New Year's Eve

How does that phrase go? "When in Rome...." Living abroad and taking on the philosophy "When in Rome" gives you permission to do things you would not have done back home. Case in point: Setting off fireworks in your own backyard.

Germans call New Year's Eve Silvester (December 31 is the feast day of Saint Silvester) and to quote Wikipedia's page on Germany's New Year's Eve traditions, "Germans have a reputation of spending large amounts of money on firecrackers and fireworks."  

Back in the U.S., I forbade setting off any firecrackers or fireworks on July 4th. Watching Good Morning America and seeing reports on how many injuries there are July 4th from people setting off their own fireworks will do that to you. When we were little, we ran around with sparklers, but when I read that sparklers burn at temperature as hot as 1800 to 3000°F and are the source of the vast majority of legal firework-related injuries, I banned those as well. My poor kids have never waved around sparklers (that I know of).

A few days ago, David was going to the mall and I said, "If you want to buy fireworks, this would be a good day to do that." David got these ones at C+A, which is like Kohl's. I don't know who was more excited about our upcoming Silvester fireworks display, the kids or David.

It was a rainy day though.  Constant drizzle.  Would we be able to set them off at all?

But first thing's first. To be good Romans (Germans), we needed to watch Dinner for One. The 18-minute single take black-and-white 1963 British TV recording is a New Year's Eve tradition all over Europe, but is especially popular in Germany.

The story is very simple: Miss Sophie is celebrating her 90th birthday with four old admirers. They are all dead, however, so her butler – appropriately called James - serves up the food as well as playing all their parts and drinking their toasts. He gets tipsier and tipsier and repeatedly trips over the tiger rug on the floor as he dashes around the table.

Several times during the dinner, he asks, “The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" She replies, “The same procedure as every year, James!” That punch line, "same procedure as every year", has become a catch phrase in Germany.  Our kids laughed more at the hysterical audience laughter, though, than at James' antics.

And then it was midnight. The rain had stopped a few hours earlier and David first set off the Matador fireworks, a set of 36 fireworks that went off one after the other. They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. Standing on our patio, I thought for a second, "Oh my God, what have I allowed to have happen?" I was videotaping at the same time and I believe when we rewind and watch the video of those first fireworks, you hear some shrieks from the kids and then me saying a few choice naughty words.

Church bells began ringing and all of Liederbach exploded with flashes of light and loud booms. Our Matador kept shooting out brilliant fireworks. And I got to try out the fireworks setting on my camera for the first time.

David looked like a happy little boy as he set off the different fireworks. There were smaller Roman candles, firecrackers, snaps, and...

...these crazy little fireworks that skitted across the yard, chasing down David as he ran to get out of the way. We called them Gremlins. And one did hit him in the ankle, which made us roar with laughter.

Captured on still, this one looks like a bird taking off.

Doesn't this one look like an Alpine Wanderer (hiker), with a hat, pipe and a knapsack on his back?

Another little Gremlin.  Liederbach finally grew quite again at 12:45pm, or 0:45, according to my clock radio.

Hmmm....I have the feeling we may just be setting off fireworks next July 4th.

Little Critters

I remember, when I was little, wondering why squirrels in animated movies were red. Ones that I saw around were gray.

Squirrels were red in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Squirrels were red in Sleeping Beauty.

It turns out squirrels are usually red in Europe, where the old fairy tales take place. It's logical that the squirrels in Disney movies would be red. I took this picture of one of our backyard residents today. These squirrels are a bit smaller and more skittish than American squirrels.

But, squirrels were red in Over the Hedge.

Squirrels were red in Looney Tunes cartoons.

Even Sandy Cheeks is a red squirrel.

I always just figured animators were keeping with the tradition of squirrels being red, in spite of the fact that American squirrels were always gray. Or so I thought.

It turns out there is an American Red Squirrel, found in Canada and the northern U.S.

And guess what color the squirrels are in Disney's upcoming film Rapunzel?

Christmas Day

Mmmm...Milka chocolate.

Someone paid us a visit! The kids were up at 4:30am to check their stockings and we were all up at 6:30 to exchange gifts.

Becca got things going, unwrapping the first gift of Christmas 2009 -- a Baby Annabell.

This Baby Annabel, along with crying, giggling, drinking and burping, turns her head to you when you talk to her. It's a little bit creepy. James said, "Mom, if you really want to freak me out, leave this in my room one night."

The Twilight devotion continues.

You know you're a grown-up when you are honestly excited to get a pair of shoes for Christmas

A Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog t-shirt? We all love Dr. Horrible. What a crazy random happenstance!

James' best gift -- the complete collection of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips.

