Recap: Christmas With Mom (Dec. 1, 2008)

Minus the stark-white walls, we could sure tell Christmas was in the air. Here is the extent of our decorating for the year:Re-buying all of the Christmas decorations was fun and painful at the same time. We didn't have tons of money to get all/what we wanted, but we tried to do our best. Not quite the same as the Michener setup, but I think I already talked about that. As the month passed by, we added to our decorations with lots and lots of crafts (to follow). Mom had some gifts for the kids and considering this was as big as the Christmas gathering was going to get, we had a little party: Martha Stewart honey-mustard cornish game hen (actually turkey) and my absolute favorite, pecan crusted cornbread stuffing (no joke). Yum. Well, at least the turkey. Jodi and Mom loved the stuffing. The only thing the meal was missing was sweet potatoes (Jodi's favourite) but we couldn't seem to find them anywhere. Here's the spread:

Actually, it looks pretty gross. But really, it tasted a lot better than it looks. Looks like a pile of giblets. Jodi's getting a little offended right now. Silly pictures of food. After the feast, which ended with homemade Christmas pudding with massively overestimated amounts of vinegar in the first batch of sauce (vinegar in Germany is 5 times more concentrated, oops, sorry burnt lungs), the kids enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's presents:

Erika's Christmas dress from the 'Early Elves' - that would be us:

Sorry about the dark video (again) but Erika was pretty cute opening up the dress, so we had to put it in:

It was a perfect way to start of December with Jodi and Mom having fun cooking a big dinner and watching the kids enjoy early gifts with music and candles. Ahhh...

Jodi and Jeff

Recap: Titisee Weinachtsmarkt (Nov. 30, 2008)

The next day we went the opposite direction of Colmar to the Black Forest and the Titisee Weinachtsmarkt. We wanted to get in as many Christmas markets as we could and also Mom G. wanted to see lots before she left in a couple of days. We packed Erika's snowpants and she played lots in the snow:Reese didn't have snowpants yet so he got to walk. Here we are strutting it up down mainstreet Titisee:

Ahhh, a nice family picture. Reesey is staring at a man-size excrement in the pile of snow beside us, a common find in Germany:

A couple more of Mom and us standing by the lake:

What was this day supposed to be about again? We didn't get any pictures of the Christmas market or Kris Kringle (their version of Santa Claus which is very different from ours - the Coca-Cola variant). Germany's Kris Kringle looks more like a bishop with a big grey beard and a red and white cloak. Maybe next year...

Jeff and Jodi

Recap: Colmar Weinachtsmarkt (Nov. 29, 2008)

Well, word around the office was that Colmar has a pretty good Christmas market, so we figured we should check it out. It's a three leg journey to get there (25 min. tram, 25 min. train, 50 min. bus) so we started out relatively early and semi-bundled up for a cool day outside. We hadn't bought snow pants for Reese yet, but, seeing as we are habituating ourselves in Germany, we did as they do and bought a pair of boys' tights. Wait for the picture of what Reese thought of this practice. Anyway, here's Erika on the S-bahn (kind of like a train):Our wonderful family on a cute little street in front of a faux-neige (we are in France now, oui oui) tree. I thought it was a good time to play with my omnipresent five o'clock shadow:

Here we are waiting in line for a toasted sandwich, French style. We can't quite remember what it was called, but it was kind of a cross between a Royal burger from Red Robin and an Egg McMuffin. Actually, no, it was good old buns, meat and cheese thrown in a press. Are we in Germany? In France, they like to squirt on extraneous sauce - it's quite tasty:

Erika was coming down from her second massive sugar rush from a Christmas market specialty for kids: a huge crepe smothered in a full cup of Nutella. Seriously, there was lots on there. At the end, we could squirt half of it out and pass it back to her and it was still leaking out. Ahh, the wonderful Christmas markets; here's Jodi and Mom and the kids posing in front of a couple of the booths that were set up. Apart from the various food merchants selling brezels, crepes, huge, viva puff-like marshmallow chocolate mounds, taffy, Christmas cakes, and a type of sweet wine (gluhwein), there were many proprieters selling Christmas ornaments and some wood toys. Mom G. bought a handmade wood chess board that folds up for Bradley. Jodi remembers lots of food and Christmas ornaments as the two themes of the Colmar market, and much more decorated booths than their Freiburg counterparts:

We froze. But we thoroughly enjoyed the decorations in Colmar. Mom and Jodi had success in finding cornmeal to make Christmas stuffing with, so that alone made the trip worthwhile (I can't stand stuffing). Colmar had lots of little trees on their window ledges too, which Mom loved. By the end of the trip though, Reesey had had enough of his forced lederhosen, and was trying at all costs to rip them off:

Needless to say, they were a one-use item. And so ends the Colmar Weinachtsmarkt of 2008. We will probably make the trip again in 2009. Anybody want to come?

