I do like getting snail mail and I do like sending it. I have seen others offer to send holiday cards so here is my own offer to send you one. If you like to get a card from me please fill out this form by December 6 and I will try my best to get it to you soon! I can’t promise that it is a home made one like the ones above but we will see (or you will when you get the card). I found some cute ones at our local Barnes and Noble and I just could not resist getting a pack.
I already feel very festive today. December 1 marks the day when the Advent calendars are handed out and both my kids got one (they must have been nice this past year). And this year it is also the day when the first candle is lit to mark the first of the four Sundays before Christmas Eve. My big window already has the snowflakes hung up and it is getting more cozy by the second.
I hope you are having a good start into the month of December, too. Do you have any special plans for the holiday season coming up? If you don’t celebrate maybe you have something special coming up, too?
Today was a day with a lot of driving back and forth. First driving the kids to school, then driving myself to work. After finishing there, driving to pick up my son from school and back home. I dropped of my work things, researched where to get a pizza for the pot luck in the evening changed into gym clothes and drove there. One hour gym and back home I went. Changed again and ordered pizza, got everything else together (brownies and drinks) and the kids, picked up the pizza and drove us to the potluck to celebrate the end of cross country season at the middle school. I was really proud of my son that he wanted to do cross country without any nagging from my side! The teachers were great and he seemed to enjoy it. After we had dinner there I drove us back home and now I finally have a minute to sit down and finish my post for today.
At the gym I got multiple questions what the meaning of my T-Shirt was. Do you know the logo? It’s from a German company that already exists since 1826 and was started by Maria Clementine Martin a nun who lived in cologne Germany. “Kloster” is a monastery and “Frau” means woman, so it basically refers to the woman who started it since she was a nun. The main product was a tonic containing 13 different herbal alcoholic extracts one of which is lemon balm that gave it it’s name “Melissengeist”. Melisse meaning lemon balm and “geist” referring to the high alcohol content (79%). You can still buy it today (even in the US) and it is a staple in a lot of German households. It’s supposed to help with all kinds of things like anxiety, sleeping problems, stomach upset, a cold. I think we only ever used it with a headache or muscle ache. You simply apply it to the affected area. Honestly I mainly liked the logo. Blue is my favorite color and it’s white on a blue background.
Are there any household staples in your household I might not know about?
I am still sad about the election result but have to figure out first how to best process it all before I write anything down. I am so tired. Tobia wrote a great post about how to cope with it all and there were some good suggestions. If I wouldn’t have said I do NaBloPoMo this would be the time I would hibernate because I don’t know what to say.
I have to say I was a little sad when I put away the Halloween decorations. Part of it is the neighborhood. I always liked Halloween just fine but the neighborhood we live in now is infectious. There are a couple of houses around the corner from us which are insane. The pictures don’t do it justice. After the kids were on their way I took a short walk up the street myself to just soak in the atmosphere. It really made me want to rethink our plans for the coming year. Maybe a shoot that drops the candy down from our porch? One reason why we don’t get as many trick-or-treaters is that there are quite a few steps up to our house. I should rope in the kids and their friends.
At work we had a lab meeting on Halloween and decided to do a group picture dressed up as characters from the Minions movie. I made myself a distinct nose on a whim and went as Gru. Since I don’t have hair it was easy enough with painted on eyebrows, a black jacket, a scarf and black training pants. Husband went as a crow to work since they always have a Halloween thing and the kids were a wizard and Marissa from the video game Hollow Knight. So the weeks leading up to the day I spend sewing a wizard cape and making butterfly wings. If you ever wonder why some of the wings on Etsy cost so much money I can explain a thing or two about that now.
My wing planning
The not so good thing was that I had a migraine on the day, but it helped with the grumpy Gru look. The morning went ok. I went home early spending some time sleeping off the side effects of my migraine medication. In the evening I felt better luckily.
Do you celebrate Halloween where you live? Did you dress up? How do you feel about the holiday?
I had good intentions and uploaded the pictures on Monday – sigh. The weekend already feels very far away but here I still am. I had a couple of things noted down on my calendar that we could have done. For one there was a German holiday market on Saturday and on Sunday the local art center had their holiday event. I ended up not going to either of them. With all the traveling that happened in November I was a little tired of doing anything really and wanted to straighten out what was left lying dormant at home. So instead of a fun outing I cleaned bathrooms and living/dining room and finally pulled out the holiday decorations. In Germany traditionally you have an Adventskranz what is basically a wreath with wintry holiday decorations and four candles. Each of the four Sundays before Christmas Eve on more candle is lit so that you have all four burning on Christmas. I saw the above spiral on Instagram somewhere and liked the idea of having a new candle every day. I got some really nice smelling beeswax candles to go with it. No worries, it only is on under very close supervision.
Home sweet home
The wreath already went on our entrance door the week before but the decorations were added this weekend. One of my son’s friends is part of a boy scout group and they sell the wreath at the start of the holiday season.
Lebkuchen
We did bake some cookies on Sunday. It was good timing since my husband’s work had their Secret Santa on Monday and he needed to bring something homemade.
our little tree
On Sunday we went to get a small Christmas tree and I decorated it. It now officially feels like Christmas in our house. I was debating getting one this year since we will spend the holidays with family but in the end I was thinking that back in the day at my parents it was only up from the 24th until early January so we even get more time out of it as is. Also up are the outside lights what was our Saturday afternoon project. So all in all it was a very productive weekend spend with the family at home and I really needed that. I felt a little guilty not helping out at the German Christmas market but hopefully I can do it next year. I am planning on less travel then. I did go to a German meet up in a cafe on Sunday morning what was lovely. I do need to speak a little more German outside the house as I am catching myself talking back in English to the kids when they talk to me in English. That’s what happens after 18 years in this country I suppose.
Home here and there 