The best thing, that happened so far this week, was that my Secret Santa package arrived. Who knows me, knows that I love surprises, and I honestly already forgot about it. I am thankful that San from the in between is mine organized this again.
Other than that life has been busy with work, getting ready for Christmas including sending out cards, wrapping presents, putting things on various piles to take along on our trip to see family in Germany and in general just make it through the last week of school. I can tell my kids need the break. There is one more concert for each child and then we can breath for two weeks. The only thing left to decide is if we take an Uber to the airport, park there or take public transit (I think it is coming down to Uber since parking for two weeks is not cheap either) and if we are doing a pre-christmas gift exchange at home or if we wait. I kind of like the idea of doing it before. That way I don’t have to pack any of our own presents (except a special one that the kids can use on the way). There will be enough things to bring back as is.
I maybe should be making a list of things I want to buy when we are there. I am curious, is there anything you would think a typical souvenir you would bring back with you? For us it’s mostly sweets (the Haribo selection at the supermarkets is insane), tea (herbal and fruit teas mostly), vitamin tablets that dissolve in water (I never understood why in Germany they sell for one Euro for a role of 20, whereas here you can pay $1 for one serving), mustard and maybe some salad dressing powder. The days where we brought back tooth paste and dried sauce packages are over mostly. I always found it interesting that my SIL will buy tooth paste in the US ever since she spend a year as an Au-pair in the country.
How are you doing with your holiday preparations or are you already right in the middle of it?
Home here and there 
Yay, I’m glad it arrived safely!
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I love it, it’s perfect for me ❤️
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Spunds like Christmas is just around the corner for you.
I still haven’t decorated a thing. At least I whipped up some cookie dough (5 different ones) that now need to be baked. Don’t ask me when.
I am not sure what I would take back. Maybe Leinöl. But that is a very local thing. My sister usually gets it when in Berlin or our country home since she rarely gets it in Münster. So you may bot even know what it is.
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Wow, five cookie doughs? I went into a baking frenzy last year and hope to do some when we are in Germany but we will see. I had the feeling since we are leaving on the 17th I need to speed up to experience the holidays at our home here a little
I heard of Leinöl but never used it so far. I have the feeling it would be something I would find around here but likely at a higher cost than in Germany.
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Oh yay, I am so glad you got your Secret SANta Package – and what a sweet surprise Golda put together. I love it! 🙂
I am so excited for your trip to Germany. And I’d probably do the gift exchange beforehand, no point in taking things over there to just bring them back when you return (unless you can use them while you’re there).
The usual things I bring back from Germany are tampons (sorry, if TMI LOL but they’re so much cheaper), vitamin and magnesium tablets (I agree, why are they so cheap in Germany, but so freakin’ expensive here), licorice, and a couple of DM items (like Sebamed handcreme, for example).
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We always bring back Haribo (my sister lives in Bonn, near the factory and there’s a Haribo store), lots of different kinds of Kinderschokolade, mostly things I know for sure we cannot get here in Florida. I’m very lucky that I have a German butcher nearby and they always stock some goodies. This trip I also brought back some Christmas decor – a new nutcracker, a Räuchermännchen, and a few other things. Have so much fun! Frohes Weihnachten an euch alle! 🎄
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Now that Christmas is over, I finally have time to catch up a bit on blog posts. I hope you are having a wonderful time! If it were me I would have opened gifts before the trip, rather than bringing them both ways. I brought wrapped gifts on a plane once and TSA unwrapped them. I don’t know if that’s an issue with overseas travel or not.
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