Weihnachtszeit in Lauf

the old church of Lauf....the whole "old-city" was covered in lights, the scent of Glühwein, cinnaom and almonds- really christmasy :) after Ryan arrived midday on Sunday the 23rd, we went to the christmas market to show him whats typical to do in Deutschland

Ryan's first experience of minus degrees and he freezed a lot. After we came home we were lying in front of the open fire place for quite a while until he aclimatized ;) Unfortunately he's not too excited about the very typical christmas- drink Glühwein....didn't stop me drinking it though :-P

Papa and my brother Kim relaxing in front of the fire....it's really nice to just lie there and read, listen to music or just not do anything

Papa and me in the middle of preparations....here we are baking Lebkuchen, very typical for Germany. The Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen are very well known and yummy :-P We were creative and mad hearts and other funny or extraordinary shapes.

the tree still caught in its package and I was just about to free it

our energy food...I really have to say that Dad and me did quite well and we had a range of good cookies. yum yum yum

even the dough was irresistible ;)

and here one of the biggest fans...he loved it and once I filled the plate up and put it on the sofa next to him and Paps it didn't take five minutes and most of it was gone

the Christbaum ready for Heiligabend the 24th

the nativity scene, pretty essential for our set up

on the 24th, Ryan and me decorated the tree or rather he sat in the chair and told me where something was missing- lazy lazy ;)

in the afternoon we went to church with my sister and her kids and when the service was over we went for a short walk in the cold night.

merry christmas schnaps ... prost :)

for christmas dinner we had a delicious cheese fondue with special rules. everytime you lost your bread you had to drink a "kirschwasser" (schnaps)

papa: "oh noooooo i lost it again"

anna: "uhm...you didnt even have one your fork"

papa: "nu nu....well...i lost it....you know what that means *prost*" with such a big grin on his face

it was really funny and so good, too

he probably should have had more schnaps for his digestion...he said he was just soo full....all this crazy and unfortunately so yummy food- hehe

some more candles, a quick play on the piano and the present giving could come- yeah!

my dad has sent ryan one of his track suits and he absolutely loves it. babyjesus brought another pretty cool adidas ones for both of us.

after everybody gave away and received their pressis, which were all really nice, we enjoyed the fire, played backgammon, ate cookies, drank wine and just relaxed. It was an awesome night!!

The German breakfast absolutely fascinated our Australian guest. My Dad has a real talent for this most important meal of the day. All these sausages, and different breads, danishes, coffee, eggs, freshly pressed juice, different jams, cheese, Brezen.....woow. As soon as Ryan opened the eyes in the morning, no matter what time, he said "breakfast time?" or "I'm hungryyyyy"