Bruges Christmas Market

This is how we spent Thanksgiving weekend: in Bruges with yummy food and drinks. Bruges kicked off their Christmas Market and was one of the first in Europe. As you may have figured out by now, We LOVE Bruges!!! Just being in the city makes me happy. There is not one bad part of town, every corner is charming and cute. It even smells good. This was our first time being there when it was cold and the city smelled like a campfire along with the yummy scents of Christmas. The Market was lit up with a pretty ice skating rink and glowing Christmas Trees. We went with another family and just enjoyed walking around, shopping, & eating/drinking. The men loved their Belgium beer and us ladies (kids too) enjoyed our hot chocolate and other yummy treats. Bruges also had an indoor ice sculpture show that was themed after Harry Potter. It was pretty incredible to see the amazing ice sculptures, they even had a huge slide for the kids! We spent Sunday morning there before heading back to Germany (with beer, chocolate, tea, speculoos liquor). 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet around here. We had a nice dinner just the four of us and I was trying to recover from Strep throat (first time ever!) I still had enough energy to cook up a feast-- I LOVE Thanksgiving food!! We decided to grill the turkey this year to free up the oven, and now I don't think we'll ever cook it any other way. It had a nice smokey flavor. We were able to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade and hang out in our pajamas all day. We left on Friday to Belgium to start the Christmas Market season!

Luke actually blew on the turkey after we took off the foil, I guess he thought it was similar to a birthday cake!

Tooth Fairy

Addy lost her first tooth, and not exactly how we thought it would happen. She and I had a routine dentist appointment to get a cleaning/x-rays, etc. The Dentist told me that one of her molars had a severe infection brewing under her tooth. Supposedly it was caused by a filling she had last year that was not put in right. Anyhow, he told me we would have to pull it to stop the infection. He also explained we would have to put her on antibiotics until we scheduled the appointment to pull it. Addy has never had an antibiotic and I didn't want to start it over a tooth. Sooooo, he told me we could pull it right there. I agreed and off she went by herself in a room to get some laughing gas (he assured me she wouldn't feel it). A few minutes later I hear agonizing screams from my little girl. I felt horrible because she had no idea what was happening. Come to find out she was just freaked out from the blood. She was fine about 10 minutes later. Later, she thought it was pretty neat that she was getting a visit from the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy gave her 3 euro and a special dollar with fairy dust sprinkled on it. She thought it was all very special and showed it to everyone in sight. She asked me a few days later if she could go back to the dentist. I asked her why, and she told me "I need more money." Apparently it wasn't as traumatizing as I thought it would be!

Here is the giant tooth and the special purple box the dentist gave her:

Hocheim Market

Hocheim is a town right next to ours and every year they host a HUGE market in November. The market lasts 5 days and attracts over 500,000 people every year. Another cool fact is this Market has been happening for almost 500 years!! Incredible. There is a really neat Historic area that serves drinks in clay pots and creates a midieval feel. We enjoyed spending a few hours there the morning after Veterans day. We figured it would be less crowded on a Monday, but as it turns out, it was still packed with people! The kids had a great time mainly because of the many carnival rides. We had a yummy lunch and enjoyed shopping through all the stalls. 

Halloween

I love Halloween, and to me it's the start of the fabulous Holiday season. Addy and Luke picked out their Halloween costumes months ago (or it was more like Addy picked out their costumes months ago). I had some lady make them for us and was thrilled with the way they turned out! It worked out perfectly for us as we were in Disneyland the week before. We did go trick or treating in one of the American neighborhoods. The streets were crowded with tons of kids (both Americans and Germans) and the houses were very festive. The neighborhood really goes all out for the holiday and it's neat to share it with Germans! Addy and Luke had a very full bag in less than an hour. We call that a success!!