Y2W31 - Christmas and Beyond

This year the week of Christmas was really fun. Monday, we started out the day by taking the train into Köln to get a few last minute gifts and a couple of things from the English store. We didn't have much time because we had to get Bailey back to a birthday party. Avery spent the day baking with Nana which is one of her favorite things. We even had the chance to go see Madagascar 2 in English at our local theater.

We had an opportunity this year to make a gingerbread house. We usually run out of time before Christmas, but this year we were able to get it done. One funny thing about this day and really the whole holiday break was Bryn. She would inform us that she 'needed' chocolate or "white hot chocolate" about ten times a day. We also went ice skating. Something Bailey had been bugging us about since last year. It was fun although the weather had been quite warm and with an outdoor rink, the ice was quite melted in a few spots. Fun none-the-less.

Christmas Eve, much of the day was spent cooking. The girls went out to lunch with Nana and Papa to McDonald's. The Missionaries showed up singing Christmas Carols as we were getting ready to go to Church for our Christmas Eve Service. We ate a traditional Christmas Goose for dinner with all the trimmings, even the Christmas Crackers. We finished off the night with our nativity play and a sing-a-long of Christmas songs (both English and German). It was so nice not to have to spend the majority of the night wrapping presents.

Ahhh, Christmas. It is so much fun through the eyes of children. And, when everything is opened and they just play, and play, and play, it is so nice.

We took a day trip to Xanten. The weather turned rather cold but we still had fun seeing the Roman ruins and the village is one of my favorites in Germany. We went into a restaurant for Streudel and Hot Chocolate. Greg and I were skeptical about a sit-down restaurant with the girls, but Greg's mom really wanted to go and it worked out great. I was very impressed with their behavior.

Off to Amsterdam we went visiting such places as the Anne Frank House, Rijk's Museum, and Rembrandt House. We tried to go to The Hague for laser light show over Madurodam which is an amusement type place (essentially a miniature Holland), but they were not running it the night we got there. We went to Delft and did the tour of the factory before driving to Antwerp, Belgium on the way home. No, we didn't get a chance to do the diamond museum because Bryn was complaining about her poor frozen feet. Did I mention it was cold? But, we did get a really yummy Belgian waffle and we ate at a little Italian restaurant who smelled like it had just had a small kitchen fire. The food, however, was quite good.

Amsterdam

Delft

Antwerp

We got back to Germany and had one more evening with Nana and Papa before they flew home. It went by so fast as the holiday season usually does. It was great to have them come during Christmas.