'Tis the Season to be Sick!---Woche 45

There was a lot planned this week.  We had Dane's concert to attend, more goodies to bake, gifts for teachers to wrap, the dentist, the eye doctor, Christmas parties, Christmas markets, German lessons, swimming, baking, and . . .

Dan was not feeling very well all week.  He had picked up a cold from somewhere.  He was so swamped at work, that he couldn't take any time off to be sick.  He made it through his week, but all in all, it was an exhausting one!

We made our gingerbread houses this week.  The kids did a great job.  We bought kits this year:  houses and a train.  The gingerbread here is different.  They don't use molasses and so the gingerbread is lighter in color.  Also, their gingerbread houses are Hansel and Gretel Witch houses (Hexenhaus), complete with marzipan figures.  The kids had a great time putting them together, and hope to be able to eat them this year--without the danger of their witch mother threatening to fatten them up. 

Dyllan was sick on Tuesday (maybe too much candy??) and I had to pick her up from school, shortly after she'd arrived.  Mom and I had planned to go to some Christmas markets, but our plans quickly changed when we had to be home with a sick kid.  I was still able to get Dane to his eye appointment and Dan and Grandma took him to his concert.  They said that he played well.  The next day, Dyllan was feeling good enough to go back to school for the afternoon.

The reindeer fly, too, when
the candle is lit

You can't see the snow flurries,
 but the flakes fly when the candle is lit

Once I got Dyllan back to school, mom and I were finally free to go to some of the Christmas markets.  We headed down to the Rathaus and walked around.  We found some cool candles.  We ate our kaisekriners and langos for lunch.  Then we headed to the Karlsplatz market (the prettiest one in the city--so they say).  It looked much like the others to us.  We walked around and found some roasted potatoes that we wanted to try.  Mom about fell over when she saw him pick up each potato piece with his bare, very soot covered hands, and place them on the plate.  There were not any washing facilities at the stand.  Luckily, neither of us got sick!  By that time, Mom about froze to death, so we headed home. The weather here is actually quite pleasant.  We have had sunshine for a few days straight!  But somehow, the cool, damp air feels much more cold than the drier cold air from Canada.  I also think that mom's internal temperature regulator might be a little off.  She has struggled with jet lag all week.  She has only been getting about 2-4 hours of sleep a night since she got here, and doesn't nap during the day. 

German lessons and swimming are now finished for the year!  Everyone is ready for a couple of weeks of just kicking back and relaxing!  Mom and I made some black and white popcorn--two batches!  We made another batch of nuts and bolts.  We made bubble loaves for the neighbors, dipped chocolates, baked cookies, and made salted caramel sauce (the sauce was for the teacher gifts this year.  I made jars of salted caramel sauce with huge, yummy apples to go with them)--yes, we have all put on a few pounds already, but we sure are enjoying the season!

We did some grocery shopping.  We are trying to pick up all our groceries for Christmas.  Our German tutor explained to us that groceries are hard to come by next week.  Since all the

Black and White popcorn

stores are either closed, or will close early on Christmas Eve, and will stay closed on Christmas and Boxing day, people go crazy.  Since they are used to shopping every day for their groceries, having the stores closed for 3 days in row, throws everyone off.  The tutor said she has seen people fighting over the last milk carton in the store.  People clear the shelves of all and every basic necessity they can.  So, we are trying to get everything well in advance--where possible.  We are struggling to find oysters for the traditional fried oyster feast on Christmas Eve.



The risotto lesson

Gifts for Primary teachers at church

Dan had his work Christmas party this week.  It was at a fun location, close to the Stephen's Dome, right in down-town Vienna.  We had to cook our own dinner.  A chef and his sous chefs helped everyone at different stations cooking different entrees and sides.  We made risotto and watched the chef cut and prepare the beef.  Once all the food was cooked, we all sat down together and tried all of the different dishes.  Together we made 2 different beef steaks, chicken teriyaki, shrimp stir fry, fish, risotto, potato salad, gingered carrots, stir fry vegetables, etc.  Most of the people there don't remember eating the meal anyway, since there were drink stations set up all around the room.  People were pretty sloshed by the end of dinner.  We stayed for dessert and the mandatory gift exchange, but then left soon after.  Oddly enough, Dan was the first one in the office on Friday morning.  The rest didn't trickle in until after 10:00am.



