VIEW

Hee Hee....

I had to take a picture of my best word ever.

"VIEW" for 60 POINTS! :)

This happened to be the game where I was kicking my Dad's bum. :)

St. Nicholas Day

I'm a little late with this... St. Nicholas Day is a holiday here which is on December 6th. I just downloaded the picture from my phone though... :)

The day before St. Nicholas day the kids are supposed to put their shoes outside and St. Nicholas will come by and put gifts and clementines (tiny oranges) into them. Not sure why, but it is cute.

Many of the shopping centers also participate by having kids come before the 6th and drop off one of their shoes. Then on the 6th you go back and find your shoe, which is in one of the store windows within that shopping area.

My friend did it, but I learned about it too late and I was also a little scared that I'd never see their shoe again. :) We'll do it next year though because it was cute to see all the store windows lined with little kids boots and shoes. :)

In Scotty's Kindergarten class the kids put their shoes by the window on Friday December 3rd, and then when they showed up on Monday the 6th they found their indoor shoes filled with clementines and a bag of candy.

Scotty's shoes are the brown ones. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

It's Weihnachten!!!

YAY! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. :) (from a few days ago...)

...and to all of our parents and family and friends... sorry we aren't closer. We miss everyone lots and promise to see you all soon!

Not Kidding...

I went to the Elbe Einekaufzentrum on December 22nd at 7:30pm.

In a normal world the biggest shopping mall in the area would be PACKED FULL OF people just a few days before Christmas. Nope, I had to take pictures because it was so strange that the place was empty. Nobody would believe me!

AND... on Christmas Eve, the 24th... stores here are closed. It's NOT a shopping day, which makes the 23rd the last shopping day.

So I was out shopping at 7:30pm on the second to last shopping day before Christmas and the place was EMPTY. :)

I wasn't complaining of course. I happily scurrying around doing all my shopping. It was just a little weird ...like one of those movies where the whole world disappears except for one person. :)

Maybe, being the good American that I am, I count on the long shopping hours just before Christmas... and this is why I put off my shopping until then. Or maybe it's because I have four kids and barely have enough time to breathe. Of course the mall here did stay open all the way until 9:00PM JUST FOR CHRISTMAS. ouuuuuhhhhhhh...

Half of cards... sent!

I sent out half of my Christmas cards... the other half are in the back of a snow covered car in the driveway.

Sorry if yours is in the trunk. :) I tried to mail them today, but I couldn't stand in the line anymore... The line of 14 people and ONE mail person ...not the way I wanted to spend two hours of my Christmas Eve Eve. :) ...and let's face it, they are already late. :)

The first half of my cards were carried to America by a nice friend of mine. Way cheaper that way... :) So if you are wondering why your card from us was sent from the States, that's why. I had it personally escorted across the ocean. :) Thanks Shelly!

The other half of my cards will arrive to everyone sometime next year. :) Oh well though, I'm still feeling kinda proud for sending them out at all...

Can't wait until tomorrow... Christmas Eve!!! I can throw away the five HUGE advent calenders that have been in my small kitchen for 24 days. :)

Walk down the street....

I forgot to mention I had some friends come and visit!

Hilde and her family from Denmark came to visit and Ingrid, my Swedish friend from Denmark who now lives in London, flew in for the weekend. :)

We all hung out for the weekend and went into town to the Christmas markets. I loved seeing my friends again. I love that I have met people that I know I will keep in contact with forever. Since my husband is an engineer I feel qualified to make an assessment involving numbers... "one out of ten people you meet in the expat life you'll actually remain friends with"... that's my assessment. I can make a graph to back it up if necessary. :)

It was also to invite my "American Hamburg" friends to meet my "Danish International" friends. :)

It was a nice weekend. Thanks Hilde and Ingrid for coming to see me and stay at the Happy Hotel!

Oh. ...and on our way to the Christmas Markets we walked down the street. Here are some pictures of my friends... standing in front of the houses on our street. :)