Christmas

Vern and Beth Lentz

Maddie with Brian and Ann Lentz

Maddie with one of her Santa gifts

We're here in Connecticut with Skip's family for Christmas. Both of Skip's brothers and their wives and Vern's two boys were here for Christmas Eve, so the whole family made it this year. Good German girl that she has, Maddie created a system for organizing and handing out the presents. She took her role very seriously and the distribution of gifts went extremely smoothly, I must say.

Skip and Maddie and I went to the church service at the Congregational Church where Skip attended growing up. It's like something out of a Christmas postcard. There was a great moment during the scripture reading, right after the reader read that the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, there was this tremendous feedback over the sound system that just about blew everyone out of our seats. Of course the next line after it cleared up was "Be not afraid." Kind of gave us a real feel for just how startled those shepherds were.

Here are some pics. We had a White Christmas and Maddie has really enjoyed the snow.

I scored an I-pod from my husband, so my reflections on the birth of Christ may be interrupted by the downloading of music. Actually, I can download the Christmas podcast from several churches out there and have sermons to go.

Merry Christmas

Christmas in Germany

You haven't heard Feliz Navidad until you've heard it sung by a German choir at a German Christmas market. There are all sorts of German singing groups made up of adults that just like to sing. They have these singing clubs and at Christmas, they show up at the markets. In Kaiserswerth last week, we saw this Gospel choir. All Germans singing American gospel songs.

Wow! Was it cold at Schloss Moyland yesterday, but the market was really nice. They even had a tent set up with a cast iron oven and the kids could cut out and decorate cookies and come back after 10 minutes and pick up their baked goods. Just a tip for any of you who are planning a German Christmas market vacation--the markets that take place at castles tend to have more of the local vendors selling handmade goods, where as the big city markets are fun and have better food (not to be dismissed lightly), but they tend to have the same booths over and over and a lot of manufactured items.

Today we will stop by the home of Natalie and Russ Harwood (Nat's a New Zealander and Russ is a Brit) for a holiday open house. Natalie recently had a birthday and her present was two tickets to see the Spice Girls Reunion tour in Cologne on Thursday night. Tonight we will head to Christ Church for the annual carol and candlelight service. We're hoping Maddie doesn't set anything or anyone on fire.

Busy week as we wrap up Christmas preparations, pack and get ready to fly out to the states on Friday. Have several friends who are not able to head home for the holidays, so I try to play down my excitement. I'll be hauling over Christmas cards to mail for a couple of people. I'll be sending mine from the states as well. I sent 5 cards out from here last week and it costs 8 euros. (about 11 american dollars).

Hope everyone is having a frohes fest.

How to Attract Attention in Germany

So, I was in Real (the German Wal-Mart equivalent) yesterday and people were staring at me. BTW, Germans are not discreet about staring. If you're doing something stare-worthy, they don't try to sneak glances, they just stare. It's really much more honest.

Anyway, I was by myself, so I wasn't speaking English to anyone--which often draws stares. And I was dressed like a typical German in December: boots, all-weather coat and scarf. I couldn't figure out what was causing folks to stare. I looked in my cart to see if I had made an unusual selection. No. Even glanced in a mirror to make sure I didn't have anything on my face. It wasn't until I got all the way around the store to the beverage items that I realized that Real was piping in Christmas carols sung in English, and I had been singing along. I wondered why I was in such a good mood!

Speaking of beverages, here's something you won't see in Arkansas. We went to the Christ's Church Advent Market. There were English books and British foods and kids toys and white elephants. But the way the British Businessmen's Club was raising money for the church was to sell chances on beer and alcohol. Skip bought two tickets at a euro each and left with six pints of British ale.

We also went to the Advent Market at Schloss Dyche on Sunday after church. It was a beautiful setting, but almost too crowded to really enjoy. Still, they had a lot of handmade and specialty items that one goes to these markets to see.

Today, I went to Europe's largest shopping mall to try to wrap up some Christmas shopping. On a weekday, the mall was busy, but not overly crowded. You couldn't pay me enough to show up there next Saturday.

Conversation Topics

Was at a good-by gathering for friend Jennifer last night, and it occurred to me how different conversation topics are here than in the U.S. We met at this restaurant and sat at a big table. And the women were on one side and the men on the other. According to Skip, the men talked work and sports--much the same as they do in the states. The women talk about the two things we all have in common: kids/ISD and travelling.

We can't talk about movies because we there's only occasionally a movie in English at the theater. We can't talk tv. One woman tried to describe her passion for Project Runway which she gets via her satellite or something--and apparently it's last season's eipsodes. But no one had seen it. We can't talk books, since the only time any of us are reading the "latest" is if our husbands pick it up for us at the airport. Politics is not a topic since we're not all from the same country, and we Americans aren't getting bombarded with all the info. The only reason I knew Oprah was stumping for Obama was by logging on to Cnn.com. We don't know what's happening in Germany because even those who speak pretty good German aren't quite to the reading German newspapers or watching German news level.

However, it's not unusual at all to be comparing hotel stays in Paris, hearing about the pros and cons of a Greek cruise and tips for how to drive without getting killed in Italy.

