Traditions, Old and New

Last year, I wrote about some new German Christmas traditions that we were introduced to.  Well, I'm happy to say, we had a better handle on them this year.  While we are not yet seasoned German Christmas-ers, we did do a better job of merging our old Christmas traditions with some of the new ones.

St. Nicholas Day:

This year, we did remember to put out the children's shoes on the night of December 5th so that St. Nicholas could fill them with goodies while the kids slept.  Well, I remembered anyway - I reminded the kids, but apparently it wasn't a big enough deal on their radar screens for them to actually put their shoes outside their bedroom doors.  So, "St. Nicholas" had to find their shoes and place them outside the doors before he could fill them.  Still better than last year. . .

Advent Wreath:

We did better with the Advent Wreath, too.  I actually bought one before the first Advent Sunday, and we sat down for a lovely 1st Advent meal on Nov. 28.

This was when Brad was still in America on business, so the kids and I celebrated without him.  

We also remembered to light the candles on the 2nd Advent Sunday, but I didn't get a picture of that.  On the 3rd Advent Sunday, Brad's family was visiting us, and in all the excitement, we forgot about the Advent Wreath.  Oops.  But, we pulled it out again the next Sunday and Lukie was thrilled that we got to light all four candles. 

Christmas Eve Eve Sleep-over:

Our kids like to sleep together on the living room floor on the night before Christmas Eve.  We leave the Christmas tree lights on all night, and there is something magical about sleeping there under the twinkles.

This year, Jessica decided she preferred her bed to a sleeping bag on the hard floor, so it was only the boys sleeping by the Christmas tree.

Bitner Weird Food Buffet:
This is a tradition we started this year.  Our home-teachers came by on December 23, and in the course of the conversation, they told us that rather than having a big meal on Christmas, they just get nice cheeses, crackers, snacks, and meats and set them out for everyone to graze on all day.  Well, I'd already bought the fixin's for a turkey dinner on Christmas, but we all liked the idea of having a buffet on Christmas Eve.

Since we've been married, I've learned that Brad's family has different tastes in food from mine, and I jokingly call their favorites "Bitner Weird Food" (it's stuff like artichoke hearts, green olives, smoked oysters, bleu cheese, and summer sausage). 

Since my kids are Bitners, they have gotten the Weird Food Gene, and really love all that kind of stuff.  So, Brad and I went to the grocery store and bought everything we could see that would qualify as Bitner Weird Food.  All day Christmas Eve, we set out the Bitner Weird Food Buffet, and snacked while we played games and decorated cookies.

 Christmas Cookie Decorating:

On Christmas Eve, we like to make and decorate cookies for Santa.  I'm not a big fan of baking, Christmas Eve or not, so I just bought prepared cookie dough and we cut out cookies from that. 

Since sugar cookies are not a German thing, the prepared cookie dough was chocolate and cinnamon flavored - that's why the cookies are so dark.

Christmas Jammies:

Finally, just before bed on Christmas Eve, the kids opened the "soft presents" from Grandma and Grandpa Larson.  My mom always makes Christmas pajamas for the kids to open and wear on Christmas Eve.

Here are the kids modeling this year's Christmas jammies.  Very cozy!

Christmas Day:

On Christmas morning, we got up at 7:00 a.m. (this time was hotly negotiated the night before) and opened all the gifts from Santa and family.  We had a breakfast of cheesy eggs, sausage, and twisties, then spent the day playing X-box Kinect and watching the DVD's we got for Christmas.  Later, we ate our turkey dinner and just lazed around.  We also got to telephone our families back in the States and wish everyone there a Merry Christmas.  Lovely!

Boxing Day (December 26):
Our ward only had sacrament meeting that day at 11:00 (I could get used to that!), and then we went over to our friends the Fellows' house to spend the afternoon.  Everyone brought left-overs and goodies from Christmas, and we all sat around visiting and eating our fill of gingerbread, cheese, ham, turkey - you name it!  It really was a perfect way to wind up the Christmas festivities!

Family in Berlin

We got a real pre-Christmas treat this year when some of Brad's family came to visit for a week before Christmas!  Brad's nephew Isaac has been dying to come to Germany ever since his parents visited us last year.  So, Haley and Casey told him that if he could earn half the money for his plane ticket, they would let him go to Germany.  

Well, Brad's sister Becky is a big travel buff, and she loved the idea of Isaac coming to Berlin, so she volunteered to accompany him.  Then, Brad's mom Lois decided she wanted to come to, and so we ended up with the three of them here for a whole week!  Yay!  Since Isaac had worked for months to pay for this trip, I felt some pressure to make sure it was fun for him.  I know I enjoyed every minute of their visit, so I hope Isaac went home feeling like he'd gotten his money's worth!

