Santa Found Us!!!

On Christmas Eve, the kids and their cousins, all spent the night at Aunt Mandy and Uncle Jim's house with the hopes that Santa Claus would know that there were three families there to deliver presents to. At 0-dark hundred Christmas morning the kids woke up. We had to wait about 30 minutes before the Grandparents arrived and then we released the kids. Oh boy did Santa ever leave a pile of coal for this bunch. Just kidding. The tree was filled with enough presents for a small village. With 6 children, 5 Parents, 4 Grandparents, 1 Great-grandmother and 3 dogs we had our small village. Emilie and Tori got to find out that we were keeping Molly. When the girls opened up the box that had her picture in it Tori just jumped up and down and Emilie cried. They were both so happy that we would have another member in our family. It was a good morning of opening gifts and enjoying Sweet Petals, coffee and juice. After the opening madness we all went to 11am mass at Our Lady of Mt Carmel. Then it was back to Mandy's for a fine Christmas feast. Thanks Santa for the wonderful gifts and also for the snap-shot of you stuffing the stockings. We hope to remain on your "good" list and see you again next year.

Christmas Musical - Scrooge

In preparation for the Christmas Season the Canadian School put on a school musical. The children prepared for a month in learning their roles and songs. Each grade class had unique singing parts and in between numbers the classic story "A Christmas Carol" was acted out. All of the children did a wonderful time. Notice the boots on Tori. Being that we had very cold weather, she was told repeatedly to put on her boots on before going to school. Well she did and when we arrived at the theatre she was still in them. So she is quite fashionable.

SHAPE Christmas Tree Lighting

Tonight we had the annual Christmas tree lighting here at SHAPE. The Belgian town of Malmedy donated a beautiful tree from the Ardenne forest. The tradition of Malmedy donating a tree to SHAPE began in 1964 as a way of saying thanks to the US soldiers who liberated their town during WWII. The ceremony included short speeches by the base commander, SHAPE Chief of Staff and the mayor of Malmedy. The Canadian school choir entertained the crowd by singing three Christmas carols. Their version of "Silent Night" was sung in English, French and German. Emilie and Tori have been a part of the choir since the beginning of the school year. All of the children did a wonderful job performing in front of so many people. The tree was lit by the COS and mayor and it looks beautiful.

Molly

We recently received a dog to watch. Friends of ours are moving to Germany and needed a home for one of their pets. Molly is a three-year old Australian Sheppard and will be staying with us through Christmas. We got her yesterday and so far so good. She has a sleeping area in our back room and we put in a fence behind our garage so she has a piece of yard to run around in and do her thing. If all goes well with this experiment we have the option to have her. The girls think that we are only watching her for our friends so we'll keep them in the dark until we make the final decision. She is a well mannered dog and has definitely enjoyed the extra love that she has been receiving. This is on double-secret probation so no letting on to Em & Tori.

München (Munich), Germany

Saturday Carolyn and Ed headed to Munchen for the day. Liz, Em & Tori had a swimming day at the hotel. All parties were happy with the decision. After an hour and half train ride out of the Alps we arrived in Munchen. We just walked the streets looking at the local architecture. At the Marion Platz we watched the town hall clock show at noon. It was pretty cool. After that we headed to the famous Hofbräuhaus for lunch. The Hofbräuhaus is a famous landmark in Munchen. It is where the Oktoberfest festivities are held. Of course when in Rome (Bavaria in this case) we enjoyed a couple of Mass Biers and some fine encased meat. The hall was quite lively and the food was good. After having our fill of German cuisine we headed back out to roam the streets to see the town. We couldn't have had better weather for this afternoon walk.

Kreuzeckbahn (Bavarian Alps Germany)

Day two of our Carolyn Germany trip. We head up to the Kreuzeckbahn to go play in the snow. The Kreuzeckbahn is located next to Zugspitze which is the highest mountain in Germany. We drove to the gondola that brought us up to the peak. The view of Garmisch-Partenkirchen was amazing and the snow was thoroughly enjoyed by the girls. After a while of playing on the slopes we enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate at the local beer garden. The one nice thing about Germany is that at the top of every mountain there is a place to get a food, beer or coffee. It makes the whole experience that much nicer.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Carolyn came to visit us for two weeks. While she was here we took a trip to Germany. Our first stop was to King Ludwig II's famous castle Neuschwanstein. It was inspired by Wagner's operas and situated in the mountains of the Bavarian Alps. After a lunch in a local restaurant we headed up to the base of the hill where the castle is built. The girls decided that a horse carriage ride to the to castle would be nice so we hopped on and rode up to the main gate. The castle was never completed before King Ludwig was found dead. The rooms were very intricately designed with paintings and such with the thrown room being quite impressive. With the snow that had fallen the morning before the surrounding mountains were gorgeous. The castle is supposedly the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Walt Disney's famous movie.