Frohe Weihnachten!

I'll be home for Christmas....you can count on me.

Please have snow and mistletoe and presents round the tree

I'll be home for Christmas....but only in my dreams.

This year, the words of this song hit home like a double whammy.  We are far from home again this Christmas and mike is far from us here in Germany as well.   While it hasn't been our favorite way spend the holidays, it has been wonderful, snowy, and memorable. 

I've had some chances this week to talk to various people about traditions and the part they play in our families and in our lives...especially at this time of year.

While we all try to keep our focus on the spiritual side of Christmas, many of our traditions tend to be more Santa oriented.  I will always believe there is room for both the true meaning of Christmas and the magical side of Christmas. 

"Family traditions are the glue that binds one generation to another."

I love our family traditions.  We have many.  My mom and dad started some of them, some of them Mike and I started.  It's been fun to see our grown kids continue some of them and to see them start traditions of their own.  Some of my favorite Christmas traditions are:

The kids always open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always new jammies.  Of course as the boys got older, they got just jammie pants, but the tradition continued this year for Travis. He could hardly wait to open his Christmas Eve jammies!

Another traditions has to do with stockings.  We always got a tangerine in the toe and Santa always wrapped up several little presents to put in the stocking, giving the kids a few more gifts to unwrap after all the ones under the tree had been opened.  Santa also always put in a  lifesaver book and gold wrapped chocolate coins.   

The kids always put out cookies and eggnog for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.  They would write Santa a note and he always wrote a note back. 

For as long as I can remeber, I have made pillsbury orange rolls for breakfast.  Yep...easy, breezy..orange rolls!  Who wants to cook a big breakfast when there's fun things to play with and a big dinner to cook for in just a few hours.  This year I made french toast.  I felt like a traitor and will go right back to orange rolls next year!

One of the traditions I have continued from my mom is that of making "Pattern Cookies"  Every year my mom would make a double or triple batch of cut out sugar cookies.  I'm talking like maybe over a hundred.  Then she would try to enlist us kids to help her frost them. It was fun for about a half hour...then poor mom would be sitting at the table frosting them alone for hours.  For some reason, I decided this was a tradition worth continuing.  I have changed the dough recipe to an easier to roll out version.  It doesn't taste quite as good as mom's, but there is no drama when trying to roll out the dough.  I also rarely do even a double batch....50 cookies max!   This year I had Travis and his friend, Josh to help me frost (and eat) them.  Thanks guys!!

"Before"....

"During"...

and finally "after"... ready to eat!!

Every year it seems a few traditions go by the wayside.  Our families grow bigger and change is inevitable, but I know some traditions will live on for generations to come!  


Now, for those of you who would like to know how we spent Christmas, buckle up because off we go...

Santa enters by a rope or ladder here in Germany.

Yes we did have a lot of snow again this week...but I will spare you more pictures.  Just know that I actually got stuck right in front of my house and had to have August, Travis and Josh dig me out.  They don't plow the side roads here and we had almost a foot of frozen slush.  The BMW was getting it's snow tires put on and the Mini just couldn't get a grip on the ice.  It wouldn't go forward and it wouldn't go backwards...that adds up to stuck any way you look at it.  

I saw Santa at the Esso!

On Thursday I had planned to take the train with Travis to the Mannheim Christmas market but sometime on Wednesday night, Travis got talking with his friends and somehow we got inivited to tag along with the Cherringtons and Leforts to Köln ( Cologne) Germany.   I have been wanting to go there, since we arrived in Germany.  It has one of the biggest cathedrals in Europe.  A gothic style Catholic Dom.  It has twin spires that reach about 600 feet high.  When we walked up out of the parking garage and found ourselves right at the cathedral, it really did take my breath away!

postcard of the Dom and the market.

The Christmas market is right in the platz beside the church.  We walked through the market in pouring down rain and Brrrrrrrr!  it was so cold.  We just didn't want to let the weather ruin our trip, so we all just grinned and shivered our way through.

Kyle Cherrington sporting his new alpaca headband

Travis with his mulit brat skewer...mmmm!

Sarcophagus holding relics from the three wisemen

Huge mosaic on the floor of the Dom

After wandering around the market in the freezing weather, we decided to go into the cathedral to get warm.  Funny thing is it was still so cold in there you could see your breath.  It's an amazing church started in the 13th century.  It has a gold sarcophagus made in the 13th century that allegedly contains the bones and robes of the the three wisemen.  It was hit a few times in WWII but was never destroyed although most of the city was flattened.

There were also some beautiful and intricate mosaics on the floor.  And the stained glass was amazing.  My favorite was on that looked like confetti that was just put in back in 1997.  It replaced a window that had been blown out  in the war and they had put a plain glass window in until they commissioned this one.


Then we walked over the walkplatz shopping area and did some shopping and then went in to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch.

Travis and Dallin at the Lego store

Santa Gorilla 

After eating we walked outside and the rain had turned to snow and it seemed a bit warmer.  We walked back through the market on our way back to the cars.  It was just so Christmasey (is that really a word?)  to see the market and cathedral all lit up and big snowflakes falling through the sky.  I loved it!   It was such fun day...good friends, good shopping, good food, good times!

Travis and I had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We watched  a Christmas movie called "Silent Night" set in the Ardennes Forest in WWII.  A german woman and her son end up with some american G.I.'s and some german soldiers holed up in her farmhouse.  It was really good.

We opened presents, visited on the phone or skyped with Mike, Pat, Scott, Cade and Codi, and shoveled the snow...again!   I made Filet au Poivre, a very nice steak with cracked pepper sauce, for dinner.  Today we went to church and enjoyed the Christmas program...very nice.

During our lesson in Relief Society, the teacher asked what were our feelings when we woke up this morning...the day after Christmas.  I didn't say it out loud but my feelings were "We did it...we got through this Christmas without Mike around and without any family around". I wasn't looking forward to this Christmas with just the two of us.  Don't get me wrong.... I love Christmas and no one was more surprised than me to find out I had found joy and meaning in this very unusual Christmas.  Our two Christmases in Germany have been simple and quiet giving me time to focus on the things I SHOULD focus on this time of year.  But I miss my family, the hustle and bustle and the time honored traditions.  I hope to be able to combine both when I'm once again home for Christmas in person and not only in my dreams.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

May we be filled with the spirit of Christmas not only this week but every week of the year!


love and miss you all, 
-corri