They arrived on a Saturday, and spent that evening and the next day in a jet-lagged daze.  Pepper was very excited for Isaac to see him pass the sacrament at church, so they all roused themselves from a deep, dark sleep to come to church with us on Sunday morning.  Afterward, we all napped, then had a roclette dinner.  I think Isaac liked the Nutella on rolls more than anything.  

The next day, Isaac got to go to school with Pepper and Adam.  They were SSSSOOOO excited to show Isaac their lives at school, and Isaac was a good sport about spending a day of his vacation at school. Lois, Becky, and I took the train into downtown Berlin and did the requisite shopping.  That night, we all played Werewolf over and over and over and over. . .

On Tuesday, I let the boys skip school so they could spend the day with Isaac.  We all went to Lego Land and spent a few hours enjoying all things Lego.

 

They had this little miniature Berlin all made from Legos.

The best part was this: when  you pushed a button, a little Lego version of the Berlin Wall would fall, and then a bit of David Hasselhoff's "Freedom" would play on these little speakers.  Ah, the German love affair with The Hoff continues. . .

Lego Land is just outside the Sony Center, where there is a movie theater that plays all movies in their original language.  That afternoon, we saw a crowd waiting and a big red carpet leading to the theater.  When we asked a guard, he told us that the German premiere of "The Tourist" was that night, and Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were going to be there in a couple of hours.  If it hadn't been so cold, we might have considered waiting around.

We left the Sony Center and walked to Potsdamer Platz and saw this little bit of the Berlin Wall.

We also walked to the Holocaust Memorial. 

We braved the blizzard and made it to the Brandenburg Gate.

Yeah, it was freezing.

By now, most of us had lost our sense of humor about the weather, so we stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for hot chocolate and donuts.  It was a well-timed stop.  From there, we headed home for dinner and more Werewolf playing.

Wednesday, Lois, Isaac, and Becky took the train downtown and did some more shopping.  That day was Lois' birthday, so we met Brad downtown for dinner at an Australian restaurant in the Sony Center.

 But, before dinner, Lois, Becky, and I went to this Christmas Market by the Charlottenburg Schloss.  We spent a delightful couple of hours wandering around the booths, eating crepes, and buying little German Christmasy things.

 After dinner, we came home to the kids and played more Werewolf.  Are you sensing a rut?

Thursday, we drove down to Rothenburg, probably my favorite little German town.  It should have been a 3-4 hour drive, but the weather was awful, so it took us a good five hours to get down there.  It was made even more fun when Brad's cell phone locked up, so we couldn't call each other (we were in two cars), and so the whole time I was worried that Becky and Lois would get lost somewhere along the autobahn and I'd never be able to find them.  I shouldn't have worried, because they actually beat me to the hotel near Rothenburg and all was well.

We spent all day Friday walking the cute, cute streets of Rothenburg.  We came here last year at Christmastime, and I was just enchanted!

This year, we made the dubious decision to go to the Crime Museum in Rothenburg.

The Crime Museum is advertised as a museum depicting the progression of laws and the legal system since medieval times.  We found, however, that the Crime Museum is really just a place where they have displayed all types of medieval torture devices.  It was kind of icky.

 We couldn't ignore the irony of pregnant Becky by the old chastity belts. 

By the time we left, we were all ready to go!  I kept thinking to myself, "Why did I bring children here?" But, the lady at the desk didn't think anything of it, and even gave us stickers for all the kids.

After the Crime Museum, we mustered back our appetites and had a traditional German lunch at a little inn.

From there, we headed to the Christmas Museum. 

This was a much happier place than the Crime Museum!

We finished our day in Rothenburg by visiting the little shops and the Christmas market in the square.

So fun!

Early the next morning, Lois, Becky, and Isaac flew home from Stuttgart.  The kids and I glumly climbed in our car and drove the 7ish hours home to Berlin.  Luckily the weather was clear, so we made it home in good time.  I am also happy to report that unlike my first trip on the autobahn, I actually made it home in less time than our GPS predicted.

So, *sigh*, our visitors are gone.  But we enjoyed every minute that they were there, and have some great memories of their visit!

Dahlem Ward Weihnachtsfeier

On December 10, our ward had a Christmas party.  I must say, I love Christmas in Germany.  The Germans celebrate heavy on the tradition, and light on the commercialism.   This is a little strange to me, since Germany as a whole is not that religious, but somehow they have managed to preserve the traditions of Christmas - and I do mean CHRISTMAS, not some vague Winter Holiday - without getting caught up in all the gift-giving craziness I see in America.

