Musings of Amy

For Christmas this year, all the kids received Swiss t-shirts.  I thought maybe they would have to be encouraged to wear them on special occasions, but it turns out they love them and wear them all the time.  Sometimes they even get together and all wear them on the same day.

So when we sat down to eat our Raclette and the boys were wearing their matching shirts I made Chris go get the camera for a little photo shoot. I love raclette because it is so simple to prepare and everyone thinks it’s delicious.  🙂Nick would eat it once a week if we let him. But I fear for his arteries too much to allow that.

For the longest time, Noah wouldn’t eat the cheese melted.  He would just put a slice on his plate and nibble on it.  When we finally got him to taste it melted, he was in heaven!  His favorite is to eat it plain, but if there are sliced cervelats available, he will happily put it on there as well.

What were the girls doing during this silly boy photo shoot?

Looking down their noses at all the craziness! (The best part?  She wants to be a librarian when she grows up!)

Chris’ birthday was a quiet affair this year.  It fell on a Wednesday, which is swimming lesson day.  We always get back home late and have to rush dinner so bedtime isn’t pushed back too far.  But I had baked his apple cake earlier in the day, and he wanted quiche for dinner, so I put that in the oven before we left to swim, and had Nick turn on the oven for me when I called him.  It worked out pretty well!

Sophie worked on Papa’s birthday hat for most of the afternoon.  It turned out fabulous.

She even took the time to draw all 42 candles on the cake!

The proud hat maker. 🙂  We put the kids to bed and watched a movie of Chris’ choosing and called it a night. The important thing was he felt loved and special, even with no presents.  What an easy to please guy!

The one advantage to having Christmas vacation start so late, is that the kids are all home for Heilige Drei Könige Tag, or Three Kings day.  They can really enjoy being the king that way.  No chores, and they get to choose whatever movie gets watched, or what game gets played.   This year Nick had all the power.  I am pleased to report he was a magnanimous and benevolent ruler. 🙂

Not on the same day, but also during vacation, I took the younger kids ice skating in Zurich.  It was Alexandra and Noah’s first time, and the older girls had only been once or twice before.  It’s just not a high priority for us, I guess.  But we did have a fun, albeit cold, time.  I had to go and get different skates after Sophie and Sarah couldn’t get theirs on, but there weren’t any other mishaps.  No one lost a finger or cracked their head, which was a real concern, being alone with so many inexperienced skaters at once.  And the good mood was most definitely helped along by the drinks and snacks I had thought to bring.  The sunshine helped to make it not seem so cold, although all of us had frozen toes by the time we went home.

I rented a push chair with the idea that Alexandra and Noah could share it.  But she kind of hogged it for most of the time, so Noah just skated by holding on to the side or my hand.  He fell down a lot, but never got hurt and always had a smile on his face.  I called his twirly falls “tricks” and he got a big kick out of that.

We took a welcome break to watch the Zamboni clean and smooth the ice.  There is something so mesmerizing about watching that thing go around and around and around.  It also broke our two hour stay neatly in half.  I wanted to stay at least that long to feel like I got my money’s worth. 🙂  But wasn’t sure at the start, if the kid would be able to handle it.  They did.

Sarah and Sophie did a good job of just plugging along on the outside edge of the ice.  There were a couple large groups that they had to navigate around.  There was even a birthday party playing games right in the middle, which looked fun, but was a definite traffic hazard.  They didn’t give up, though, which made me very proud.

Close to the end, I had everyone take turns sitting on the chair as I pushed them around the rink a few times at maximum speed.  I have learned that if the ending of any outing is positive, that is all they remember the next time you suggest doing the same thing.  We were all smiles as we climbed in the car and headed home.  Success!

Since New Year’s Eve was on a Saturday night this year, there was no chance of upholding Chris’ tradition of getting up early on New Year’s Day and going to the zoo.  Which turned out to be a good thing for me.  I didn’t have to feel guilty about sleeping in and not joining him! 🙂  Although we did have to still get up for church, at least they moved the start back by an hour.  This gave me carte blanche to let the kids stay up to ring the new year in properly, although they were still grumpy the next day.

