Saturday, December 31, 2011

Thanksgiving with friends

We had a wonderful time and dinner with friends from Germany, Switzerland, and the USA.

My German girlfriend who brought back stove top stuffing from the USA for Turkey day. 



 Carving the 22lb turkey, fresh from the day before.
 Lukas and Nico.







Celebrating the Christmas Season

Samiclaus visited the boys this year, they must have been good. They left out there boots on the night of December 5 and the next morning they woke up to goodies inside.

 Gummies and new car.
 Peanuts and oranges.
 St. Nikolas also visited Lukas at Preschool. He brought chocolates and Grittzbänz.
 Our naked Christmas tree.

 All dressed up.
 A snowman out front, gummy bears driving cars and a black snake on the roof.
 The cookies begin. First off pumpkin cranberry.
 
Decorating sugar cookies.  Logan didn't understand why he couldn't eat them all.


 Gingerbread. They look better than they tasted.
 The chocolate drizzled cookies were the first to go.
 Spritz cookies.
My favorite! Thumbprints with strawberry jelly.
 Christmas party at school.
 They did a cute play for the parents.
Then we made reindeer ornaments and snack bags.






 Christmas market in St. Gallen, Switzerland.


 Christmas lunch at our friends the Hendriks. We had traditional German, braised goose, dumplings and candied chestnuts.
 Jan and Logan
 Silly boys
 Christmas market - Konstanz, Germany

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Fun When it Rains

When it is cold and pouring down rain outside, the boys love the indoor play place. Logan is finally old enough to enjoy it too.









So tired he wanted to take a nap.

Lukas playing with his buddies.

YouTube Video


YouTube Video


Saturday, December 17, 2011

Celebrating St. Martin

St. Martin led a simple life, but he was known for his good deeds. One of the most familiar stories is of him cutting his coat in half and giving it to a man whom did not have a coat in a snow storm.
In Switzerland we celebrate the feast of St. Martin. The children make lantern out of many different materials and parade through the villages to music. Here are a few of the parades we participated in.

With our friends in Oberriet.

Best bud Clement.


At his school ready for the parade. They made their lanterns in class and learned two German songs which they sang along the way.

We went to Rabechilbi, "turnip party," in Richterswil.  They turn off all the lights in the town and people carve designs into turnips, light them up like a lantern and have a parade. The turnip lanterns represent the warmth of home during the cold winter months. It's beautiful,  a big parade through town with marching bands and floats decorated with turnip lanterns. Just walking through the town and seeing all of the homes and streets decorated with lighted turnips is a sight to see.



















 Watching with Dad.
  Lukas was so excited the band stopped in front of us to play a song.

YouTube Video