Our ward Weihnachtsfeier (Christmas party) was absolutely delightful.  Each of the different auxiliaries put on a short skit or number in the program.  As you can see in the pictures below, this program took place in the chapel, which doubles as a cultural hall in our building.  On Sundays, the curtain is pulled across the stage, and chairs and a pulpit are set up in front of it.

The Young Women acted out the nativity.  No matter that they were all girls - some of them simply played the parts of Joseph, Caesar, wisemen without a second thought.  They had spent the last three weeks or so during their midweek activities painting the backdrop for their skit.  It's pretty good, don't you think?

Jessica was the angel.  I thought it was pretty clever how the other girls temporarily became angels so they could all sing as a "Heavenly Host".  

This was perhaps my favorite part of the program.  All the Elders and High Priests sang some song about unexpectedly finding Santa at their house (at least, that's what I think they sang about - it was all in German).  The thing that made it so funny was that they sang along with a CD of a little girl's voice singing the song, and the CD was played on a pink, Barbie boom box.  I just loved watching all these dignified German men let loose and rock out to a little girl's song!  And yes, that is Brad on the far left. . .

Okay, maybe THIS was my favorite part of the program!

The primary children acted out a story of a man who lets animals into his house on Christmas Eve, but this little guy as the Christmas tree stole the show.  It was his mom who read the story as the kids acted it out, and I think he got roped into being the Christmas tree whether he liked it or not.  He didn't move a muscle or crack a single smile the whole time, and he looked perfectly miserable standing there in his green face paint and Christmas tree dress.  I seriously couldn't stop laughing!  Sometimes, it sucks being a kid. . .

The Young Men got the coveted roles of Santa (Weihnactsmann) and his helpers.  Doesn't Pepper look jolly there on the right?

The program finished with Weihnachtsmann giving an actual, wrapped gift to each of the Primary children.   Somebody - I still don't know who - had gone and gotten gifts specifically chosen for each child.  They were all wrapped and addressed to each child by name.  It was really fun to see each child get called up by name to receive his or her own gift.  Apparently, it is a German tradition that children sing something or recite a poem when Weihnachtsmann gives them a gift, so after they got their gift, the children took the mike and performed a little something.  It was adorable!  Sadly, the American children didn't have anything to perform, and it was no big deal, but if we are here next year, I will make sure my kids have something they can do.  It is just nicer to see the kids do a little something in appreciation, rather than just take, take, take.

 I honestly don't think I've had so much fun at a ward activity since we've been here.  I went to the party in the spirit of my-kids-are-in-this-and-we-must-be-supportive, but I ended up having a really great time.  This is a night that will make me smile every time I remember it.

Oh, and Frohe Weihnachten!

The Sad, Unfortunate Truth About Journalling/Blogging

I remember when I was about 14 years old and I wrote in my journal every night.  Yes, every night I'd go into my room around 9 p.m., write a page or two in my green journal binder, and call it a night.  What I wrote about, I can't really tell you, because I honestly didn't have much to write about.  Who really has much of a life at age 14?  (Well, Joseph Smith did, but that's another story)

This lasted for several months, probably a year and a half or so.  Then, I grew up a little and suddenly my life was more interesting.  I had crushes on boys, and sometimes they had crushes on me.  My friends got their driver's licenses, so we had more freedom and entertainment options than ever before.  I got a part-time job, which only added to the above-mentioned freedom and entertainment options.  Now that I finally had a life worth mentioning in my journal, I was so busy living said life that my poor, green journal binder sat on my shelf gathering dust.

And that is the Sad, Unfortunate Truth About Journalling - when you have enough time to do it, it is because your life is kinda boring, but when your life is busy and interesting, you no longer have time to write about it.

And that is my excuse for not having blogged in a couple of months.  Whether or not my excuse holds water, I can't really say, because I'm not sure my life could be classified as interesting, but it has been busy. Well, busy-ish.  More like slightly overwhelming as Brad was gone for three weeks straight and I had Christmas to get ready for.

So, here is a quick up-date on what's been happening on Bitnerstrasse. . .

Halloween:

The family of one of Adam's friends from school invited us over for their big Halloween Shindig, so we dug up some costumes and dressed up on Saturday night.

Adam as The Scream

Pepper as A Spy

Luke as Bob the Builder

Brad and I as, well, a Witch and a Vampire

Oh yeah, we're scary.

