I can’t believe this was our last Christmas in Germany. I don’t even want to talk about it. Nope, not really. Not knowing where we will spend the next Christmas makes me a bit nauseated, though you’d think I’d be used to this by now. No matter what part of the world we end up in this fall, though I have a pretty good hunch, it will be a new and exciting adventure to say the least. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to celebrate three Christmases in our cozy little German home. Out of all three, this one just might have been my favorite…
Oh, the wonders of His love.
We wrapped up our last German Christmas market tour with a revisit to Bernakstel-Keus while my parents were still in town. When we took the 3 week old Owen to it last year, it was all closed up and there wasn’t a whole lot going on. The Viper Pilot was at work, but my parents and I went back to get the full experience.
This is his “cheese” face. Or maybe he was whining. I can’t actually tell.
We did lots of shopping, too. This Christmas market doesn’t sell as much of the traditional Christmas goodies like Dresden, but the homemade ornaments, soaps, meats, cheeses, mustards, and so on are pretty hard to pass up. And the wine. I got our 2014 family ornament there, it says Happy Holidays in German and we’re going to write all of the Christmas markets we’ve visited while in Germany on the back.
Owen met Sankt Nikolaus, and was perfectly content with the statue version.
He reminds me so much of the little boy from A Christmas Story all bundled up in his “snowsnuit” (what I’m told I called a snowsuit when I was a kid). In case you’re wondering, I was a pretty cute snow bunny myself.
As was the Viper Pilot, to be fair. 😉
Shortly after my parents left, Owen had his first real encounter with the fat man in the red suit. He wasn’t a fan.
That’s sheer terror. And we were laughing. WHY do we do this to our children?! But give him a year or so and I’m sure he’ll sit there happily with a laundry list…
Our house looked fabulous as always all dressed up for the holidays. I love our house.
We took him to Christmas Eve mass to see the children’s pageant. He loved it. He clapped, sang, and danced the entire time, winning over everyone around us and keeping everyone’s jet-lagged family members awake. 😉
I think Alex and I were more excited about Christmas morning than Owen. He wasn’t really into it. Okay, he wasn’t into it at all. But he didn’t mind playing with the Christmas lights before bed so I could get a few pictures.
As soon as we heard Owen awake on Christmas morning, we both jumped out of bed. It was 6:30 am. That is probably the last time we will ever get to sleep that late on Christmas morning…
And probably the last time we will ever get to eat breakfast before opening presents too. That’s okay.
The cutest little elf I’ve ever seen in my whole life.
He fared pretty well…between aunts and uncles, grandparents, and us, he got loaded up on books, things with wheels, stuffed animals, Legos, clothes. He is one very blessed (spoiled?) little man.
Sorry I’m not sorry for the overload of Owen’s Christmas morning pictures. He’s kind of the star of the show and I couldn’t narrow it down to just a few. 🙂
I hope you all had a merry holiday (whatever it is you celebrate) surrounded by your loved ones. Please remember to pray for those who are not able to be with their families during the holidays. It’s not as easy as we make it look, though we are very fortunate we were able to be together. We are counting our blessings and are so thankful for all of you!
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2015! I can’t wait to see what it has in store.
PROST!