Jeff and Jodi

Recap: Christmas Cookies (Nov. 26, 2008)

Seeing as all the Christmas decorations were up, we thought it was a good time to start in on the Christmas cookies while Mom was still around. Reese needed to be restrained continually as he wanted to dive right in. His job was to fork out the balls on the sheet, and he was so intent on doing a good job that he would try to push the ball straight through the table with the fork, shaking from the exertion.Erika's job was to roll the balls, which quite often turned into tube steaks. Tasty nonetheless, but we didn't wrap them up for the friends (if there were any) and neighbours (we do have those, and are continually reminded by nasty notes about the kids):

The kids enjoyed the end product. They were the flakiest shortbread cookies ever, crumbling in your hands because the butter has a different consistency over here. Or something like that. Like butter has a consistency. So now we add more flour. Jodi says it is wateryer over here. The butter that is.

I suppose that wasn't really the end product. I forgot about the decorating (with cut-up fruit rind, weird). Reese got his full complement of sugar, along with his fruits and vegetables servings for the day:

The first of many cookie projects turned out pretty well, and it was good to have Mom around to help and enjoy.

Jeff and Jodi

Recap: First Snow Day (Nov. 23, 2008)

Contrary to some of the information we had been given, Freiburg gets snow. Quite a bit of snow too. One morning in late November, this is how our "backyard" looked:

By the afternoon, most of the snow had already melted, but Erika and Grandma hoofed it outside to try and make a snowman (it is slightly visible below):Little did we know, there would be many more opportunities to test our snowman-building prowess.

Jeff and Jodi

Recap: Graduation (Nov. 21, 2008)

Sort of as a last-minute idea, my parents and Jodi's mom and Brad decided to fly me back for my graduation at U of A. Jodi got some idea in her head about me wanting to go back (I suppose I am a touch transparent) and planned it out with her mom. In order to get a decent price on a one-way flight to Canada, I had to do a 34 hour itinerary: Freiburg-Frankfurt-Dublin-Boston-Denver-Calgary. I left here 11 pm Sunday and got to Calgary at 1 am Tuesday morning. So that's 26 hours plus an eight hour time change. I don't think I want to try that again anytime soon. Tuesday morning I stayed at Mom and Brad's, and then went up to Tim and Lesley's for Tuesday night, and then off to Edmonton. The ceremony was on Thursday, and I got the chance right before to visit my old office and Rob and my supervisor. It felt pretty strange not being there as a student, as the departure from U of A/Edmonton was incredibly hasty on our way over here. Unlike undergrad, there were no real instructions about where to go and when and how to line up so I felt pretty lost. Here's me and Mams and Paps at the Jubilee:And of course, the walk across the stage (I messed up with the handshake with the fellow draping the thing over me, no surprise there):

Me and Mom and Brad after the ceremony (or before):

After the ceremony, we all went out to Red Robin and got a nice Five-Alarm and mocha cake. Red Robin is still my favourite.

Erika got some use out of my hat after I got back:

Thanks Mom and Dad, Mom and Brad, and Tim, Les, Bailey, Nichole and Griff for the great time. It was sure good seeing you all again. I can imagine Jodi had an unreal week too at home alone with the kids in a still-foreign country. Thanks again Jodi.

