Simon grew up celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve, so we usually all gather at Oma and Opa’s place every Heiligabend. I grew up celebrating on Christmas Day (no stockings or presents until then!), so we usually celebrate then with just the four of us. So it’s the best of both worlds, really! The girls love […]
Christmas
Christmastime in Zons
Around 15 years ago, Friedel took Simon and I to a really cool medieval Weihnachtsmarkt in Zons (about a 30 min. drive from Köln). I remember it being amazing and have wanted to go back ever since. It only happens over one weekend in December, so we kept missing it. We made a point to […]
Christmas Tree Hunting
We have a Christmas tradition of finding and cutting down our own Christmas Tree at this amazing place every year (and another post here)… Lazy Papa tried to make the girls do it completely by themselves this year. They did pretty well, but he had to do the last bit.. it was COLD I had […]
Christmas Prep and The Nutcracker
Around here, you know Christmas is coming when Opa Friedel starts making his famous Spritzgebäck cookies. l lingering sign of Fall The girls made these advent calendars in school and were excited to open them every day.. more Christmas artwork.. One Saturday every December their school does a big Christmas craft day… Quinnie made these […]
Christmastime 2015
Köln is definitely a city where you can revel in Christmas. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to revel this year between my school and family commitments. We still managed to have some fun though… A new Weihnachtsmarkt popped up in a small square located between my school and home, so I was able to […]
Random Christmas Bits and New Year’s Eve
Here’s the last batch of pics that I have from Grandma and Grandpa’s visit (that aren’t already in other posts). Now that’s a pretzel! Grandpa doing magic tricks. The girls thought they were incredible. The next day I heard Kiera whisper to a friend, “My Grandpa can do magic!” The girls busted me relaxing in […]
Christmas Markets with Grandma and Grandpa
We managed to make it to every Weihnachtsmarkt again this year. It was Grandma and Grandpa’s first time seeing them, so it was extra fun to show them around. I’m going to put all of the Christmas Market pictures into one post this year since I documented each Weihnachtsmarkt thoroughly last year. I’ll give you […]
Bergischer Weihnachtsmarkt im Wald (2014)
On Quinnie’s birthday we went to the Christmas Market in the forest (like last year) to cut down our own Christmas tree. Unfortunately we didn’t stay long because the weather was cold and rainy. We still managed to have some fun before we left though! Quinnie was excited to see Sankt Nikolaus there (Kiera wasn’t […]
Christmas Day (2014)
The girls must have been good this year, because Santa came!! showing each other their stocking treats Quinnie got even more Playmobil guinea pigs! showing Grandma their loot Playmobil Christkind and Sankt Nikolaus. You can read about these German Christmas Idols in this post from last year. American play money. I brought this from the […]
Christmas Eve (2014)
A few days before Christmas we went to Oma and Opa’s house for the traditional Raclette Christmas dinner. I didn’t take any photos of the food this year, but if you don’t know what Raclette is, you can check out last year’s post here. Quinnie got to light lots of the Christmas candles this year […]
Christmas Day 2013
As usual, Quinnie was the first one up- she has always been our early riser! The first thing she did was go downstairs and look outside to see if the reindeer ate the carrots she left out (they did!!). After that she woke up Kiera so that they could open their stockings together. They […]
Christmas Eve at Oma and Opa’s House
The four of us went to Oma and Opa’s place for Christmas Eve dinner. Their house was so festive. The girls were THRILLED that they were allowed to light the candles (with supervision) on the Christmas tree and wooden pyramid spinner. We got to try out our new Raclette […]
Weihnachtsmarkt am Kölner Dom
This was one of my favorite Christmas Markets. Simon’s mom read that it was voted the most popular in Germany. First a few pics of the Dom itself- even though pictures just don’t do it justice. It is VERY impressive (I’ll do a whole blog post on it at a later date). Some quick facts- […]
Neumarkt Weihnachtsmarkt (Markt der Engel)
This Weihnachtsmarkt is called “the Market of the Angels.” Quinnie and I stopped by there after I picked her up from school. It was her 7th birthday so she got to pick out a few gifts for herself. Check out who greeted us at the information kiosk… Dom waffles! Camera […]
Hafen Weihnachtsmarkt am Schokoladenmuseum
The title of this post (and the name of this Weihnachtsmarkt) translates to Harbor Christmas Market at the Chocolate Museum (yes- there’s an amazing Chocolate Museum here!). It has a nautical theme- I guess because it’s on The Rhine? Flammlachs- you can find salmon cooked this […]
Kaufhof
Kaufhof is one of the big department stores here. We decided to take the girls there to get some ideas on what they wanted to ask Santa for for Christmas. They almost never ask for anything, and when I asked them what they wanted for Christmas they just kind of looked at me blankly. Opa […]
Stadtgarten Weihnachtsmarkt
This is probably the smallest Weihnachtsmarkt in Köln. It’s Simon’s favorite. He said, “Now THIS is how a Weihnachtsmarkt should be.” It wasn’t commercialized or touristy- it mostly felt like a local neighborhood party (though still very crowded- so much so that I didn’t bother taking that many photos). During the day they even have […]
Christmas Idols
In America most kids (Christian ones at least) get excited for Santa Clause to visit. German kids have 3 different people to look forward to. I’ve found it somewhat confusing so I had Simon explain it to me. On December 6th they celebrate Sankt Nikolaus. The night before kids put a boot out and it […]
Altstadt Weihnachtsmarkt (Heimat Der Heinzel)
This was my favorite Weihnachtsmarkt. The title of this post (and name of the Weihnachtsmarkt) translates to Old Town Christmas Market (Home of the Elves). It felt very old world and classic- just what you’d imagine a quintessential German Christmas market would be like. This is the place to come for a huge array of […]
Lebkuchen Haus 2013
Every year the girls and I decorate a Gingerbread House. It’s a tradition they always look forward to. Thanks to Oma for giving us the kit this year.
Bergischer Weihnachtsmarkt im Wald
Sorry for the unintentional blog break. Both girls and Simon have been sick over the past few weeks. After taking care of them any free time I had was spent going to all of the Christmas Markets (I actually made it to all of them!). I hope to blog about them all (TONS of photos), […]
Rudolfplatz Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)
There are 7 main Christmas Markets in Köln, and I hope to make it to all of them this year. There’s an amazing medieval one just outside of Köln (in Zons) that I’d like to go back to as well (Friedel took us there 6 years ago). All through the month of December you can […]