Had a funny exchange on the travel front. Was talking the other day to a woman who's family is going to Egypt for Christmas and I said, "How Biblical!" She thought I was being sarcastic, and I had to let her know that rumor has it that Mary and Joseph actually took the baby Jesus to Egypt after he was born to escape the wrath of Herod. It was the first she'd heard of it.

Out Sick

Haven't posted anything on the blog this week because I've been struck down by strep throat. Boy, I can't remember the last time I have been this sick. Spent two days just completely in bed and went 3 days without eating or drinking anything other than a Starbucks Frappacino (docs office is right across the street from one) a few popsicles and when we were out of popsicles once I sucked on frozen fruit. Just a tip--never contract strep throat in a country with no smoothie shops or 24-hour pharmacies.

I'm still not well, but I'm not supposed to be contagious and the Tylenol and ibuprofen actually control the throat pain now. I'm going to have to go on some kind of detox diet after this is over to help my liver heal from all the medicine I've taken trying to make my throat stop hurting. I never took more than the daily max of aceteminophen or ibuprofen, but I've hit my limit for several days in a row.

My doctor, while actually Romanian, fits in well here in Germany. The whole reason I went to the doctor and found out I had strep was that nothing I was taking was stopping the pain.It hurt to bad to even eat, so that's really serious when you're me. She said, "It's strep. It's going to hurt" and kind of shrugged at me. I want my American doctor who would hold my hand and smile empathetically and hand me a prescription for something that would stop the pain!

Since strep is so contagious, we quaratined me in the guest room. Skip had Maddie duty for two days running. Even in my feveish haze, I had to admit enjoying that it was him and not me having to hear, "But I don't want that in my lunch today." down in the kitchen.

And this is such a rotten time to be sick, because Christmas in Germany is really cool. They do it up right here and I've missed a whole week of it. It's made me a little Grinchy.

Am really glad I brought back a can of Lysol from the states this summer. Last February, when we all got sick, the house just felt like a germ factory. This time, I was able to spray down bathrooms, doors and even the mattress that served as my sick bed. I'm not sure why disinfectant spray is not a German thing. There's lots of air freshners--you can get Oust, for example--but no disinfectant spray. I think they're of the germs-build-up-your-immunity camp since you can't get Purell here either, something else I have in my arsenal.

It's time to come home. I've almost used up all of my stash of Tylenol. There's no more Easy Mac or chili seasoning packets. Am low on vanilla extract ( by the way, the butter vanille extract here in Germany is butterscotch flavor) and hydrogen peroxide. And Maddie is all the time talking about the Quaker Instant Oatmeal with the Dinosaur eggs that "hatch" baby dinosaurs when you add the hot water.

Two weeks from today. Woo hoo!

Advent Pics

Duesseldorf Christmas Market on a Sunny Saturday

Maddie and Skip about to enter the fray

Maddie in front of a nativity scene carved out of Olivewood from Bethlehem

Roise gets decked out for the holiday

Me sporting my "JOY" tatoo from the Breakfast with Santa

Ho, Ho,Ho

Fist day of Advent in Germany. Advent begins the first day of December. That means Maddie AND Roise got to start their Advent calendars. Maddie's is a mini-Baby Born with accessories and Rosie gets a special bunny treat each day.

We had "breakfast with Santa" this morning at the ISD commons room sponsored by the American Women's Club. It would have a been a lovely time had Maddie not thrown the fit of all fits toward the end over something ridiculous (but then, aren't most fits about something ridiculous?).

If we were good parents, we would have cancelled the rest of the day's planned activities, but the sun was shining on a Saturday. When the sun is shining, in December, on a Saturday, in Duesseldorf, you would have to be crazy to stay indoors. So we made her stay in her room for about 45 minutes. She emerged her usual delightful self and we all went into Downtown Duesseldorf for the Christmas Market.

It was packed with people and all the stalls were busy. Lots of food and drink and gifts. One lingerie store really took advantage of the crowds by putting not just manequins but real models in their underwear in the window. It did garner attention, but it was more amusing than provacative. Real people standing in a store window in their underwear looked kind of ridiculous.

Last night Skip and I went to a party for American Women's Club Board members and their spouses. My world is a world of women. The men work and are rarely around for drop and pick up at school. When Skip is out of town, I can go two or three days without speaking to anyone who is male or has a job outside of the home. So, when I was talking to our friend Ron about just what it is he does at Bayer, he commented that he was probably boring me. I said, "Are you kidding? This is not about car line, cupcakes, a playground sqaubble or a lament about what you can't find in a German grocery store. PLEASE, tell me more!" So now I know all about the ins and outs of having to deal in Styrene--which is not something that's profitable, but as it's a by-product of a product that is profitable, you lose less money by brokering it yourself than selling it to another company to deal with it. And it's nice to know what your friends actually do instead of just who they work for.

Sunday we're splitting up. Maddie's Sunday School group is singing at the Anglican Church and I've been invited to preach at the Methdodist Church. Afterwards, if the weather holds, we'll meet back up and head to another Christmas market at Schloss Dyck. Skip heads out to London tonight to attend his company Christmas dinner tomorrow night. I was not invited. Someone needs to be here for carline, cupcakes and playground squabbles. Tis the season and all.