Christmas 2010

Making cookies for Santa.





Christmas Eve













Leaving cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolph.



Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas before bedtime.



First look at what Santa brought.



Little Sidney didn't want to open any presents.  She would let Carolyn open them and then grab the present and run.  Carolyn definitely didn't mind opening all of the presents though.



The Doll House that Santa's Elf stayed up till midnight putting together Christmas Eve.







I can't believe Christmas went by so fast this year.

Merry Christmas

What a day!  Even though my children decided to boycott the family Christmas picture.  We go from this



 to this



and it is so completely perfect.

Nosey Neighbor

Sometimes I feel like the nosey neighbor.  Maybe I am just too American but the behavior of my neighborhood is quite entertaining to me.  It is Christmas Eve, we got about 6 more inches of snow last night and it is still snowing (shocker).  First thing in the morning every single one of my neighbors again out there shoveling in the snow.
Brian is sore from our adventure last night.  A friend got stuck in the snow, tried to shovel them out, Brian got covered from head to toe in mud, failed - had to call a tow truck.  So needless to say Brian is boycotting the shoveling today.  I mean it is Christmas Eve people.  And if Brian's not doing it the likelihood of me doing it is very slim.
Back to the entertainment of my neighborhood.  All of a sudden this truck pulls up.



If it is snowing too hard for you to get to the butcher in Germany.  It comes to you.  Too bad we were both in our PJ's and didn't get to run out and check out the selection.  If we had been shoveling our snow like our good neighbors we wouldn't have missed out.

Where are you Sunshine?

We have gotten a lot of snow, a ton of snow, more snow than this South Carolinian has ever seen.  The other night while it was snowing every single one of our neighbors were outside in the dark shoveling snow.  While it was still snowing.
Brian and I looked at each other and were like are they crazy - should we be out there?
The next morning we learned why they were doing it that night.  Brian had to shovel his car out of the snow and make a path for him to get out of our driveway.  We realized it would have been easier if we (better make that he) had gotten a head start the night before.



Don't get me wrong.  The snow is absolutely beautiful.  I hope that we have a White Christmas and from the looks of it we will.
But sometimes I wish I could just jump into this picture for the afternoon.  Soak up the sun and watch my family play on the beach for a while.



For now I guess I have to settle with watching my husband shovel snow.  This is him saying you can stop taking pictures of me and get down here and help anytime now.

Cologne Christmas Market

Even though it was snowing like crazy Saturday morning we headed to the Christmas Market in Cologne.  We had heard such great things about this Market and The Moone's braved the weather with us.  Plus weather.com said there was only a 20% chance of snow in Cologne.  The whole way there Brian and I were like it is going to stop, it is going to stop, nope not going to stop.

We had been to Cologne before to go to the Zoo but we had not seen the main Cathedral there.  It was just gorgeous and the one market we made it to was right in front of it.




The snow didn't stop us from doing our usually eating.  I think my favorite from this Market was this chocolate covered waffle.



And it didn't stop Carolyn and Kennedy from having a great time together.  They both got a 2 Euro ballon animal (which Carolyn learned the unfortunate lesson that ballon dogs don't last forever and is still talking about it), they saw a silver man (Carolyn watched from a safe distance while Kennedy went and gave him money), and of course they had to ride the Merry go Round (numerous times).

Shortly after this though Carolyn had a break down that even Hot Chocolate couldn't cure.  She started crying that she couldn't feel her fingers.  We had to head home after only having seen one of the seven Markets in Cologne.  I can't really blame her though. I don't think I have ever been outside in that much snow. 20 percent yea right.  Though it did stop as we were having to leave.



Yesterday Carolyn says to me - Mommy one day Kennedy is going to marry her Daddy and I am going to marry my Daddy.  Oh your Daddies can only dream that no little boys are going to come after the two of you.

Tulips in Winter

Even though it is so very cold outside and we have gotten more snow, I love that I have a little bit of Spring on my table thanks to my hubby.



I don't know what Europe has done to him.  Maybe it is having more access to fresh flowers or the fact that you know he moved me to another Continent, but he has given me flowers more here than he ever did in America.  Guess who thinks they are for her every time?



She did need her Daddy to bring her some flowers this week though, poor thing picked up a stomach bug (I think from our playground in the cave).  Fortunately, none of the rest of us got it and



she is back to herself:  Playing peek a boo with her sister in the winter garden, which is becoming our favorite room these days.  Almost like being outside but with the warmth.

Bastogne, Belgium

We headed to Bastogne, Belgium for the 66th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge on Saturday.

Here is a little bit of history for you because to be honest I had to look it up myself.  The Battle of the Bulge, fought from December 16, 1944 - January, 25 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War II.  Hitler thought that the Allied forces were not as strong in this region and a major attack would leave them unable to supply themselves, thus breaking up the Alliance.  This was the largest battle fought by Americans in WWII.



When we arrived in Bastogne we headed  first to the Mardasson Memorial, which honors the memory of the American Soldiers wounded or killed during this Battle.  I have found different numbers online, but from what I gather there were approximately 70,000 - 89,000  American casualties including 19,000 killed.



The memorial is shaped like a star and  is engraved with the names of the contemporary 48 US states.  The insignia of most of the participating battalions are also shown on the walls.
On the memorial stone there is this Latin inscription.

LIBERATORIBVS

AMERICANIS

POPVLVS BELGICVS

MEMOR

IV.VII.MCMXLVI.

translates to "The Belgian people remember their American liberators – 4th July 1946."

(This is all brought to you by google. I didn't realize any of this at the time. I was just blown away by this huge memorial and seeing the American Flag.  It really was a sight to see and now that I know more of the History it makes me appreciate it  even more.)

On the anniversary of the Battle they hold a commerative walk which is what brought us here this weekend.  We really wanted to do it but were a little unsure how the girls would do on a 4 mile walk through the snow.  Very smart decision for us not to do the walk this year.  It was very cold and I don't think we could have gotten our stroller through some of the areas.  We might try it next year but it was so worth the trip there even without doing the walk.



The whole town was filled with Belgians dressed in American WWII uniforms.





There were also a ton of WWII vehicles driving the streets.  I tried to look up online what each vehicle was used for but had a little difficulty finding this.





I would guess that this is some type of tank, but it was so small it almost looked like a toy tank.





We even saw an old Harley.



On our way out we saw this group of people and they were all chanting and trying to catch



something that was being thrown from this balcony.  I think this might be Bastogne's town hall.  The way these people were acting Brian and I were like what in the world are they throwing?



Walnuts.  Bags of Walnuts.



Little Sidney even caught a bag of walnuts while she was sleeping, didn't even wake up.  I am so happy that it didn't hit her in the head. That could hurt.



It was great to go somewhere in Europe where you felt so welcome and proud to be an American.  I am so glad that we did this.  The best part was when we got home Brian was able to talk to his Grandfather who fought in WWII.