Laura Beth in Germany

Here's a shot of our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. It was a very last-minute decision. My friend Jessi called me and said they had extra trees down on their piece of land near the creek, and if Fabi and I would like one. So I surprised him on Dec. 23rd by setting this little guy up in the living room! Unfortunately, Fabi had been working in the garage on a nativity scene for his mother, so he noticed when the tree stand went missing. But he at least acted surprised for me. Haha! Beneath are all the gifts that we got from the U.S. and from German family, as well as the gifts that we gave to others. The big gray one with circles was Hansi's power washer.

On December 24th, Hansi, Clemens, Fabian and I hopped in the car and drove to Unterbrunn, Bavaria. It's a town with just 1,000 inhabitants, situated on the southwestern outskirts of Munich. The trip took just over 2 hours; we arrived at Fabi's cousin Julia's brand new house just as the sun had set. Her street is so new that it's not included in most GPS systems yet. There's a rocky moat around the two-story construction where the landscaping will eventually be, and the view out back is of green pastures and skinny, densely-growing spruce trees. Julia and David welcomed us most graciously, but little Laura, their 20-month-old daughter, needed a few hours to warm up to us. I think the fact that we share a name made it even harder for her to understand who I was. Uncle Rudi and Aunt Regine were already there, Regine busy in the kitchen. Julia poured champagne and we all toasted to Christmas, to a safe arrival, and to our hosts' new abode. Little Laura scarfed dow

Christmas!  Our Advent wreath We only have one and a half weeks until all of Germany basically shuts down and goes on holiday. All major, decent companies in the area give their employees a winter break starting December 21st and stretching until January 6th. Germans love their Advent season, which is funny, considering their vehemently secular culture. An example: last week I drove past a life-size nativity scene with a glowing baby Jesus while listening to a radio interview about why women shouldn't rely on their husbands, but rather plan ahead for supporting yourself and your children if and when you divorce. Lovely, right? But at least the decorations match the Christmas season! If not the choice of radio interview topics.   Our "Christmas tree", full of peacocks Our gifts and cards to the States are already in the mail. Now we have to focus on our gifts for the German side of the family. I think many of them will get Kärcher-related presents, seein

  Here's an initial shot of our Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday! Turkey #2 for me - I think the oven bags are a little different here... oh well. He tasted great, even though he looks a little wrinkly. Thanks to Jessi Hegendorf for the photo. It was a wonderful weekend with friends. I think some people wished we had got more exercise, but for me, sitting around the house watching "football" (soccer), drinking beer and having a tryptophan hangover certainly fit the Thanksgiving bill. Women in the kitchen, men on the couch. Everybody just enjoying life. We also walked around the Christmas market in Gottingen for a while, and ran into a band playing Johnny Cash songs. So I guess we had a German-meets-American style weekend in more ways than one.