James recovering from overwhelming happiness and saying a prayer of thanks. He finished the first of three volumes by the end of the day.

Another Dr. Horrible shirt? For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Horrible, he has a Ph.D. in horrible-ness and believes, "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it." Tell your friends.

One of Micaela's favorites -- black low-top Converse sneakers. These are not her father's Converse sneakers.

Emilie's favorite -- something she has been asking for since we first moved to Germany -- an honest-to-goodness German backpack.

With her Lillifee backpack, Emilie will no longer be the only kid with a floppy American backpack. She can now walk into school with her head held high.

James showing off his Green Day shirt and hat. Pace yourself with the Calvin and Hobbes books, James. Make them last longer than 3 days.

Rebecca's large herd of Playmobil horses now has a home.

Learning baby care from a big sister

Christmas Pageant

We spent part of the afternoon today preparing costumes for our church's Christmas pageant. Against Emilie's wishes, I volunteered her to be an angel and this afternoon, we got a call to see if James wouldn't mind being the innkeeper. I volunteered him against his will as well. It builds character, kids! But they were both very nervous about not knowing what they were supposed to do. I let them know that there would be a rehearsal beforehand and that they would not have to say anything during the play.

Emilie and James both felt better about participating when they saw pieces of their costumes. James liked the headpiece I fashioned out of an old crib sheet and Emilie was happy with the wings her daddy made out of coat hangers and iron-on interfacing from my sewing supplies.

Becca during the pageant rehearsal right before Mass. This photo perfectly embodies Becca's behavior during the rest of our church experience today. I think she kept the people behind us in stitches making silly faces and singing along to the carols making rockstar expressions of pain as she hit the high notes. That's why we usually take her to the nursery beforehand.

And so the pageant began. Surprise! Em and James both had duel roles. Here Emilie is the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take Mary as his wife in spite of recent revelations.

James as the kindly innkeeper who let Mary and Joseph stay in the stable (the narration had a positive spin on James' role).

In their second roles, James is now a shepherd and Emilie is one of the Heavenly Host.

Emilie in her Dirndl

James looking like he can't wait to get off the altar area

Snowman

The kids have been out of school since last Thursday and are starting to get bored. We had snow yesterday and had some more overnight and one is obligated, under such a set of circumstances, to make a snowman. We even let Rebecca be late to Kindergarten to help out.

Guinness standing sentry, protecting us from all the dangerous people walking down the path that runs along our backyard.

At this point, the snow turned into rain. The kids continued on with their work and applied the pieces from our snowman kit.

Frosty, less than an hour later. He finished his slow fall over minutes after I took this photo.

Christmas Market

David and I have, on our own with colleagues and friends, gone to the Frankfurt Christmas market and enjoyed Glühwein and looking over all the German crafts and baked treats. But the kids haven't been to a market yet. We had heard that the little town of Rüdesheim on the Rhein had a delightful market and told the kids we were planning to go today. James had plans to go to the movies with friends and was more than happy to miss the Christmas market. When asked why, he replied, "Well, it's so crowded, and there are all these booths...and you and Dad have to stop and look at everything." Oh, the horror.

Rüdesheim is the perfect place to catch a boat for a 3- or 4-hour cruise up the Rhein to view the impressive castles that dot the hillsides.

Just the girls

Em and Bex riding the Christmas train

Inside the train tracks, Santa sits with his wild boars.

The Little Engine that Could

James was right. Every other time we have been to Christmas Markets together, they've been jam-packed. But today was a weekday and it had snowed all day, so there was no big crowd. It made for a very pleasant visit.

People enjoying their warm Glühwein, traditional mulled wine.

The Baby Jesus was already in place.

A Pretzel Tree

The lights grew brighter and brighter as the sun set.

Happy to be ordering some Reibekuchen (also called Kartoffelpuffer, potato pancakes).

Reibekuchen are cooked in a lot of oil and are eaten either salty as a side dish or sweet with applesauce.

Emilie wasn't crazy about hers. She should have dipped hers in applesauce, like I did.

Note the American flag flying from one of the booths, indicating that English is spoken there. I was surprised at how many Americans we passed as we walked around. But we had been warned that tourists come by the busload to this market. Come to think of it, that may be why all the music blaring from speakers was American Christmas songs. Too bad, really.

Little carousel

Bex on a swan. She always picks the swan.

A church high on the hill on the opposite side of the Rhein.

I was feeling a little melancholy as we made our way back to the car. This was our last visit to a Christmas Market for the foreseeable future. We've heard that Chicago has a German-style Christmas market, though. We may just be traveling there next December, if Glühwein and Lebkuchen are a sure thing.