Well, just days after I published my last post, Germany went into a shut down. SO not a whole lot to report. No more adventures for us for awhile! The good news is that there is still a lot to see around Wiesbaden and in our neighborhood. The weather here has been more mild than we’re used to. We have been able to get outside most days. Which has been amazing!
The kids transitioned from in-person to virtual school in mid-December. So our holiday season consisted of lots of slow mornings and family time. We came up with a mini-bucket list of things we wanted to do to keep things fun. We REALLY missed our families. I tried to remind myself that everyone’s holiday season looked different this year.
Germany is pretty magical around the holidays. HOPING that next year we will get to experience the Christmas markets in all their glory!
Here are a few highlights (and low points!) of our holiday season:
Outdoor Celebrating
Gluhwein stands are everywhere around the holidays! People dress for the weather, buy a glass, and enjoy outside. At some point in December outdoor drinking was banned, but up until then the parks and paths were full of people enjoying their warm wine. Something I really love about living here is how much people enjoy being outside in ALL types of weather. We never tried a glass, but just being around other people enjoying definitely felt festive!
One of the things we did before Christmas was head downtown and look at the lights. We packed hot chocolate and walked around the Mitte. The Mitte is the town center. A large portion of it is blocked off to traffic. Winding streets, church bells, and amazing people watching. It is everything I thought Europe would be! It is about a 15 min. drive from where we live AND we’ve found a go-to free parking spot.
After we walked around, Zech surprised the girls with nutella crepes. All the shopping was closed, but there were several food stands sprinkled throughout the area. Spiced nuts, gluhwien, and other treats that I am assuming are sold at the Christmas markets. It made me SO excited to experience the real deal.
Both girls were a little concerned about the crowds and noise. They hadn’t been out in awhile and for sure hadn’t been out at night. Just an interesting side-effect of staying at home! The crepes helped them to enjoy themselves a little more.
Cookies and Being Cozy
We baked cookies a few times. We even baked cookies on zoom with cousins! The girls are pretty good helpers. Our kitchen is nice… but it is not really set up for more than one person to be cooking at a time. We had to get a little creative and use our kitchen table as a work station. The clean up after baking is always more intense than I remember. How does flour get everywhere?!
We also made crafts for family. The girls (and me!) love a good project. This one turned out OK. Ha! Required a little gorilla glue to get to the finish line. Also, craft stores aren’t really a thing here. So we were working with what we had on hand.
Shipping presents home and picking up packages was also a big part of our season. It was pretty fun to see our tree fill up! We are very thankful our families were willing to put in the extra effort to get things here. I think we all learned a lot! I learned my deadline for shipping items should be Thanksgiving. Which means my shopping deadline should be early Nov. Which means if I want thoughtful gifts from Germany, I should basically be shopping all year round.
Also if you shop online from stores IN Germany, you can avoid long shipping times. My mom and I didn’t even think of this until it was too late. Ha! Zech and his mom were on it. We had lots of fun opening boxes and working backwards to figure out who sent what.
We did a little shopping here (before the complete shut down) and most of our shopping online. We were able to find some fun German chocolates and an AWESOME toy store. But definitely wanting to spend more time on thoughtful gifts next year. This will also be easier in a post-Covid world.
Like a lot of people, we decorated a little early this year. We did ship a box of Christmas decorations with our things. All of our ornaments, stockings, and a few random things made the cut. We ended up buying a fake tree (our first one!) and new lights. I enjoyed the glow from Thanksgiving to New Year’s day! It was more of a minimalist holiday vibe, but it still felt good to see some of our decor from home.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
This is the part of the story where things take a turn. Christmas Eve was really fun. We recreated our normal Christmas Eve dinner and prepared a feast of appetizers! We opened presents over zoom, which went better than I thought it would. We dressed up and it felt a little normal. It was a really nice day!
The girls left cookies for Santa and went to bed. At some point during the night, Z. came into our room and had gotten sick. S. had walked her to the bathroom. Both girls were SO scared to come out of their room because they didn’t want Santa to see them! Sweet girls. We had to clarify that if you are going to be sick is is OK to come out of your room. Santa will understand.
So we spent all night up with Z. Poor thing! She was such a trooper, but she was not feeling good. We pushed forward with Christmas morning, but it wasn’t quite as fun as normal. We did have coffee and cinnamon rolls. The whole time, Zech and I were trying to decide if WE felt sick, or if it was all in our heads.
Funny side note, Pillsbury items are hot items at the commissary (the American grocery store on post) during the holidays. If you want cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls, or biscuits you better stock up when the opportunity strikes. Someone posted in the community Facebook group that the commissary had Pillsbury items and Zech just happened to be out. YES!
Fast forward a few hours, it was not all in our heads. Zech felt sick too. We postponed our dinner plans, moved our Christmas celebration with my family back a day, and just had a relaxing day of movies. I had peanut butter toast for dinner on the couch by myself after everyone went to bed at 7pm. Merry Christmas!
In the coming days we managed to get in video chats with the rest of our family and enjoy our postponed Christmas dinner. All in all, we still had a really nice Christmas. We definitely made some unique 2020 memories.
So jumping ahead to the present, today we are getting ready to send our girls back to in-person school. We are all really excited. I am also fully prepared to miss them. Motherhood is such a strange journey of wanting everyone around you and no one around you all at the same time:)
It feels like the first day of school all over again. Zech is out getting lunch supplies, the backpacks are ready, and masks are in the wash. S. said to me yesterday, “I just LOVE to prepare.” Ha! Z. planned her outfit on Friday and both girls have already set their backpacks by the door. They are SO ready to see their friends and teachers. Which makes me happy! They have done such a good job handling the transition here AND the transition from in-person to virtual school and now back again. Their enthusiasm is a great reminder of how well they have done!
I hope YOU have a wonderful February and I hope to write again soon. Sending love to our family and friends!