Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year! It was so nice to have Jeff's parents in town to celebrate with us. And nothing is more joyful than 2 little ones so excited on Christmas morning. We had a lazy day of playing with Christmas gifts, eating yummy food, constantly cleaning the mess, and enjoying each other. Our Cake for Jesus was so yummy this year, it might be a new staple on Christmas Dinner. Gingerbread spiced cake with a lemon ginger cream cheese frosting.

Christmas Eve

For the 3rd year, Addy was in our town's Nativity Play during the Church's Christmas Eve Service. She selected to be an angel again (I guess she likes the idea of having the same lines). We really love this tradition and can't wait for it again next year! It was extra special because Mimi and Papa were in town to watch!

Eltville and Openheim Christmas Markets

We did both of these small Christmas Markets over the weekend. Eltville is the cute little town close by where we took our fall family portraits. They have a little market set up every day in December, and St. Nikolaus comes by at 5pm each day to open up a new window for Advent. He also reads the kids a story and hands out a treat. The kids enjoyed this little market because the local bakery also set up a cookie making station. 

The Oppenheim Christmas Market was also a fun one for us and some friends of ours tagged along.The  beautiful church is a great backdrop to the town, and Addy especially enjoyed the "fairy tale" theme.

Decorating Cookies in Eltville:

St. Nikolaus opening up Window 14

Oppenheim

Rothenburg Christmas Market

Rothenburg is one of our favorite towns in Germany. The town is so cute and is MADE for Christmas! We always seem to stop there on our way down south or on our way back home coming from the South. We decided to check out the Christmas Market for the first time. It was really cool, but I would like to go back when it wasn't so crowded (Saturday afternoon wasn't exactly the best time). We still enjoyed some delicious food/treats, a little shopping, and Addy was brave to stand in for a picture with St. Nikolaus. Although he looks a lot like Santa, he is different and is not the one responsible for bringing kids their gifts on Christmas. He is the one who fills shoes on the night of December 5th. But, Americans have adapted German traditions over the years and he is where we came up with St. Nick. 

Hohenschwangau Castle

On our last day with the Pav's, we went to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles. We didn't end up going inside Neuschwanstein, but instead chose to tour the inside of Hohenschwangau. We had heard that it is more impressive on the inside than Neuschwanstein, and we can vouch for that! It ended up being a cold snowy day that was just beautiful! Addy had quite a good time building snowballs and throwing them at everyone.

Oberammergau

We just spent 5 days in Oberammergau/Garmisch with the Pavlick's and had such a great vacation! We absolutely LOVED the place we stayed. The house was gorgeous and very relaxing. We all enjoyed the snow and the adorable town. The kids enjoyed playing with each other and especially loved the house. They said it was there favorite vacation yet! We can't wait to go back!!!

Our one pieces, we love these!!

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Nuremberg is famous for its Christmas Market. It is supposedly named the best in the World. We decided to make this our stop on our way to Garmisch. This was the first year we were able to visit. It's definitely not my favorite, but it's huge and very spread out. I was actually quite surprised as to how many people were there on a Tuesday afternoon. I would never go here on a weekend! The best part was the Kinder market. It had very cute old fashioned rides and hardly anybody around. The kids really loved it!