Our celebratory dinner consisted of lots of snacky foods.  That is what I remember my mom doing for New Year’s, and it always seems so special to have so many fun choices.  There was a veggie tray with dip, lots of potato chips, bread sticks, a bowl of cut up fruit, crackers and two different cheese balls, and lots of beverages.  I just left it all out on the table, so they could snack whenever they wanted.  Chris stayed up and watched a movie with us, and I think he even played a game with us before going to bed.

At midnight I set off the “Tischbombe” I had brought at the grocery store.  It’s a cardboard rocket with a wick sticking out of one end.  You light the wick, and after a couple seconds, the top blows off the rocket and shoots out fun party supplies.  Only I had never lit one myself before, and so I was expecting the wick to catch fire in such a way that you could actually see it was lit.  Apparently it doesn’t do that.  So I picked it up to relight it, whereupon it exploded against my chest, thereby losing a lot of the cool effect.  Fortunately, it didn’t hurt a bit, just surprised me!  The toys inside were just what we needed to wrap up our celebrations.  There ere party hats, little horns, whistles and funny masks and moustaches.  (I set it off in the kitchen, since it specifically said not to light it on a burnable surface, like our wood floors or wooden table…)

We watched the fireworks on the Austrian channel and danced around to the fun, traditional music in all our finery.

The kids were very disappointed in my sparkling-cider-opening-skills.  I was so paranoid that the cork was going to shoot out and break something, or that half the cider would spill out onto the floor, that I opened the top very, very slowly.  So slowly, that the cork didn’t pop out at all, and I had to pry it out with my hands.  No loud bang, no liquid shooting out, nothing.  But it did taste delicious. Thankfully, I had bought several bottles. so there was some left for Chris to open properly in the morning. 🙂

We continued to party until almost 1, watching the fireworks out our window and blowing our horns along with all our neighbors.  By then they were all more than ready for bed. What? he says.

At the start of a new year, I am filled with gratitude for the wonderful year that has passed and all the great things and people we got to see and experience in it.  Here’s to another year just as wonderful!

I was a bit frustrated that Christmas vacation didn’t start until the afternoon of the 23rd this year.  Half the fun of Christmas is all the hype and preparation leading up to the big day, and having to squeeze in those things between school, music lessons, swimming lessons and homework was very difficult and stressful.  Just finding time to help the kids make their gifts for each other was a monumental feat.  I wish we could have gotten out a week earlier, and then gone back to school right after New Year’s.  Oh well, we somehow got it done, and with no tears or screaming, so I guess it was our own little Christmas miracle. 🙂

Since all the hustle and bustle was over by the time vacation really got going, we had lots of downtime for relaxing and hanging out.  We played lots of board games, card games and Wii games.  We also watched lots of movies, including the extended versions of the first three Harry Potter films.  Sophie was so shocked/surprised/intrigued by all the extra information contained in those few short scenes.  We kept telling her that all that stuff was in the books, but they didn’t have time to include it in the movies.  This made her very curious about what else had been left out, so finally, finally, finally, she started reading them for herself.   She is now most of the way through Book 4, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

Noah also had a Harry Potter-themed vacation, only he was playing the computer game Chris got for the kids. All the kids love this game, but they are usually only allowed to play it on Saturdays, so having unrestricted access was heaven for this kid. 🙂

And since the computer in my craft room was occupied by the bigger kids playing, Alexandra made herself cozy on my laptop!  It’s even better when you can lean back against nice soft pillows, snuggled under a warm blanket.  What does a tiny little girl like her play on a computer?  All the free games on nickjr.com, pollypocket.com, Barbie.com and Playmobil.com, of course!