We partied on Saturday night, but the real fun was on Sunday.  Some friends from Brad's mission came over on Sunday night for dinner and much, much Werewolf playing.  Heidi and Creed Miller both served in Brad's mission, but they didn't really meet until after they were home and went to a mission reunion.  They fell in love, got married, had four kids, and now they live in Bonn, Germany because Creed works for Ford.  They were in Berlin for the weekend, so we invited them over.  Their kids are about the same ages as ours, and we introduced them to Werewolf, which we played for about three hours.  It was so much fun, I don't think our kids even missed trick-or-treating. 

Speaking of trick-or-treating, I didn't buy any candy for trick-or-treaters because I didn't think it would be necessary.  Halloween isn't really a German tradition, so I didn't expect anyone to come a-knockin'.  Well, we did get some German trick-or-treaters who were not amused by my refusing to answer their many, many doorbell rings, so they covered our front gate with confetti and silly string.  I guess they showed us.

Thanksgiving:

Sadly, I have no pictures to show for it, but we had a lovely Thanksgiving again this year.  Brad was in America for work, so he got to spend Thanksgiving with his family - a first in about seven years.  The kids and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving with American friends in our ward, and it was great.  

First, we went to the Flanagans, a family new to Berlin this year who is a lot of fun.  They set up Rock Band and got us all involved, whether we sucked or not.  I personally sucked.  My dream of playing drums for a rock band will never be realized...

From there, we went to the Sorensons', who also hosted us last Thanksgiving.  There was LOTS of food and delightful people to talk to.  Jerroleen Sorenson is a vegetarian, so she sent us home with a big packet of turkey which we enjoyed for the next two days.

The only one who didn't have a great Thanksgiving was Adam.  The kids had school on Thanksgiving Day, but I let them stay home to "spend the holiday with their family" (which really means sleep in, play video games, and eventually go to friends' for Thanksgiving fun).  All except for Adam, that is. 

The week before, Adam threw a major fit at the bus stop one morning before school and went stomping away instead of getting on the school bus.  I went home and waited, and he showed up about an hour later after storming around the neighborhood.  Well, after that little stunt, Adam had to spend the whole day in his room (which is very boring because there are no toys or electronics in his room), and he also had to go to school on Thanksgiving Day because he'd already missed a day of school for no reason.  

He was FURIOUS with me on Thanksgiving, but what could I say?  It was his choice to miss school the week before, and this was the consequence of that choice.  I have to admit that I didn't sleep much the night before Thanksgiving because I knew I was going to have a major fight on my hands when I got Adam up for school while the other kids slept.  I was right to worry - Adam pulled every tantrumy weapon he had out of his arsenal, and when he finally huffed onto the school bus and it drove away, I heaved a big sigh of relief.   

For some reason, Adam really reacts to Brad being gone.  It's like he has to try every boundary to see which ones I'll enforce.  The hard thing was, I didn't know what I would do if he refused to get on the school bus again.  He's getting too old for me to physically force any more. I guess it was the thought of spending another booooring day up in his room that convinced him to go to school, but I don't know.  Anyway, he went, and when I picked him up after school, he was as happy as a clam.  OK then. 

Random Winter Concerts:

Each of my three boys had concerts with their school at three different times, so I got lots of concert-going fun this year.  First was Adam's:

Singing his solo in Carol of the Bells

I was sitting way off to one side of the gym, and Adam couldn't find me in the audience.  He spent nearly the whole concert frantically scanning the audience for me.  I saw him mouth "Where's my mom?" several times between songs.  Finally after they were done singing, I caught the eye of Matthew, his suave, hat-wearing friend, and he showed Adam where I was.  Adam came thrashing down in his all-arms-and-legs, nine-year-old kind of way and gave me a huge hug.  It's always a relief to know that your mom really does love you.

A couple days later, I went to Luke's concert:

He started off great, very enthusiastic and into the singing.

 Then, he slowly started to lose it.  Apparently, giving high-fives to the boy next to him was more fun than singing for all the nice people.

 

 For the last song, Luke simply turned his back and refused to acknowledge that there was a concert going on at all.

 The irony was that the song he was supposed to be singing was "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

 Luke's light did not shine that day.  Oh well.

Finally, Pepper's concert was last week.

Unfortunately, my naughty daughter "borrowed" my camera the day before, and I couldn't find it for Pepper's concert.  So, there are no photos commemorating his current musical genius.  It was a Middle School chorus concert, so you can imagine how it looked - a bunch of tweens torn between wanting to show off for their parents and looking too cool for school.  You'll just have to take my word for it that Pepper was the cutest boy there and he totally stole the show.

And, that is Bitnerstrasse in a nutshell.  Now I am all caught up so I can post about the visitors we had from America last week, which is really what I want to write about.  So, stay tuned...!