Another year over, and a new one just begun

Our Weihnachtsbaum

So what were you doing at 4:00 AM on Christmas Eve? I was taking my mom to the train station so she could fly home. Yep, that sucked. Fortunately we were so busy the rest of the day that I didn't have to think about missing her. We had a bunch of people over for the occasion, and we had to get ready and stuff. I even got to decorate the tree and arrange the presents around it, which are two of my favorite Christmas things (yes, I am weird...). The tree doesn't go up until Christmas eve over here, and it's also a surprise for the children. I'm just glad I wasn't grouped with the Kinder this time! And guess what! The lights on the tree were real candles! I didn't know people still used them, seeing as it's a fire hazard and all that jazz.

We had a Christmas Devotional that day as well. I got a phone call asking me to play the piano for some musical numbers. So I got to sightread some music at the Devotional. It went surprisingly well! 

Back at home, we ate the traditional potato salad and wurst. We sang Weihnachtslieder. Ok, I didn't sing so much, thanks to my rebellious throat. And then we opened the presents. You know the drill.

On Christmas Day, we went to Jared's sister's home across town. Kids Everywhere. And although the feast was delicious, it was much more like a meal with a turkey instead of a chicken as opposed to the feasting we do in the States. It was a lovely day, even though there was no pie anywhere.

The next days, the second Christmas Day, was a chill day. My old roomie from BYU is now an Au Pair like me in Berlin, and she was able to stop by as her host family went somewhere to visit family. That was so fantastic! I've missed her so much!

I went shopping Saturday. Still can't find any boots I like for a decent price in my size. I swear everyone here wears a 39 and nobody 36/37. I did find some cool shirts, though.

Lighting a firework!

New Years... We had some random older people from church over. The interesting part, though, was lighting fireworks! That's right, it's totally legal over here to light fireworks in your neighborhood. So there were little explosions all over the city... or rather, above it. It was pretty awesome.

New Years Day... was a little bit of a let-down. Absolutely nothing is open, and I had the day off. What's the point of having a day off if you can't do anything?!? I guess that's nice for the people whose friends are in town... So I just wore my new pajamas all day. At least I was comfy!

Well, thanks for reading this Holiday Edition!