Fröhliche Nikolaus Tag!

So I have been up since 5am this morning with the munchkin. She heard daddy leave for work this morning and just had to come and wake me up to see what Saint Nikolaus brought her for Saint Nikolaus Tag. Last night she put out her shoes and went to bed (reluctantly I might add too) I don't think she remembers too much from last year because I had to tell her the story and read the book about why Saint Nikolaus comes tonight and on Christmas Eve... that is the beauty of having a mother from Germany, you get twice the goodies! LOL! She raced down stairs this morning and exclaimed... Mommy! Mommy! He came! Saint Nikolaus Came! Loooooooook! 10 seconds later she tore though all the goodies he brought her. Like a box of Whoppers (her faves), A larger Chocolate Saint Nikolaus (which is traditional, its kinda is like the chocolate Easter bunnies at Easter), A snowman cup full of cotton candy, 2 princess lip chaps, a Tinkerbell puzzle, Tangled sticker book with additional stickers and of course the little candy in her shoes. In fact Saint Nikolaus even filled Hubs boots with some candy ;) LOL!

The Munchkin's shoes filled with chocolate goodies.

Even Hub's boots were filled... I guess he's been a pretty good boy this year... LOL!

The munchkin still with her sleepy head look and her goodies.

Woohoo Lip Chap! (that's what she said)

Checking out her sticker book

And putting together her new Tinkerbell puzzle.

Ta-Da! What a ham eh? LOL!

The 25 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: What are some of your Christmas Traditions?

Christmas is probably one of my most favorite times of the year. Its the time that no matter how far I am from my family I make every effort to be with them. I'm an only child so being away from my parents (especially mom) is very hard for me and I think it is for her as well. So you can imagine how Christmas feels for us... I am also German (yes born there and partially raised there) so we have alot of tradition's as well, but since we live in the U.S. a few of the older odd ones have died away over the years and we have adopted new ones. One of the first things we do (even before the holiday season starts) is make a adventskranz or in English advent wreath. The wreath is usually made of evergreen and dressed up with ribbons, ornaments and 4 red candles. The candles on the wreath are lit on Sunday's before Christmas and up until Christmas, for example the first candle on the first Sunday and the first and second candle on the second Sunday and so on.

Here's a pic of moms adventskranz from 2006 (The last time I went "home" for Christmas)

Another of our tradition is the adventskalender or Advent Calendar. Typically these are for kids but I love them still LOL! When I was little mom would make mine for me but these days I tend to cheat and buy the munchkin one, usually from the commissary because they are cheaper there. She loves waking up and being able to open a little window or door and having a piece of chocolate, it also makes it a little easier to count down the days till Christmas.

The munchkin and her first adventskalender in 2008.

And one of my favorite holiday tradition is Saint. Nikolaus Tag, or Saint Nikolaus Day. In Germany it is celebrated on the night of December 5th and his day is December 6th. On the night of the 5th children usually put a Nikolaus Stiefel or Nikolaus Boot out in front of the front door to the house. If Nikolaus feels they have been good all year, he will fill the boot with little gifts and candies and if he feels otherwise the children will get a boot full of Rute a combination of tree branches and straw.

The munchkin with her first Nikolaus Tag goodies in 2008.
She didn't have any boots at the time so we improvised with her shoe lol.

As for the rest of the "Christmas Time" everything else is probably the same stuff you guys do. We watch alot of football, eat alot, and have lots of parties. We put up the tree usually right after Thanksgiving and my MIL and I go shopping on Black Friday, when were together for it. If not its me and Dad (the only time he will go shopping) and usually that entails a trip to Best Buy for the biggest TV they have LOL! My dad is all about TV's! If I'm at my mom and dads for Christmas we have a whooooooole bunch of family and friends over on Christmas Eve, my mom usually makes traditional German finger foods, and we open a few of our gifts. Christmas morning I will usually bake Cinnamon rolls or make pancakes and then we open gifts. After gifts mom and I will usually spend the rest of the day in the kitchen preparing the feast and we will make Ham with all the fixings (dad can only take so much German food LOL!) If we spend Christmas at my In-Law's it typically is the same way considering my mother in law is German too and her and my mom grew up together. The only difference might be the amount of Glühwein (Hot Spiced Cider type of Wine) that is consumed LOL!

30 Days of Me: Day 13

A Fictional Book

The kiddo and I are currently reading the mouse cookie books. You know the ones, "If you give a mouse a cookie, hes gonna wanna..." We have added If you give a mouse a cookie, If you take a mouse to school, If you give a moose a muffin, If you give a pig a pancake, If you give a pig a party and If you give a cat a cupcake to our library. She loves these books and I can't say that I blame her... I loved them as a child myself.

As for our foreign selection... we are currently reading Aschenputtel (Cinderella in German) by Ethan Mordden. She has shown major progress in this book from when we first started reading it... and I am more than ecstatic about that! She is beginning to understand alot more German words and has been speaking in German more often, I honestly couldn't be more proud! Oh and her pronunciation is spot on! I have never been so glad to have made the choice to start teaching her other languages so early on in life. I just have to remember speak "proper German" and not in my dialect (slang) LOL! The other book we are currently reading together is; I live in Tokyo by Mari Takabayashi. If I fail at everything else in life, I will succeed at having a smart, worldly-wise and multilingual child!... that is the goal at least. I think were off to a good start though, she already wants to travel the world and make as many friends as she can, which is not to hard for her seeing how she is not shy at all. :)

As for myself... I just finished up Southern Vampires: 13 Deep Fried Blood Curdling Tales, which was really good for a short story book. Now I am currently reading Almost Single by Advaita Kala. What can I say... I'm a sucker for Indian novels and Bollywood films! The novel takes place in New Delhi and reads like chick-lit but with a Hindi twist. I like the heroin and the book has a pretty witty dialog too.