The Christmas of 2020

Normally at Christmastime, we have soooo many photos from relatives visiting us.  This year was definitely different. We still made the time special, and we were able to celebrate minimally with some church family.  We are thankful for skype and zoom calls, as much as we hate virtual calls, and the kids had fun opening gifts, as usual.  I even somehow managed a couple special meals in the midst of the chaos, which was totally more for Gregory and me than for the kids.  All those vegetables!

December Necessities

In between lockdowns, we managed to get out and get these two growing kids some more jeans!  We went the first day stores opened, and it was CROWDED!!!  Lines outside the stores...

We also managed to get our little Tiger Lily in to the vet so that we don't accidentally end of with kittens in the Spring!  She was not too thrilled about the cone she had to wear for ten days (and neither were we), but it didn't stop the kids from cuddling her!

''Bald ist Nikolausabend da.''

Saint Nick came on the Eve of Saint Nikolaus Day.

The kids enjoyed the gifts of fruit, nuts, Lebkuchen, a couple family games and Christmas films.

Both noticed that St. Nikolaus must also shop at Hofer. ;)

Snow!

It was our first day with snow this year!  The pictures say it all.  The kids were outside playing as much as possible, save from a few hours of classes, basically from 7am until 5pm!  Love this!

Celebrating Advent

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we did our traditional Christmas decorating.  Nathanael made the cookie dough with me, and Gregory and Eva formed the cookies for baking.

After eating way too many cookies with our hot apple cider, the decorating began.

It is fun to have festive lights and meaningful decorations, but oh my, this really makes us miss family scattered around the world even more!

Lockdown Number Two

This lockdown is significantly different than the last.  Firstly, Nathanael is in a different school, so nothing is the same for him as last March-June.  He has ELEVEN Teams to keep up with with both virtual classes and homework.  A handful of those teams have two teachers with whom he is interacting!  Some days he has four or five virtual classes!  That is A LOT, especially for an active ten year old, but we are managing and really hoping things can return to normal again very soon!

Nathanael saw this tree on one of our walks and asked for a picture.  It truly is beautiful.

Eva also is experiencing a very different lockdown this time.  Last time, she was home the entire time.  This time we decided to have her go in to school twice a week to continue having the German immersion in the mornings.  On her second day, the teacher asked if we could just send her every day so that she would have that consistency.  So, Eva is at school from 8-12 every morning with five or six of her classmates.  That has been so good for her as she is one of the youngest in her class and struggles quite a bit with German reading still.  She is a math "profi" as she likes to say.  It is true.  Her brain really gets math. :)  Eva has ballet class via Zoom every Wednesday evening in her bedroom.  It is a sad replacement for in person dance class, but we are thankful for something!

And one of the special differences from last lockdown to this lockdown is our Tiger Lily!  It is nice to have a cat to cuddle this time.

Happy Thanksgiving from Ours to Yours

 Thanksgiving breakfast

Afternoon pumpkin cheesecake pie

We are all most thankful for our family! 

Turkey yumminess!

Wishbone fight/fun

We are thankful for you all!

Saturday Outing to Mödling

Mödling is one of our happy places.  So when we had an unexpectedly perfect autumn Saturday, we grabbed a friend of Nathanel's and a train to Mödling for the afternoon.

Why yes, that is a castle in the background.  It happens to be the one used in the movie, The Three Musketeers.

 We even grabbed warm potato wedges and fresh potato chips at a stand after the long hike.  It was such a special time together.

Fotos of Fall Festivities

Fall is full of foliage, films, fun and festivities!  Here are some pictures to prove it:

I enjoy my daily walks...

We had fun carving pumpkins last weekend.

A film: Gregory inaugurated Nathanael into the world of Star Wars.

Eva continues to be full of creativity and silliness.

Nathanael's class had a Halloween party!