Playing Catch-up

Morgan is on his way to Nice, France for the next month right now, and I wanted to get back into posting so he can see pictures of the family. I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while now, so this entry is going to be slightly disjointed, with lots of random pictures. Here is Braden singing at his St. Nikolaus Day program at school on December 6. They sang traditional German carols -- in German.

Christmas Market:We went to the Kaiserslautern Christmas Market. This is a giant replica of one of their traditional Christmas decorations -- a Weihnachts Piramid (Christmas Pyramid). Each level of the pyramid has a different scene from the nativity story, and they spin around, powered by candles making the blades of the fan rotate. The bottom of this pyramid was a concession stand for mulled wine.This is the nativity scene at the Kaiserslautern Christmas market.

Christmas Eve:No babies were harmed in the filming of this picture. We did a small nativity reenactment on Christmas eve. Lydia was Mary, Braden was Joseph, and Liam was the angel. Morgan was the master mind behind the special effects in this picture. No, Liam isn't really floating above the Holy Family, and he hasn't grown 5 feet. Morgan is the "man behind the curtain."I loved our Christmas tree this year. It wasn't a "perfect" department store tree, but it was perfect for us.

Christmas Morning:

The kids were so excited on Christmas morning. We had stayed on top of buying and wrapping presents throughout the season, so Morgan and I weren't up until the wee hours of the morning this year. We were in bed by 10, and the kids actually let us sleep until 8 a.m.! They all got what they had asked Santa for: Braden got two video games, Lydia got a wooden dollhouse, and Liam got a wooden rocking horse (okay, so Liam didn't know he wanted that, but he has really been enjoying it!). They loved all of their presents from their grandparents, and have really been enjoying vacation and playing with all of their new treasures.

On Christmas eve, while we were walking to our neighbor's house for dinner, we were mesmerized by the beautiful scene down the road. It hadn't snowed yet, but the field down the road was covered in sparkling frost. Everything was silver. We hadn't brought our camera, so Morgan walked down there on Christmas day and took these pictures.

Camping in the New Year:

Grandma sent us all new sleeping bags for Christmas, and Lydia had the idea of having a "Camp in." So for our New Year's Eve festivities, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in our fireplace and "camped" in our living room. We watched movies, ate popcorn and treats, and had a great time. At midnight, we watched a fireworks display from our window. Everyone sets off fireworks to celebrate the New Year in Germany, so we got a pretty good show just from the local residents' displays. We all had a wonderful time.

We hope you are all enjoying 2008, and that you had a wonderful holiday season!