Christmas 2019

This was a Christmas for the books, since it was a Christmas that hasn't been on the book before.

We had company!

Kelly Reid landed a position as an English teaching assistant with the Fulbright program and was assigned to Melk, Austria for the school year.  They do speak German there, albeit with a heavy accent,  and they even have different words for the same thing! That gets very confusing for us non-native German speakers.

Anyway, Kelly should not spend Christmas alone.  We invited her here and then Liz announced she was coming with Sean.  Great!  Kelly has company.  Then Liz says: Can we spend Christmas with you?

Of course!  Our first US guests at Christmas after 25 years!!

The crew arrived the evening of December 23.  I had asked Kelly earlier if there was something she'd like to eat, knowing that certain foods are really important to us expats. Yes! she said. Mexican!!  Well, easier said than done, but we done good.  Chicken enchiladas with home made enchilada sauce, home made guac and salsa.  Tacos, too.  Those two, Sean and Kelly, are about as skinny as bean poles, but boy can they put the food away! Not many leftovers around here.

After breakfast the 24th, we headed to the market to pick up the duck breasts for our dinner and the other goodies on the list and looked around our little Christmas market here in Vegesack.

After lunch we took a walk around the harbor, along the river and back to the house - first it was cold and a little drippy, and second, we had to get ready for guests.

I think we forget sometimes just how big this whale jawbone is.

Dinner was pretty easy, actually:  red cabbage, potato dumplings, breast of duck.  I was too busy to take pictures, but it was lovely - and tasty!  Renate supplied the dessert and we sat around the table till late.  Renate and Gerd spent a pile of energy talking the whole evening in English, and we were so grateful.

Ah, Christmas morning.  It's never the same without little kids so anxious to open gifts, but we had a good time.  Pancakes, sausages, bacon and opening a few presents around the Christmas tree you couldn't touch!

Werner had developed an awful cold, so he stayed home and I took the folks to town.  A not bad day:  no rain!! It was cold of course but dry is good.

On the train to town.

We took in the necessary sites: the Windmill in town

The Bremen Town Musicians

The Glockenspiel. We hit that at just the right time to hear the chimes.

Back home, it was time to get ready for more dinner guests, our dear friend Ursel and son Tille from Berlin.  We devoured the cheese fondue and had a lively conversation around the table.  All in all, a memorable Christmas day.

And then the Second Christmas Day as they say in German. We got up pretty early, again, and headed to Hamburg.

First, a visit to the Miniature Wonderland.  And it is!  We were there with Hunter, Hannah and Michelle some years ago.  It's only bigger, and more popular!  We got in as much as we could in an hour plus.

A little walk around to look at the (in)famous concert hall, and then we were off to Ohlendorf for another big meal and more presents at René and Rima's.

Goose, more red cabbage, brussels sprouts and potatoes - the standard feast!  After sharing gifts, we got back in the car to head to Bremen.

We were able to take Liz & Co to the main train station early enough to try and maneuver seats - and they were lucky!  The train was fully booked and no reserved seats were available, but they settled into the dining car and were able to do the same on the second leg of the trip back to Vienna.  Yay!

How nice to have guests - family - for Christmas!  We were so happy to have them here, our guests were great co-hosts, and we're ready for more.