Ribbons Undone

Around here, you know Christmas is coming when Opa Friedel starts making his famous Spritzgebäck cookies.

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 homemade rolled beeswax candles

Making our annual Christmas sugar cookies with our new Kölner Dom cookie cutter and stamp..

holiday decorations through the Roman Arch

the girls were really into looking through these 3 books this year..

We made our annual trek to the toy department at Kaufhof to get ideas on gifts to ask Santa for (always a struggle to come up with ideas- they hardly ever ask for anything! Weird, right?!). A big highlight of their visit here is always this race track (above).

these Glubschi stuffed animals are really popular here

love this Hohenzollernbrücke building set!

Quinnie eating Dampfnudel at a Weihnachtsmarkt

I stocked up on Glühwein there

Since I’m playing catch up on a year’s worth of blog posts, I’m not going to do a big Weihnachtsmarkt post this year. If you’re interested in reading about them, just type it in the search bar, and lots of posts from previous years will come up.

the girls were really into lighting the advent wreath themselves this year

My friend Claudia and I decided to bring the kids to see the Nutcracker..

eating giant pretzels on the way

beautiful view from the theater

The production wasn’t the greatest, but I loved that they had a narrator throughout the ballet to tell the story of The Nutcracker (for younger kids who didn’t already know it). I really wish I could take the girls to see Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker. I grew up performing in it all winter every year, and always dreamed about the day I’d bring my daughters to see it. Hopefully someday!

beautiful nighttime walk home

When we got home the girls put their boots out for Sankt Nikolaus, who was visiting that night. I took this pic at our local grocery store earlier that day.

In case you don’t remember what Sankt Martin’s Tag is or what it celebrates, I explained it a few years ago in this post.

Every year each classroom decides on a theme for their lantern decoration, and the students spend weeks making their lanterns. Last year’s was one of my favorites. This year they were learning all about the artist Keith Haring at school, so they chose him as their inspiration. I love that the girls’ school teaches them so much about art and artists. It’s pretty cool when they come home talking about Picasso or Matisse, and then we can ride our bikes to a nearby museum and see the real thing. They are pretty lucky!

Quinnie with Irma and Antonia

Kiera and Liv

Getting ready to start the procession with the musicians

At the end of the procession before the bonfire

After the bonfire and outdoor party the kids go door to door around the neighborhood singing Sankt Martin songs for candy..

Quinnie, Kiera and friends singing at our door

For months after, the girls kept drawing Keith Haring inspired art..

And whenever we’d see street art inspired by him, they’d insist that I take a picture

This was Quinnie’s last official Sankt Martin’s Tag (the kids stop celebrating when they change schools in the 5th Grade). But I have a feeling she’ll be slipping into the parade next year with Kiera’s class, using one of her old lanterns…

Christmas Prep and The Nutcracker

Sankt Martin’s Tag 2016