Miscellaneous Christmas Memories

Daddy, Kathleen, and Madeline were Christmas shopping at Target earlier this week.

"What do you think we should get for Mama, Kathleen?" Daddy asked.  They happened to be cruising by the pet food aisle.

"Dog food," Kathleen answered.

"Oh, honey, I don't think Mama would want any dog food,"  Daddy replied, "What would Mama do with dog food?"

"Give it to my dog.  My dog Tutu."

Kathleen has no dog.  She does, however, watch the Veggie Tales version of the prodigal son, called the "Wizard of Has." (Yes, it's based on the Wizard of Oz.)  In that movie, the main character, Darby, has a pet pig named Tutu.  Apparently Kathleen wants one, too.  Santa is not planning on bringing a dog or a potbelly pig.  Christmas might be a bit of a letdown. . . 

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On the 23rd we had an unexpected power outage.  It was a strange sort of power outage -- there wasn't a storm, and it affected only our little housing area.  Although all the houses were without power, we could see street lights and barracks lit only a few blocks away.  Rumor had it that there was some sort of fire near the main gate, but that was only rumor.  Anyway, just as we'd gotten the girls to bed and were about to begin some Christmas preparation, the lights went out.  Rats!

We weren't about let a little darkness deter us, so Daddy set about assembling the girls' Christmas gift (a play kitchen) by candlelight.  Good thing we have lots of candles at our house!  My camera (or its operator) wasn't smart enough to really capture the moment -- either the flash lights the entire room, or all you see is candles. . . but we couldn't resist recording the moment.

Nothing can stop Santa's workshop!

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Traveling and sickness put us a little behind in some of our normal Christmas preparation and celebration, so Mama cheated a bit.  We noticed the gingerbread house kits for sale at Trader Joe's and decided they were made for us.  (The kits were strategically placed next to the chocolate covered peppermint sandwich cookies -- how could we resist either?)

Daddy and the girls assembled the kit on Christmas Eve morning.  Everyone had their hand in it.

Of course, when Madeline had had enough of decorating, she was up to her usual antics.

It might possibly be the world's least attractive gingerbread house, but we're strangely fond of it...

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Last year we explained how we do a "German" celebration each Christmas Eve, feasting on some of our favorite German treats -- bratwurst, kaesespaetzle (cheese noodles), gurkensalat (cucumber salad), rolls, German beer and spiced wine, cookies and chocolate. We continued that tradition this year. We were surprised and delighted to find that, if you can't be in Germany, Mountain View is a great place to have such a celebration.

We found not only a legitimately German bakery for our rolls and pretzels, but a butcher shop that carried fresh Nurnberger and Thuringer bratwurst. In fact, the butcher shop might be a new favorite of ours; along the back wall they carried all sorts of German foods we normally couldn't find. We splurged on two new jars of senf (mustard) and Kindereggs for the girls. (If we hadn't already gotten the spaetzle at the commissary, we could have purchased it there.)  Oh, and we heard more German spoken while waiting in line at the butcher shop than we've heard since we've gotten back to the states. It was a bit of trip! We found Kinderpunsch (the non-alcoholic alternative to spiced wine, which is perfect since Mama's the one who actually likes to drink that stuff) at CostPlus World Market, along with cookies and chocolates.

We weren't the only ones excited about the German goodies.  Madeline couldn't even wait for dinner.  She swiped a big, fresh roll right off the table!

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And one other teensy clip of Christmas cuteness we found impossible to resist.  (It's only a movie because we didn't manage a photo in the 4 seconds she had the thing on...)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!