... or ... Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr!! ;-)
What a month!! December is a busy month for most people but our first December in Munich was a particularly crazy month!!
The month started with St Niklaus visiting the house on December 6. This is a German tradition where the kids place a boot or shoe outside for the Roman Catholic bishop, St Niklaus. During the night St Nicklaus visits each house and if the children have been 'good' then he will fill the boot with candy, fruit and nuts ... but if the child has not been good he will leave sticks in the shoes. I was expecting boots full of sticks but much to the kids excitement, fruit, nuts & candy appeared in the biggest boots they could find to leave out for St Nik ;-) Straight after St Niklaus' visit, both kids managed to catch Scarlet Fever which sounds very dramatic but it actually sounds worse than it really was - but it involved fevers, body rash, strep throat, antibiotics, several doctors visits (in German!), days off school and the worst part was that we were THAT family that instigated the dreaded letter that gets sent home from school saying that 'your child has been exposed to Scarlet Fever' ... but we must've caught it from somewhere too, right?? ;-)
Polly's 9th Birthday was December 8. Her present this year was getting her braces off!! Hooray!! Lots of excitement at the ease and speed of flossing now! We celebrated with a fun night in Munich; sausages and kinderpunch (a warm grape juice German drink for kids served at the Christmas Markets). 
Polly and I spent one cold December Saturday night out at a local theater to watch some friends perform in an Irish Dancing performance. It was a super fun night full of energetic Irish jigs, singing, jumping - it was a wonderful night - the Irish sure do know how to have a good time!
Christmas markets are held all over Germany and they are truly unique. Selling everything from traditional toys, wood carvings, marionettes, candles, lambskin shoes as well as the delicious treats like hot chestnuts, grilled sausages, marzipan and the traditional German gingerbread biscuits called Lebkuchen as well as other tasty sweets. One of my fabulous new friends here told me about a wonderful Christmas market that only takes place every two years and this was the year! Hooray!! So off we went to experience the magical Christmas market in Ettal which is a small town in a narrow mountain valley at the impressive foothills of Bavaria. The Christmas market is held in the grounds surrounding the Ettal Abby which was founded in 1330 - such a beautiful part of the world! What a terrific day we had - gorgeous snow falling, camel rides, sledding, delicious smells, locally made goods, music, laughter, the warmth of Glühwein (warm mulled red wine) all shared with the wonderful company of our new friends. A truly superb day that screamed "Christmas" in every way!!
Next, Henry was unlucky enough to get Scarlet Fever again...so more of the same treatment which meant Nick's 40th birthday was a celebration at home instead of the initial restaurant plans but that was ok - we were all together. The kids painted a gorgeous art piece for Nick for his 40th which turned out really well - Polly designed it and then they each painted one side. It's a painting of Nick riding his bike up a snow covered mountain - the did a wonderful job!
Henry's 6th birthday next and we headed back into Munich to experience two different Christmas markets - the Children's Christmas Market and the Medieval Market before enjoying a wonderful Balkan meal. A wonderful birthday night!
Instead of birthday parties for the kids this year we agreed to spend the day together doing something fun and different so we all enjoyed a super fun day at a nearby indoor waterslide park - there were several slides, a wave pool, saunas and our favorite part was an outdoor pool where we relaxed in the steaming hot pools, surrounded by snow under blue sky and sunshine - it was heaven! Two days after our wonderful trip to the waterslides, Nick mentioned his foot was sore and me, being the sympathetic, nurse like gal that I am, said "you probably tied your shoes too tight; you'll be fine". Twenty four hours later he is in hospital getting antibiotics intravenously to treat the infection in his foot that was spreading up his leg!!! We are still not sure how he managed to get this infection - he remembers climbing out of the pool at the water slides and scraping his foot on the side of the pool so perhaps that's how his infection started but we are really not sure. Even though I understand an infection can be very serious, I really thought that he might be in hospital ('Krankenhaus' in German) for a day - maybe two .... not 9 days!!! So our frist Christmas in Europe was spent in the Krankenhaus this year.
We did our best to make it special for the kids; Nick had a gorgeous view from his bed and we enjoyed watching the kids play in the snow, Polly brought her guitar and played Jingle Bells for us and we were entertained by the local German band while eating our sandwiches for Christmas lunch ;-)
The kids were really very good about all the trips to the hospital and waiting to open Christmas gifts so we could all be together. We were spoiled with gifts ... but loved every second of it!! Thank you to our family and friends who made the effort to help make our first Christmas in Munich so special!! Driving to and from the hospital in the snow is a nightmare for me - the narrow, country, windy roads scare me so I tried to plan all our visits so I wouldn't have to drive home in the dark - yet another sign of my old age - no more driving in the snow and in the dark for me. It's too scary!! Nick came home today and it is wonderful to have him home where he belongs. We all missed him terribly and today, the kids just want to be with him, play with him, talk to him, show him things ... I think he might prefer the peace and quiet of the Krankenhaus!! He is still having a lot of difficulty walking and he needs to rest a lot so the next few days will be quiet days at home while he orders me around ;-)
Amongst visits to the hospital we managed a super fun afternoon of sledding on a slope of our neighboring village...the kids were so brave - or crazy - and had a blast!!
We also spent a wonderful evening ice skating in Munich under a light snow shower. Ice skating is still fairly new for Henry and I have never seen legs move so fast as his did that night - lots of laughs - lots of fall - but no tears! A wonderful, memorable night!!
We had a little trip to Prague planned in the first week of January but we have cancelled that now because Nick still really can't walk. So will reschedule that for another time.
While living here, my fabulous friend Sandi, sent us the movie "The Sound of Music" and we have watched it over and over and over and we all love it and it's amazing to think that it was filmed only hours from where we live!! So, now that we have postponed our visit to Prague, I think I will let Nick and Henry have a boys day one day next week, while Nick is working from home, and Polly and I will do a quick day trip to Salzburg in Austria to do "The Sound of Music" tour!! Polly seems to think that "the hills" will be "alive" and green like in the movie ... so I sure hope she's not disappointed when those hills are covered in snow and also that Fraulein Maria won't be there to tell us about a few of her favorite things :-)
We are excited and looking forward to an adventure filled, visitor packed 2011!! I just wish time would slow down a bit because our two years here in Munich already seem to be going by so quickly and my list of "places to visit" is growing by the day!!!
Gutes Neues Jahr .... Happy New Year to you all!! Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and healthy 2011 - add us to your list of "places to visit" next year!!!