Jeff

Recap: St. Martin's Fest (Nov. 11, 2008)

November 11 in Germany is St. Martin's fest. All the younger school kids make lanterns a couple of weeks before out of wood and decorated parchment-like paper. Jodi was pretty handy with a saw - if she would have known she had to saw the pieces herself for the lantern I think it would have been me going to do the building. I probably would have turned it into Homer's barbecue project. The kids got to do the decorating and gluing and assembly all themselves, which was pretty neat. There were mosaic ones, and spider-man ones, and fire ones, and iron-on leaves ones - the variety was crazy, and they were all really natural and cutesy homemade. Cutesy. On the night, the kids gathered in their respective classes with the parents, and we 'lit' the lanterns (some, like Erika's, were light bulbs inside of the lantern, although other, more daring/incompetent parents lit candles inside). The candle variety tended to blow out continuously, resulting in tantrums and tears. Jodi was thankful one of her friends passed on the tip about using a light bulb instead of candle. At the meeting point, we made a big circle and sang a couple of songs. We got the sheet music for them and tried to fumble along. Or Jodi tried to fumble along. In the dark. Trying to read German. And not knowing the tune whatsoever. But I think we sounded great. Here's a night picture of some of the lanterns we could see (or just Erika's):And a video of the sing-a-long:

After singing the two songs three or four times each, we walked around our neighbourhood and made a loop to the kindergarten. There was a play on the roof of the kindergarten about St. Martin. Basically, he was a rich man and he ripped his cloak in half and gave half to a really poor man which was, apparently, unheard of in his day. Half a cloak? Then both of the people are cold. Obviously, we missed something in the translation. But he is a saint that they honor in Germany. After the play, we sat by a big fire and had some kinderpunch and Glühwein and sausage on a bun:

In summary: fun, a little stressful and very cold. The stress was because of the ignorant immigrants wandering around. That would be us.

Jodi and Jeff

Recap: Getting ready for Christmas (Nov. 7, 2008)

We bought ourselves a tree. It came from a nice little thrifty store called Butlers, and it seemed like we bought a lot of decorations, but the place was still sparse. Well, compared to the Christmas Wonderland we usually set up back in Michener. I remember last year, I had all the lights plugged together and operated by just one switch on the wall. Beautiful. Back to the present; we did what we could on a few bucks and it looked pretty good.
Reese was the boss of putting the tree together:

Once the tree was together, the kids played with their new, early Chrismas present, the tree box:

We were only able to get Erika wearing the antlers because Reese snapped his in half before we could get the camera out:

The little plush candy canes were sort of for the kids' benefit. I wanted real candy canes, but no... In the background are Jodi's red glass tea-light stars - aren't they beautiful?

Sure it was only November 7th, but we enjoyed the start of playing the Christmas music and wanted to set it up before I took off back to Canada for graduation. This also contributed to our reputation of crazy Canadians as the Christmas tree markets in Freiburg didn't really even open up until a week before Christmas. The downtown Christmas market did open up at the end of November though, so we weren't too far ahead. Oh, and no, there aren't any finished pictures yet. I guess we didn't think of that. Stay tuned...

Jodi and Jeff

Recap: Decorating and Halloween

Wow, no more Paris. So, it was time to gear up for halloween. Halloween is definitely not a main holiday or party time over here. Thanks to family we were able to have some crafts and still try to get in the spirit. We did our crafts while Mom and Dad were still here and the kids tried on their costumes and did a little dancing. The annual haunted gingerbread house:Erika is showing off her spider lantern. I think it turned out pretty cute:

Next up, gutting the pumpkins. We stripped the kids down to avoid any big messes or cleanup. I am actually stripped from the waist down too. Apparently I am a major mess contributor:

After the pumpkins, pumpkin lantern, spider lantern and gingerbread house, Erika shows off her princess costume. Note the Cinderella wand:

Grandma and Grandpa posed with all the decorations. Dad seems a little tired after the Monster Mash dance:

This one is self-explanatory. The kids dance for any event:

I guess it is Jodi that likes to do the dancing/horsey. On Halloween, we repeated the whole procedure (minus lanterns/pumpkins/gingerbread house) and got out the camera for the dress-up. Reese was not a fan of the whole ensemble, but was starting to warm up a bit to his costume (he actually loves to wear it now):

Since there is no 'real' trick-or-treating in Freiburg, Jodi devised a clever way for the kiddies to have some Halloween fun. She drew a map of the house and cellar and hid a whole bunch of candies everywhere, and then the kids went on a big treasure hunt. Reese was a little confused, but Erika sure loved the map, and Reese didn't complain when he continually stumbled upon candy:

Reese liked to try and crack open the individual packages of the German equivalent of Coke bottles. And then stick them all in his mouth. The lights in the cellar are on a timer, so the video ends in dark:

As a side note, check out Jodi's hand in the above video. She does a mean Chubbs Peterson impression with the fake, exaggerated-length forearm and hand. It also reminds me of Joe Clark when he talks with the stiff hand. Anyway, if you're not a Happy Gilmore or Joe Clark fan just disregard. And so concludes Halloween. We are starting to get a little caught up now. Still lots to go until the present though...

