Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

Congratulations to Linzer's DH. Sorry for confusing you with my name change, but I thought leaving silken at the front would make it too long.

Does anyone know where I can buy those little plastic bags that people fill with homemade Plätzchen? Müller? Or a big supermarket?

No need to apologise silken (or should I call you ladder now?); it was just me being particularly obtuse and not looking at your name closely enough.

I don't know about the bags, I'm afraid. I'm sure I've seen them somewhere here, but even if I could remember where it wouldn't be much use to you in Germany.

The Christmas Parade sounded good Jenny, if a little chilly. Do they call it Christmas where you are? I tried to avoid using it as everyone seemed to say holidays and I was worried I might be politically incorrect. Or if it was mentioned, it was in the same breath as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

Where is everyone? And where have all the Austrians disappeared to? I need them to come over and help me eat all the mince pies I bought before the DC informed me they don't like them. I'm going to give them to the children in the last English lessons as we'll have a small Christmas party, but I can more or less guarantee they won't like them, and that still leaves five boxes for DH and me to get through. I don't feel like I can foist them on Austrians as they're bound not to like them, although I could always try I suppose...

Silken, I get them at the MacGeiz or Teddi 1? shop but maybe Rossmann?

I went looking for icing sugar today and it was sold out in 3 supermarkets so I'll have to go back out this afternoon or we can't make our Hexenhaus tomorrow. I thought it had all the stuff including but when dd unpacked it yesterday and read the box properly, you have to add the icing sugar! Anyway, the Nikolaus Stiefel are ready at least!

Linzer congratulations on your dh getting the job.
I must admit I´m not a great fan of mince pies and the dc looked horrified when I bought some last year for them to try.

Silken I´ve found the plastic bags in big supermarkets such a Real in the past. Have you been busy baking?

I went into ds´s class today to help bake Plätzchen. There were 2 other mums there, but one didn´t help at all, so it turned out to be really stressful and rushed. Mind you we had loads of biscuits by the time we´d finished - not that I´d want to eat them after a couple of the children had coughed all over them.

admylin I hope you have better luck than me with the Hexenhaus. I tried to make one last year, but it kept breaking every time we tried to stick something on.

We woke up to snow for the first time this morning, but it melted really quickly as it´s still too warm. It´s dd´s birthday at the weekend and she´s hoping we´ll get lots of snow so she can go sledging.

Congratulations Linzer's DH

Happy Birthday Hupa's dd for the weekend

I am supervising dd's homework, which requires me to check spellings on dict.cc or she doesn't believe me if I correct her (ever since she knew and I didn't that more than one Apfel starts with Ä ...)

We had a massive storm last night and strong wind and sleet this morning but no actual snow.

DD is telling me that Grampus is going to put her in the sack because of something she did yesterday (which she did do and we were cross for 5 mins but I had forgotten about). I am pretty sure she doesn't believe it, she just loves a bit of drama my dd...

5more, what's the homework about? We've got to the stage where they don't even bother asking for my help in German anymore! But as you say, the internet always helps!

Hupa, have you got a plan B if it doesn't snow?!

admysteltoe it's only first class homework, she doesn't ask for help as such, it's more that unless she is itching to be out the door she procrastinates unbelievably over her homework, and wriggles and squirms on her chair and does the most amazing stuff to get out of it - no idea why as she finds it easy, but because she's wriggly and squirming and singing and making faces and talking to herself and telling herself made up stories (about her pencil crayons being a family atm whilst she colours in some pictures of blocks for maths... for example) she makes careless mistakes - such as spelling boat Bot instead of Boot (she just had to join the dots to make a picture and write underneath what it is), and then even if she knows she's made a mistake she won't hear it from me unless I show her evidence! She must be able to spell Boot as she spelt Fisch correctly for the picture before without consulting me - she just doesn't concentrate!

Sorry went off on a mini rant there, she drives me a bit mad with homework at the moment, as when she has a playdate lined up she gets it done in 20 mins, but when she has no plans except the vague one of calling for her best friend down the road (who is in the 2nd class and tends not to be finished with homework til 2.30 or so) she can drag it out for hours and hours...

At the moment I rather wish they just had reading books and a written home work once a week as English year 1 (as she would be) children have!

