It's almost Christmas

Tis the Season

The time is almost here for Santa to make his annual appearance at the Haines Household. This week we finally bought a tree, and let me tell you, it was no small undertaking. In the States, we traditionally put up our Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. Of course, while we are in Germany we are a little light as far as trimmings go. There was just no room in our luggage for lights, tree trimmings or the model train. We did manage to find this tree at a store about 4 kilometers away. Russell used his awesome Boy Scout knot tying skills to tie it to his gepäckträger. We could have picked a closer store, but that leads me to another issue we have had here in Germany.

Sometimes while we are in a store we will see something that we would like to buy, but don't need to at that very moment. We wait till closer to when we want the item only to discover that it is gone by then!

For example, in OCTOBER, when the Christmas items were first put on display, I saw many varieties of Advent Calendars, and I mean many. Most were religious or child oriented, but I saw one in Woolworth that I thought my girlfriends back in Norfolk would crack up over. You got it, there in Woolworth was a Beefcake Advent calendar. The link isn't the exact one I saw, but it is close enough. So when it got to be time to mail a package to Norfolk in early November, we went back to buy one - and they were all GONE! The same thing happened to us with Lego advent calendars, and even Christmas lights.

Holiday Spirit 
Even though we did not bring any holiday items with us, we seem to have accrued a fair amount. A few things have been given to us as gifts. Our dear friends, the Kellersmann Family, surprised us with a package about a week ago. Inside we found this lovely Weihnnachts Chor candle holder.

We also got this fun Advent calendar. Each day you open up a box and take out a piece of the Manger Scene. You turn the box around and replace it in the star. Not only do we get a new wooden Manger Scene, but we get a bonus scene on the box.

I was looking on Pinterest for decoration ideas when I came across this candle made from an orange.

Finally, a friend lent us some Christmas tree ornaments a few weeks ago. Since we finally brought home a tree we were able to decorate. Charlie Brown would be proud.

I still need to find a tree skirt of some kind. I am also on the look out for some cool paper. We still need to fill out the decorations a bit. I am really trying to not be depressed by how bad this looks.

I wanted to make a few ornaments to help our sad little tree. I saw this on pinterest and thought I would give it a try. I bought a grommet tool at the same store we bought the tree. Today I bought some cool paper to make my own set. Here is one of my first attempts. It is way to big for our tiny tree, so I will have to monkey around with sizes till I find one that works.

One quick note about Christmas trees - we now put lights on our trees, but origianlly candles were used. In Germany, it is still popular to use candles, albeit the electric ones. I did see candle tree clips at Woolworth. It is hard to imagine that people would use real candles today, but I know it happens.

No tree decorating night is complete without Eggnog. I found a pretty good recipe from Alton Brown. Tonight we tried the raw version but I think we will try the cooked version tomorrow. It was pretty good. If only I could find nutmeg.

We are looking forward to a special treat next week. The first exchange student we ever hosted is coming to visit us! Five years ago, Jef stayed with us for seven months when he was 17 years old. We have kept in touch and we finally get to see him again.

So, to all our family and friends around the world - We hope you have lots of fun and celebrate whichever way makes you happy.