We had planned to go to a movie with everyone on Saturday.  But, it was Dane's turn to be sick.  He had a migraine and we didn't think that a high definition 3-D movie with loud surround sound would be a good idea to help him get over it.  We postponed the movie for next week.  We played board games and had Chinese take-out instead.

The sign I found on the ubahn.
 "We wish you a Merry Christmas and good travels in the new year"

Ho Ho Ho!--Woche 44

We continued our Christmas celebration this week.  The kids and Dan had a holiday on Monday.  We were able to get some nice down time at home.  Danyon had been sick on Sunday night, so we didn't want to disrupt his schedule too much on Monday.  We were still able to make the most of our short week.  We made caramels, fudge, toffee, cranberry cookies, chocolate cookies, and chocolates.  We are well on our way to being more ready for Christmas.  The kids are so excited that they can hardly contain themselves.  I don't know how they're going to make it through the last week of school. 

We got to see Deagan's holiday concert on Friday morning.  The kids did such a great job.  The music teacher at the school is really good.  The concerts are usually very good.  We enjoyed Deagan's concert and then had to head to the church to set up for the church Christmas party.  Our job was to get all the tables and chairs set up.  Mission accomplished!  Dan had to hurry back to the house to get on a call for work.  Soon after his calls, we headed up to the airport.  We were ready to pick up Grandma! 

We got grandma home, and had a pretty quiet night at home.  Dan and I were able to finish up some grocery shopping while grandma had her nap.  She was stuck in a middle seat on the long flight and didn't get much sleep.

Saturday was a big day.  We headed down to a church downtown that had a nativity exhibit on.  There were nativities from all around the world.  It was neat to see so many different styles of nativities.  Several of the Austrian ones had the classic style of Bavarian house that set the scene for the manger.  We enjoyed looking at all of them, then took grandma out to see a few Christmas markets.  Being a Saturday with good weather, there were a lot of people out, so it was hard to just relax and enjoy strolling through the markets.  But, we managed to get to three of them.  \

We had to rush home to get ready for our church Christmas party.  Dan was doing a song with Api for the program.  We were also singing a song as a family for the program.  We had to get out songs ready.  Dane was also a wiseman in a shadow play of the nativity.  He needed his costume and needed to be there early for practice.  I was taking a pan of mint brownies.  Mint is not a flavor that you can get in abundance here.  You can't buy mint flavoring.  You can occasionally find some mint chocolate items, but they are very few and far between and you may have to search several stores to find any, if at all.  So about my brownies, Dan overheard one kid telling another kid, "Don't eat those--they taste like toothpaste!"  It is really interesting to discover different tastes of different cultures.

But, the main event of the week---We saw Santa!!!  Actually, they planned the church party too late to get Santa to come.  They asked Dan if he would fill in and be Santa's helper for the night.  Dan was a little excited and a little nervous.  We got him all dressed in his Santa best, and I think he looked great!  It's not very often that you can get a private photo session with Santa in your own living room, with your own Christmas tree.  Yes, we even got a picture of mommy kissing Santa Claus!  The kids all went in to talk with Santa at the party.  Even though Danyon had pictures taken with Santa at home, he still cried when he went to see him at the church.  I guess the costume was a pretty good one!

Some Joys of the Season--Woche 43

This is on the outside wall of the Mall

This is a big week here in Austria.  There is a ton of stuff going on.  Since Dan was in Antwerp and then the US this week, he missed a lot of the fun.  He was pretty busy where he was, but is excited to be spending the rest of the year at home!