5more DS was asking this morning whether the Krampus was going to come to KiGa to deal with the naughty children. He definitely still believes in him, Nikolo, Father Christmas, etc., DD1 knows they don't exist but I'm not too sure about DD2 - I think she might suspect.
I'm always having to check plurals, gender etc. on the Internet. If the DC don't know and have to ask me, it's unlikely I'll know as their grammar now seems to have overtaken mine.

hupa I do like mince pies but I could live without them. Which makes it even more ridiculous that I managed to buy 8 boxes. As I wrote on Facebook, I tend to go into mad expat mode when I'm at M&S - how else can I explain the fact that we have around 10 packets of custard creams in the cellar?
I'm hoping that we don't get snow until the New Year, if at all - we really don't need any disruptions to our journey back to the UK at Christmas. But if it has to come at all, a weekend would be good!

admylin Hope you manage to get some icing sugar this afternoon. One of the Christmas recipes I translated last year was for a gingerbread house and it sounded incredibly complicated (and bound to fail if I tried), but that was to make your own from scratch.

DH did the DC's Nikolosackerl last night - just "sensible" sweets and chocolate, he informed me (he knows I don't like lollipops and the like - although he did bring DS a huge Fernsehturm-shaped lollipop back from Berlin last week), and no other presents. But his parents are coming for the day on Thursday and are bound to want to give the DC presents (supplied by us) then.

hupa I do like mince pies - made my own last year, including making veggie mince meat - DH is not a huge mince pie eater but likes them when they are straight from the oven. Bought ones tend to have too much pastry, but I'd still eat them :)

Linzer that is incredibly cheeky of your in-laws expecting you to provide sweets for them to give your kids - doesn't that really annoy you?

dh emailed me a dress his parents want to buy dd for when she is flower girl at bil's wedding next May. I am supposed to ok it, but dd was looking forward to shopping for the dress, and I think it is stupid to buy a 6 year old a dress 5 months in advance, who knows how much she'll grow... Plus although the dress isn't hideous it looks very 80s to me, with a round collar and boxy elbow length sleaves and a high but not empire line waist ribbon, I don't think it will be very flattering and am sure it would be easy to find a nicer one! Then again they will pay and MIL would like to buy it. I'm not a big MIL fan at the mo though so any negative response will be attributed to that and not to the dress not being that nice and dd having been looking forward to the actual shopping trip and choosing it... SIL to be appears not to have been consulted at all, though she did say Anna could choose her own dress I would have thought she should be consulted if it's just an internet or catalogue link...

ho hum...

Linzer Congratulations to your DH on his promotion! Will you be off out for a nice meal or something to celebrate?
I also thought it was a little strange that you have to buy the sweets for your DCs from the PILs. Is that an Austrian thing?

Silken They have those Plätzchen bags in Karstadt (in the wrapping paper section) for about ?1

Admylin Good luck with the Hexenhaus! Do make sure you post a picture of the end result - I love them (although have never been brave enough to attempt one myself)

Hupa Fingers crossed for snow this weekend. Although chances are if you get snow we will too...

5more I'm sure if you tell your PIL your DD would like to choose the dress herself and that you don't know what size she will be by then it will be ok. I imagine DD wil refuse to wear something she doesn't like so it would maybe be easier all round. Hope your MIL isn't causing you too much stress - rant away!

Hi Jenny!

I've decded to give up bfing :( I'm just having too many (painful) problems - last night's issue was a lovely blood blister, ouch! DS will happily take a bottle so that shouldn't be a problem but I'm still a little sad. I'm trying to replace one or two feeds a day with a bottle and work up from there - easier said than done as there is no routine or regularity to his feeds at all so it's mostly guesswork at the moment, but we'll get there! I have a stinking cold too which isn't helping but is an even better excuse to stay cuddled up under a blanket with DS & a flask of tea :)

Ooh I made mince pies too! Admittedly with ready-bought pastry and a jar of mincemeat. They look awful but have given me my Christmas fix!

5more It's presents rather than sweets that we're expected to provide; my ILs are perfectly capable of buying large quantities of sweets for the DC, but never anything else. My MIL never goes shopping (FIL does the food shopping) so we have to buy all the DC's Christmas and birthday presents from them. It doesn't bother me too much as it's usually DH who does the present shopping. OTOH DH often buys the DC things with the excuse that "my parents need something for the DC when we go to visit them/they visit us." The DC have far too much stuff already and I'm of the presents-should-only-be-for-Christmas-and-birthdays school of thought, but I've given up trying to reason with him.

