the area is. Lights galore. Christmas trees tied to every pole that can be found. Stalls selling any kind of treat that you might want to eat. The smells are so inviting - Brats, stone-baked pizzas, cotton candy, caramel popcorn, sugar-glazed nuts of all kinds....it's like going to the State Fair only at Christmas time. We decided to make it our goal to go for dinner as a family at least once a week and went last night for the first time. It sounds like a lot of eating out to me but really, it's only set up for another three weeks. Wow! Christmas is around the corner!

~ Noah and Josiah eating their Brats ~
We think it so funny that Brats are served in buns that are always
about two inches too short at either end.

In the background of the photo is the Altes Rathaus - lit up with a very large
tree in front of it. The little stalls are all around the Rathaus - there are hundreds
of them! And then there are lights hung in the streets - the one in this photo
announces that you are at the Weihnachtsmarkt.

Everyone chose what they wanted for dinner - last night was Brats and pizzas.
And then we all chose one dessert - cotton candy for the boys! Tracy and I
shared some really tasty English walnuts coated with some crispy kind of topping.

~ Noah with fingers dyed red after consuming so much Erdbeer (strawberry) cotton candy ~
All the boys decided on a different dessert for next time since their fingers
were frozen after licking all of the sugar off of them!

Each street in the city center has lights to announce the street name and then
decorative lights on further down the street. I might finally learn the names
of the streets this way. I still won't be able to pronounce them so that a
German person will understand what I'm saying though!

I love how there are Christmas trees everywhere! There
is a tree on every and any post available. It sure does make
the area so festive. Some of the trees have even been decorated.