We did spend time unplugged as well. The three middle kids had gotten Diagon Alley from Santa, but they needed Nick’s help to put it together. I think they were completely done with all three buildings just before vacation was over.  It looks pretty good, though, doesn’t it?  It is all set up in a corner of my craft room and the kids go up there quite regularly to play with it.  I love listening in to all the fantastic stories they make up using the characters, while I am busy sewing or cleaning up.  It’s a secret peak into their world, without them getting mad at me for intruding. 🙂

Christmas was a little strange this year.  We had barely gotten started opening presents when it was time to stop, shower, eat breakfast, dress and go to church.  The kids were a bit frustrated, but not too upset.  No, that came later when Papa had to attend some meetings after church; interviews and stuff.  I mean, seriously?!?  On Christmas Morning?!?!?  Even I got testy eventually.  But back to the pretty happy pictures before I get all worked up again. 🙂

The kids always open their stockings while Mama and Papa sleep in a bit.  But they are allowed to come wake us up at 7, if we haven’t gotten up already. Sarah was delighted that she had finally gotten a pet hamster, even if it was battery operated.The cool white and red striped socks were also new.  And guess what?  Santa actually answered ALL the questions the kids left for him! They were so excited.  And he left them lots of loot, as well.All the presents wrapped in green, with Santa faces, are from the big guy.  Our tree was so full, I bet he had a bit of difficulty finding room for all the stuff he brought.

By the time we got home from church, and finished taking turns unwrapping all the treasures it was well past three in the afternoon. In fact, Aunt Ursula came over from Luzern to see us and Celina and caught the last half hour of gift opening.  While I prepared linner 🙂 she and Celina had a nice chat.  They hadn’t seen each other in several years!  And what were the kids doing?  Building and playing with all their new toys!

This is pretty much what they were doing for the next several days, actually.  It was so fun to see them enjoying the toys, and each other so nicely.

I got a shiny new trinket, as well. Chris had picked out a new charm for my bracelet all on his own.  He originally wanted the one that said “together forever” but it was out of stock.  He decided that this was appropriate as well.  I LOVE it, and it makes me smile every time I see it.  Well, all the charms have a special meaning/were given to me by special friends.  So I smile every time I put the bracelet on.  Thank you, Angie for this thoughtful gift!

Sarah got new books, can you tell?  heehee  Also, do you see the large white bowl in the middle of the table?  That is Noah’s treat bowl that Sophie painted for him. I had fun with the kids deciding which gifts they would make for each other this year.  They are all getting older, so they are able to do more complicated things, and do most of the work themselves.  So, Sophie decorated treat bowls for everyone to hold their stocking surprises, or their Easter candy, or their Halloween candy, or whatever.  They each keep them in their rooms, and everyone knows to take anything out of anyone else’s bowl.

Sarah sewed everyone bookmarks using bits of material leftover from the quilts I made them.  She was so excited to use a sewing machine for the very first time, and did a fantastic job!

Nick made everyone wash mitts using terry cloth in all their favorite colors.  I traced my hand and cut them out, he sewed them together, also on my machine.  Each child got two, so they can use one for a couple of days, then put it in the dirty clothes and get a fresh one to wash their face every night.

Noah used Fimo to make everyone personalized necklaces.  Well, Nick got a tie tack ;).  He used my stamps to make an impression in the clay, and then we stamped their names in them as well.  When we had finished baking them, we painted them with a light coat of paint and wiped it off, so it would get caught in the crevices, making the design and the name “pop”.  They turned out really nice, and the girls are often seen sporting theirs.

Alexandra and I decorated trash cans for the kids’ rooms.  They have always had to carry their trash into the bathroom or kitchen before this, which I think has contributed to the clutter in their rooms.  So now they have designer receptacles to put their candy wrappers and used up pencils in.  If I ever get those quilts finished they will coordinate as well, since we used leftover scraps to make the scraps we mod podged on the cans.

I had so much fun working with the kids to make these things, and they enjoyed the secrecy of it, and the one on one time with me as well.  It really was a wonderful, Christ and family centered Christmas, full of happy memories.   (And yes, I will take photos of the gifts and post them later.  Don’t know why I didn’t think to do that earlier.)

Once again, Chris picked out a gorgeous tree for us.  This one was so fat, there was hardly room to walk between it and the fireplace.  In fact, we shook the branches pretty much every time we passed by.  Luckily, no ornaments were ever broken.  Well, a few broke during the actual decorating process.  But since we mostly have plastic ornaments left, that won’t be a problem much longer. 🙂  This photo was actually taken a few days before Christmas Eve.  I know, because I was better at wrapping presents this year, and did a big stack every night, so I could go to bed at a somewhat decent hour before the big day.