If we didn't buy presents for them to give to the DC (I'm trying to steer DH towards books, etc.) my ILs would probably only turn up with bags of sweets, Überraschungseier, etc. My MIL seems to have a bit of a skewed relationship with food anyway; her self-worth seems to depend on how much of her food we eat, how good it tastes, etc. and as a result the DC are offered something to eat about every 10 minutes. If one of the DC says something to me, she'll automatically assume that they're hungry and and are asking for food (as she doesn't understand English). But she basically means well and I try not to get too worked up about it all (very often don't succeed, though!).

It's a difficult one re the dress. I would probably try to live with it to keep the peace unless I absolutely hated it, and if so would get DH to say something to my ILs (along the lines of how much DD was looking forward to shopping for it). Luckily my ILs never buy clothes for the DC, although my SIL does pass a lot on to us - I only take a tiny percentage of it though, as most of it is hideous not to my taste.

I also find it really sad that grandparents don't want to or can't be bothered to get presents - mine do the same linzer. It's more difficult to shop for stuff here though and my 2 would love some things that are aren't available here. They like getting a couple of annuals (ds likes the Beano and Bash Street Kids ones) but I suppose I can try and get them mayself on amazon, sigh.

Happy Nikolaustag to everyone, 5more hope your dd is pleased when she doesn't get put in the sack! My ds was sitting cracking nuts at the breakfast table from his Stiefel/Socke thing!

When all goes well we will have a Hexenhaus this afternoon and I'll post a picture. I've had disaster Hexenhäuse in the past and for a few years refused to do one but now dd is so good at that sort of thing (better than me) so I just sort of have to supervise and be the kitchen maid and do the washing up afterwards!

We had a bit of a stressful start to the day here. The DC were quarrelling over what was in their Nikolosackerl, and DH got very angry about how ungrateful they were and stormed out. I told him that they just get given too much for them to appreciate it (trying to avoid an "I told you so" tone) but I feel like I'm a stuck record and DH switches off as soon as I start complaining about how much stuff they have. I bet they get more Nikolosackerl from my ILs on Thursday too.

In his infinite wisdom, DH decided to use jute bags with the name of his company emblazoned on them as the DC's Nikolosackerl. DD2 said to me afterwards, "Is Papa the Nikolo, because the bags had XY on them?" Luckily DS decided that the Nikolo must have bought them in a shop somewhere!

I've realised that I should probably start thinking about a Christmas present for DH. We often don't give each other very much in the way of presents but as I've been dropping heavy hints about an iPhone, I'm not sure I can get away with not giving him anything this year (we do sometimes agree not to give each other presents).

Look forward to seeing some pictures of the Hexenhaus later, admylin. But no pressure.

Have just realised we x-posted yesterday, Later. We opened a small bottle of Sekt when DH got the job but I think that's as far as our celebrations will go. Grandparents expecting parents to buy presents for the GC is just something my ILs do, I think, but foisting sweets onto children at every opportunity does seem to be an Austrian thing!

Sorry to hear you're still having problems with the bfing; you've definitely had more than your fair share. Hope you're feeling better soon.

We've been there Linzer, the constant comparing to make sure one isn't getting more or better stuff than the other. It's over now as they're older and have different tastes. What were they quarelling about?

Dd needs the hockey club top and skirt soon if she wants to play in a proper match. The skirt costs 35? and the top 29?, only available from one shop in town. Is it me or is that ridiculous for a t-shirt? She's still in dc sizes and they apparently get a number and the team name printed on it for you. The skirt is infact one of those skorts and I could get a real hockey skort for about 14 to 16 pounds in UK - but dd said no it has to be exactly the same as everyone else or she won't wear it to a match.

I think it was mainly to do with the fact that DH reused some small "proper" Nikolosackerl from last year (to put in their shoes) but had got the names on the bottom mixed up - so DD1 snatched DS's bag off him and it all went downhill from there, with DS claiming that the things in the bag belonged to him and vice versa.

We've got the Christmas tree up now and I'm a little worried about the second English lesson this afternoon as I can just see one of the two boys (the third isn't coming today) pushing it over, trying to take things off it, etc. Even DS is worried that they're going to do something to it. I'll have to declare it strictly out of bounds.