We started all advents this week.  We burned our first candle on our Advent wreath.  These wreaths are everywhere here.  On the first Sunday of Advent (the 4th Sunday before Christmas), you burn one candle.  You sing songs while the candle burns and you can have a little devotional, or whatever you want.  Then on the next Sunday, you burn 2 candles.  It is fun.  By the time you get to the Sunday before Christmas, you are burning all 4 candles in the wreath. 

The kids have also started to open their advent calendars.  Dan received a "Smarties" chocolate one.  Dane got a magic one.  He's been doing tricks for us all week.  Dyllan loves her jewelry one (by the way, I love the German word for jewelry--"schmuck" pronounced "shmook").  Deagan received a Lego one and has been building little Christmas scenes all week.  I got one from Dan that he leaves me a clue to find little wrapped gifts all over the house.  Yesterday, I got p.j.s, so I am comfortably lounging while typing this.  Danyon, on the other hand, got a really neat calendar with painted wooden ornaments that you can put on a mini tree or wreath.  He didn't quite get the whole idea of the advent calendar, as I found him in his crib, one afternoon, after his nap, with his whole calendar opened and every ornament thrown on the floor.  I guess the excitement was just too much for him.  He couldn't wait!  He must have known that it was something that he shouldn't have done, because he gave me a pretty sheepish look when I discovered his mischief. 

Dan's Smarties

The remains of Danyon's Advent

Oh, yeah.  He knew better!

We have started our Christmas activities.  We have read Christmas stories, made Christmas crafts, celebrated Christmas Mexican style with a fiesta, and watched the Grinch.  We are having a ton of fun!

Friday night was Krampus night.  At the store, you can buy St. Nicoli and Krampus chocolate figures (like the Easter bunnies we get--only shaped differently).  We really wanted to see Krampus, but we couldn't find any.  We were also told by the German tutor, not to take the kids to see Krampus, as he is really not very nice to the children.  He hits kids and yells--we figure the kids are already used to it from soccer and hockey coaches here in Austria so we didn't figure it would be any different.  She (the tutor)advised us not to get too close.  Even without seeing one in person, this was the dreaded night for Deagan.  I could tell he was pretty nervous going to bed, as he asked if he could sleep in my bed that night--just in case.  As luck would have it, all four of the kids were still in their own beds on Saturday morning.  Krampus did not cart any of them away!  I told the kids he must have got some addresses mixed up this year.  Interesting, on Friday morning, they had boxes and crates full of these chocolate Krampus' and Nicolis'.  Saturday evening when I went to buy one, they had zero left.  We found a box of broken and cracked ones, which I got a picture of, but there were none left to buy.

Kissing up to Santa

Christmas Train

Then the fun day is Saturday--St. Nicoli day.  I took the kids to the mall, where they were able to get their picture taken with St. Nicoli.  He does look a lot like our Santa, but there are some very notable differences.  He does wear a Bishop's hat and has robes that look more like Catholic robes--instead of a red velvet suit with fur.  The kids were able to get their picture taken and got a Milka chocolate Nicoli all for free!  I couldn't believe it!  I haven't gotten a free picture with Santa in years!  Also interesting--Nicoli does not hand out candy canes.  They don't have them here.  [Another wierd thing that they don't have here, while I am on the rampage, is a bagel.  With all of the bakeries here, it seems odd, but after two years of searching, there are no bagels here.  I think that I've mentioned before that they don't have pie either.  They have cakes and tortes and strudels, but there is nothing that resembles a real pie--circular with a crust.]  Of course there is lots of chocolate available, so that's what Nicoli gives to the children.  Although we learned in a fun Austrian Christmas song, that there is not any chocolate in traditional Christmas baking. (In der Weihnachtsbackerei--look it up!).



And you thought that Santa had a
tight fit in the chimneys!

We headed home and the kids all rounded up the biggest shoe they could find.  They all picked my boots--they wanted to have thigh-high boots, but I don't have any.  Then they set them outside of their bedroom doors and went to sleep.  The next morning, St. Nicoli had left them bubbles, candy, and oranges in their boots.  He even left me some in my shoe.  Dan was on the airplane, and when he woke up, he had candy in his shoe too!