We had our traditional “fire” of many candles going all afternoon and evening.Every year there are new candle holders to add to the display.  The kids always remember who made which one, and love seeing their creations used over and over again.

For dinner I made my mother-in-law’s traditional Christmas Eve raviolis.  I have only made them a couple times before, because they are such a pain and I have so much going on.  Oh, and the fact that the kids hate them.  So after all that work, they don’t even want to eat them.  BUT since Chris AND Celina were here, I decided that would make the work worth it since it would mean so much to both of them.  Well, it would have if they had tasted decent.  The first year the dough was so thin, all the filling fell out into the water.  The second year, I bought ready-made dough from the store and it was so dry it cracked in places, and the filling ended up in the water.  This time, I made the dough according to the recipe and it was so thick and tough you could barely chew it.  But at least the filling stayed inside!  And of course, I had to cook something completely different for the kids.  I wasn’t grouchy at the time, I swear, but I did make a vow to myself to never do that again.  I think it’s time to go back to ham croissants and salad.

We, of course, also had our traditional Nativity play.  And can I just say that being the donkey was slightly easier this year, since Alexandra played Mary? 🙂  We were hoping that Celina would provide an extra actress, but she disappeared right at curtain time.  Not sure what happened there.  But we still had a great time.  I think it’s just the repetition the kids look forward to.  It certainly isn’t the special effects or adoring audience that keeps them anticipating it year after year!

We sang lots of Christmas carols, accompanied by Chris on his guitar, Nicholas on piano, Sarah on her violin, Noah on piano, and Sophie on her recorder.  Don’t misunderstand.  They didn’t all play together, although that was the original goal.  They each had practiced different songs , and took turns playing them while we sang.  All that driving back and forth to lessons and constant reminders to practice is finally paying off! 🙂

Then the kids set out a carrot for the reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa, along with a paper asking him specific questions and a pencil so he could write his answers while munching on the treats.  Some of the questions were: 1) How many elves do you have?  2)Can you really do magic? 3) Can you really go through the chimney? 4) How old are you? 5)Do you have kids and a family? 6)Do you always have red cheeks? 7)Do you smoke a pipe? and lastly, 8) Do you go to our church?

They came up with these questions all on their own.  Obviously, they have been wondering these things for a while.  So cute!  We also started a new tradition of letting Nick stay up a little later and watch a Christmas movie with us.  This year it was “Elf”, which he thought was very funny.  When he went to bed, I finished up the last of the presents and we were asleep before 2 am.  Woohoo!

So, I put off blogging about this, because I was sure there were more photos on a different camera somewhere.  We have three of the things, and although I try to always use the same one, sometimes I end up just grabbing whatever I can find in the spur of the moment.  But no, Chris just checked today and there are no photos. 🙁

Just use your imagination, I guess.

On Wednesday morning, early, I drove to the airport to pick up Celina.She had emailed us a couple days before hand, wanting to know if it would be alright if she came for Christmas.  Um, yeah!  We always love family for Christmas!  And we didn’t really get to see her when we were in the States this summer, so the kids were especially excited about her visit.  I did feel a bit bad, as it was quite cold and snowy as I drove to pick her up, and having just come straight from southern India, that was going to be quite a shock!  Fortunately, I had thought ahead and brought my biggest, heaviest coat for to put on before we went outside! 🙂

Celina is always a very easy houseguest.  She did most of the kids’ jobs, which they loved, and was so grateful for the simplest things, like strong pressure and lots of hot water in the shower.  We also tried to feed her meat at every single meal, to build up her protein supply again.  Mostly she caught up on sleep and took walks through our beautiful forests.  A true vacation, which she has totally earned.