It's also quite tricky explaining British Christmas traditions to younger children as I have to be careful not to tell them things like "The whole family puts the tree up together a few weeks before Christmas." However, I'm not about to start telling them that the British Christkind visits early (I've had to do so sometimes when we've had children asking why our tree is already up - but refuse to do so in the English lessons; I'll just have to skirt round the issue!).

?29 is ridiculous for a T-shirt, but T-shirts in sports shops here generally seem to cost upwards of ?30 (for adults - not sure about children's prices). The skirt is hardly cheap either, but spending 14 to 16 pounds would probably be a waste of money if your DD to refuses to wear it and then you'd end up spending twice as much as you needed to!

another household with a stressful morning due to st nikolo. DDs quarelling made DH say they could not have the contents of their sackerln until this afternoon. Then he left for work, leaving me to deal with two very grumpy DDs.

Been really busy with little time to even read the thread. Trying to do some yoga stretches every evening to stop my back from getting sore, and then have no time to go on mumsnet. DS is ill today (flu again) so have had a chance to catch up. Sorry to let the Austrian side down Linzer! now I know why I could not find any mince pies in M and S in Bratislava 10 days ago ;-). Where is it you live? I shall have to raid your cellar! I am off work between the 24th Dec and 9th Jan, but suspect you will be in UK? Congratulations to DH too!

Hexenhaus sounds very ambitious. We cut out biscuits shapes from shop-bought Teig (shhhh, don't tell anyone), but I managed to leave them in the oven too long and they are hard as stone. It does sound like a lot of money for the kit, admysteltoe. Is dd really serious about it? I also never got into sport in such a big way, on the other hand, good that she has found something she enjoys?

later - sorry to hear your troubles with bf. But you have really tried and tried. I gave up with dc2 due to thrush (sounds like what you have, but I did not persevere as long as you did) and then managed to bf dc3 with no problems, or only minor problems which resolved quickly. Staying under the blanket with tea and baby sounds lovely. In fact I shall do that in a minute, though "baby" is 4 years old, he is still cuddly....

hupa- hope you get snow. I would like some too! it's so grey, grey and more grey here...

5more - what did you do about the dress? shame if dd wanted to choose a dress and does not get the chance.

My MIL just sends our dc money or sweets (Linzer, we should call a formal meeting to form that anti sweet verein of ours - the first victim will be the pharmacist on the corner who gave the dcs sweets even though I said no thanks, it is too early for sweets,-- was 8am in th summer holidays).

silken - I found the bags in Zielpunkt (Aldi for you). What you making, what you making?

Oh dear another Nikolaus bad start to the day! Hope the dds enjoy when they get back platanos.

I think it depends where you are but in Berlin the primary school teachers used to hand out sweets as rewards which I was quite surprised about. In south Germany they were very strict about sweets and things like nutella and cake were banned from kindergarten breakfast!

I've just finished wrapping the presents and writing cards for my parents so just need to get a box and go to the post office. I did debate sending them a bottle direct from a UK website and telling them to wrap it themselves as we have to for the dc from them but couldn't bring myself to do it.

platanos - lovely to see you again! I've missed having someone to moan to about the Austrian obsession with handing out sweets. Sorry about the mince pies; there were very few boxes left when we were there, and I think we must have bought about half the remaining ones. I wish I could send you a box, but I don't think they'd survive the post.

We'll be back from the UK on 31st December, so how about an inaugural meeting for our Verein in the first week of January? Maybe we can persuade coco to join us - I'm not sure whether she's still reading the thread, but I'll e-mail her as I know she's in Austria over Christmas. I shall PM you with my proposed statutes.

That's very organised of you, admylin. I hate shopping here and have bought a few presents for my parents at M&S, but that's about it. DH has put himself in charge of buying the DC's presents and always buys all the presents for his family (thank goodness), so I just need to think of a present for him now. I did wonder about a digital Internet radio, but then realised it would probably be for me rather than him. Mind you, that didn't stop me giving him the sat nav last year.

Morning all.

Sorry to hear Nikolaustag has caused so many quarrels & angry DHs this morning!