Jodi and Jeff

Recap: Paris, Day 7: Disneyland

Ahhh... Disneyland. Paris. A wonderful mixture. We checked out prices in advance online before we went, and they were selling for about 29 euros, and the 'affordability' (thanks Mom and Dad) was one of the reasons that made booking a day for Disneyland easy. The park opened at 10, and we got there around 9 revved up and ready for Mickey. It was kind of chilly out, so we were a little nippy by the time we were able to get to the ticket booth. Jodi took a side glance at one of the price lists and saw 60 euros (remember, we are not fluent francophones) so we convinced/lied to ourselves that, "That must be the price for the year's pass". Sure enough, it turned out to be for a single day and a single park. Jodi began to pack up the bags and head 'er on out, but Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't hear of it (Wally world comes to mind - remember the moose?) - they weren't about to tell Erika she couldn't meet her precious Ariel (more on that later). Jodi shows her frustration at me for not buying the advance online tickets in our jaunt up Main Street:First on the list - meeting the Disneyland princesses. The line didn't seem too long, I think we were at around 50, which I didn't think was bad, considering the efficiency of previous (albeit North American) Disney visits. The clock started ticking, and we realized an hour into it that we had moved up approximately five places, so Jodi decided to cheer Reesey up a bit (make sure to enlarge it to get the full effect):

Man, that Donald sure terrified Reese. As Jodi mounted the platform, Reese turned into a stiff board and began convulsing violently and trying to push himself in the opposite direction of the inevitable introduction. Jodi decided to press on - what would Disney be without the tell-tale picture with Donny? About half an hour later, my Dad was in the vicinity of Don again with Reese, and that bugger (the duck, not Reese) turned around and had the audacity to wave at Reese. Needless to say, scenario one was repeated and we were down two diapers in the first hour of our visit. Meanwhile, me and Erika waited a total of 2 hours and change to finally get on stage for the abominable picture shoot. As it turns out, you could pay extra for a 'special tour' or something and get to the front of all the lines. So our 60 per person wasn't good enough. These weiners were continually budding into the queue every time I looked around. I was irate. Then we got on the stage, and this fellow figured he could take up the entire angle with his massive contraption of a camera - so that we could pay another 20 and get the splendid picture framed. I elbowed right in (yeah right - 'Ah, pardon me sir?') and managed to get one of Erika looking at me and not Mr. Nigel Barker.

Ahhh... the sauna warmth of Small World. The kids really liked it, and we went on it quite a few times (for the sake of the kids of course, not Jodi's frozen fanny).

Jodi snapped one when she spotted the Canadian hockey part. Cheese!

Too bad you couldn't go up the stairs in the castle. Erika was a little disappointed.

The good old car ride. Erika was a pretty good driver. The fumes were incredible though. Honestly, maybe that was why she had such a good time. Nah, I can remember the first time I grabbed the wheel, right after 'Nam, in the 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It pretty much had pillows/built in couch for the front seat. Anyway...

Reese had an ongoing game with this duck. Cute.

Erika with her purchases. Yup, the square box faux-feather princess cape made the cut. Along with the Tinkerbell slippers and Cinderella wand. Although not shown, we managed to also pick up a basket of stuffed kittens (don't ask) and make-your-ears-bleed loud Buzz Lightyear gun (don't ask) which Reese continually depressed the trigger of for the final hour.

Here's the Basket O' Kittens. Of course, Erika was holding it for Grandpa, right? I think Grandpa was just overjoyed with the draped Strawberry Shortcake scarf and the pink basket banging him in the face for the entire finale parade.

Here's the happy family. Jodi is donning the complete selection of outerwear we brought with us for the day, whilst I enjoy the crisp, evening air.

After the intial turbulence (price gouge/princess) Disneyland Paris was a really fun time. The 'Disneyland mood' wasn't completely captured as it has been for us in the Florida one, but we did go in low season (hence the reduction in our park passes).

Jeff and Jodi