Anyway, one of the activities we did while she was here, was attend the opening of the Advent window at our neighbor’s house.  Lente had asked me several weeks beforehand if I would bring refreshments to help supplement the treat table, and I happily agreed.   So I baked up a batch of gingerbread men and Sophie carried them down to the garage for me.  They had set up the tables in our parking garage, since it was raining and windy that night.  We had a really good turn out, almost all the neighbors from Müliberg, including some I didn’t recognize in all their winter gear!

Lente had also invited several of her South African friends, and they sang a couple of traditional Christmas carols in Afrikaans.  Nicholas thought that was really neat, because he has been very curious to hear how it sounds, and what the differences are between Dutch and German.  That boy has always loved foreign languages.

We stayed for quite a while chatting and the kids were having fun playing with their friends.  And it inspired me to sign up to do my own window next year.  I think the kids are old enough to help now, and if I start planning now, I should be organized enough to get it done. haha!

So, you know those awesome Advent windows we do in our town every year? Well, they did them again this year.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, we had so many other fun events and things going on, that we didn’t have a free night to attend an opening until the week before Christmas.  And then we got to attend two!

The first was up at the Kindergarten.  It was the first time in a LONG time, that we didn’t have an actual kindergartener participating, but we still knew several of the kids.  In fact, our little neighbor, Amelie sang a duet and did a great job.She’s the one on the right.  Isn’t she a cutie?

Now, I have to be completely accurate in my record keeping here.  There were other nights when we could have attended a window opening.  But they don’t all have treats included, and that’s the best part for us.  But the kindergarten one had a veritable feast provided.Since our town is so small, everyone pretty much knows every one else.  So there are always lots of people to chat with and kids to play with.  But as much fun as we were having, it was very cold!  I don’t know if you can tell, but she had her sweatshirt hood on and her parka hood, and was still shivering. It was that cold.  We got there after they had turned on the lights to the window, and the singing had already started. So we went back around to the front of the building to see the decorations on our way home. I think they did a great job!  Frau Meier, the teacher, said the kids didn’t really have any specific ideas beyond, “it needs to be as glittery as possible!”

We had dinner after we got back home, and Sophie’s little cheeks were still red from the cold for quite a while. I think my favorite thing about these windows is the sense of community it gives me.  It only works because enough people volunteer to do it.  The woman who is in charge of organizing it all, really gives a lot of her time, and is there at every window opening, leading the carol singing.  Plus, it replaces driving around in the car looking at all the Christmas lights, that we always did with my family growing up.  Some years we went to fancy streets, where all the neighbors decked out their yards in a light show bright enough to rival Las Vegas.  But more often, we just drove around aimlessly, looking at whatever lights we could see.  It’s just one more thing my parents did to make Christmas time special and magical.   So, this is our family’s answer to that.  And I love it.

Noah’s class gave a small, impromptu Christmas concert on the 15th, during lunchtime.  Two days before, his teacher sent home a note informing us that the children had requested the chance to cook and eat lunch at school like they did in kindergarten every  month.  Being the awesome, amazing teacher she is, she immediately said yes, and asked for a couple of parents to come in and help supervise.  So many volunteered, including myself, that they had to do a random drawing to choose names!  That’s a great group of parents.

Since I ended up not needing to come cook, I baked a bunch of cookies to bring for the dessert buffet afterwards.  The girls accompanied me back up to the school after our quick lunch at home so they could also enjoy the concert, and the cookies. 🙂

Christian Stuckert volunteered to come practice with the children for several days before the concert, and then accompanied them as the actual performance.  He is a retired music teacher that lives in the village, and is always willing to help out at the kids’ school concerts. So nice.

We had pretty good seats, and could tell that Noah really sang almost all the words to the songs. I tried to take some video, but it didn’t work.  I only started really recording, when I thought I had turned it off.  Doh!

The kids were super excited about the huge variety of treats the parents had brought.  I even got a recipe for lebkuchen from one mom.  Noah asked me to, since it was his favorite. Alexandra, Noah and I all stayed and chatted until it was time for the older girls to go back to class.  They were sad they didn’t get to come home with us, but only  Noah doesn’t have afternoon school on Thursdays.  Thanks for helping us get even more in the Christmas spirit, Noah!