It's a little sad that GPs don't want to buy presents for their GCs - could it be that they just don't know what to buy & sweets are the easy option? I had no idea it was such a common problem as a few people have mentioned it.
FIL is always banging on about how DN has too many toys & how she can't possibly play with them all & how he was quite happy with a piece of wood and an old tin can when he was small. (Well, something along those lines, I tend to switch off now).They don't buy toys or sweets or anything as presents, but MIL always knits something nice - DS and I both have a few lovely jumpers from her. MIL has always been slim, eats healthily & doesn't have a sweet tooth at all so gets quite offended by 'gluttony' (her definition of a glutton is anyone who doesn't stop after 2 small pieces of chocolate).
Unfortunately I have the appetite of an entire kindergarten when it comes to sweets & crisps so I really have to watch myself around them!

Admylin That does sound expensive! Do you think the hockey will be a long-term thing for DD?

Linzer I can never quite get my head around which decorations etc are for Advent, which are for Christmas, what the Christkind does, what the Weihnachtsmann does etc. I expressed surprise that so many homes have their Christmas decorations up already & DH explained that they aren't Christmas decorations, they are decorations for Adventszeit I'm really going to have to learn this, aren't I?

Platanos Hope your fluey DC is feeling better soon. Cuddles under a blanket are definitely the way to go!

DS had two bottle feeds yesterday & I plan on upping it to three tomorrow. I'm a bit sore & lumpy but not too bad at all. I really feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders! He's been a bit sicky this morning so is having a cuddly snooze on my chest right now - everything else can wait :)

Morning all!!Happy Nikolaustag! Sounds like its been a stressful day so far in some households! My dc got nothing in their boots this morning (bad mother emotion!) - we're going to the Nikolausfeier in the village later and Nikolaus will be there and give them a lot of chocolate and I didnt want to add to it. And my IL's are coming tomorrow and they'll add to it by giving the dc their own weight in chocolate/sweets. So dont feel too bad that their shoes were empty.

admylin - good on you for getting organised for christmas. I still havent re-written the cards that were the wrong shape - must add that to my list of jobs!I think those prices for a tshirt and skirt seem really expensive but if she needs them then I guess you'll have to pay. But i'd be paying them grudgingly. I've also bought a hexenhaus to build - and have also had a disaster one year trying to make it. Wonder whether to brave it today. Cant wait to see your photo.

platanos - hope your ds is better soon. Enjoy the cuddles. My 5 year old is also still super cuddly but really worry its not going to last much longer - my 7 year old is definitely more limited as to how many cuddles he'll give out.

Linzer - I dont understand what happens in Germany with Christmas trees - my IL's tell me that people dont put them up until Christmas eve but everywhere is selling them at the moment and people are buying them - do they just store them until the time?? Think I might try to persuade dh to get one this weekend as he likes to dry it out for a few days first and that eats into the time the tree is up for. Congratulations to your dh about getting the job - the sekt seems well deserved.

later - sorry the BF didnt work out but it seems to have been causing you so much stress - you did amazingly to stick at it for so long with all the problems you've had. You can now just concentrate on enjoying him as I think sometimes when BF is hard it can detract from how gorgeous and snuggly they are as newborns. And he is so cuddly in those photos.

5more - I think they'd be daft to buy a dress so far in advance - dc that age can grow really fast. And there are so many beautiful bridesmaids dresses - you dont want her wearing a horrible one.

hupa - think you sent your snow in my direction. There was a proper blizzard for about an hour last night as I was going to bed but its nearly all gone this morning. I'm happy with that because I was looking forward to a catch up and would have been annoyed if the school bus hadnt come.

Had a fab weekend with my visitors - they are such good friends and hilarious and I was proper homesick after they left yesterday. Think I just need to make plans to see them again to cure it. Had a nice time at the Christmas Market on sunday - I'm being a bit slow to feel christmassy this year but that definitely helped. Or maybe it was the gluhwein!!

The cup saga continues - she wouldnt let us buy it from her after the auction finished so relisted it. It finishes today and there are no other bids (fingers crossed) so hopefully we'll get it and the saga will be finished. Glad it inspired others to get their wedding crockery though.

was bound to be x posting since i wrote such a massive post!

later - glad he's happy with the bottle. and relieved its not only me who's confused with the german traditions.

linzer - we just bought an internet radio for the kitchen - its great for listening to radio 2 (and 4!). its got a place for my ipod too so I'm well impressed. Will try to send you the link.

Very organised, Admylin! We haven't even bought Christmas cards yet, but DH is off to the supermarket tonight so I'll get him to pick some up.

this one