Cyber Glühwein und Lebkuchen - the German and Austrian advent thread

[admylin]

A thread for anyone living in Germany or Austria, or anyone else who fancies a chat.

Happy first Advent to everyone!

Previous thread: here

Nutella Wow, three weeks late - would they even let you go that overdue nowadays? He certainly didn't need that extra time to put some weight on.

nutella I'm useless at guessing but I'll say 3,348kg!

Linzer ooh gardening stuff you say? My dad likes gardening but I have no clue about it so what sort of thing could you give that's related to gardening? Ds says to get a cd but I have no idea what he would like.

grinch well done on getting out to the gym! Do you know some people there to have a chat to? Although, I know what you mean about the langauge, there's a big difference in having a chat in German and having a real natter in English isn't there.

antique hope the rest of the move goes smoothly and not too many more tears. I have had tears every move so far too. Alot of the crying was frustration because I'm (and dh) useless at handy man jobs and it costs a fortune to get people in to do it for us.

ploom never heard of that game. Looks good though. Dd wants Monopoly, bit expensive for a game but I suppose that's teh price. Don't think she'll be getting it tbh, dh's employers aren't giving in and paying him Christmas bonus money after all even though he's told them how disgusting it is to be treated that way, they just shrug it off. It would have meant a slightly more relaxed Christmas for us and a pressie or two more for the dc but they'll survive and they haven't got a huge wish list or anything.

Just a quickie as ds1 has a friend here.

advent - I bought monopoly from amazon UK - even with delivery it was much cheaper than amazon de (and had the right streets etc).

Oh nutella - a prize you say? And more information? Might have to change my guess since you all seem to have been fairly large babies. How tall are you and DP?

Thanks hupa & linzer about wer wars - think I might buy it between the 3 of them.

Aaaaaaargh, wrote a huge post namechecking you all, and lost it. Bugger it.

3333g for my Nutellachen guess. DS looked on the small side in scans but he came out a perfectly lovely weight and size. You don't want them coming out too big anyway - ouchy!!!

I want to up my Nutellachen guess to 4100g, based purely on the fqact my first born was just a 1 oz lighter than my birth weight, therefore *Nutella's will obviously be too :o My mother made it competitive by telling my sisters "Grinch's baby was a reasonable size, but lighter than she was of course" when asked the birth weight :o (She could have more reasonably pointed out that I had an emergency section, where she had forceps, but she chose to focus on the extra oz!)

I tried to order Junior Monopoly for Christmas from the UK, but the Amazon marketplace seller I was trying to buy it "as new" still packed but with a lightly dented box from wouldn't ship to Germany, and having thought I was going to buy it for a relatively reasonable price I was then loathe to spend an extra 15 pounds or so to get it actually new direct from Amazon. We have the grown up version but if DS1 is going to be able to play I wanted the junior version, mainly as the money is in easy denominations (I think just 1 pound, 5 pound and 10 pounds) - even DD would still need help with the money on the adult version. There is also a party version that apparently only uses 1 pound denominations, but is not really Monopoly as its not about buying property, but about collecting things to hold a party, as I understand it - its much cheaper though.

My parents are both impossible to buy for, given they are better off than us and just buy themselves anything they fancy they don't make it easy! They have hobbies but they are expensive ones, and anything they'd actually be hankering after but not just buying on a whim would be well out of my price range. My dad just had a birthday and only got chocolates in the end as I was just utterly uninspired and had left it to the last minute - at least he received them and the card on time! -

DS1 had a "new" friend here today, new as in he's never been here before, though they've known each other for at least 2 years! The little boy rang the other day (himself) and didn't leave a message as our answerphone message is in English! His mum stopped me in the supermarket to say it had taken him ages to work himself up to making the call himself and then he had had a tantrum because he doesn't speak English so can't leave a message on an English answermachine! :o He phoned again today though and luckily DS1 answered himself. Problem is he lives in a different village, and DS1 shoots himself in the foot with friends a lot because he refuses to go to their houses unless he knows he could walk home if he needed to :o Obviously he knows I will fetch him but he is insistent on this, and at the moment it means he only plays at 2 friends houses, and one of them is a bit of a wild child and its a bit of a turbulent friendship (though his mum is lovely, its a nice family so not a worry him being there) and the other is our neighbour's son who is really rude and demanding... hmmm DS1 has nice friends but they live in the village where KiGa is so the friendships can't develop much beyond KiGa because of his self imposed play-date rule, and most mums find it odd if we always have their kids here and DS1 won't go to theirs! Argh!

Am being nagged about putting Nikolaus boots out, need to go and find DH's big winter boots (and one of mine for DS2!) Waves at everyone!

grinch - so did you not buy junior monopoly in the end? Because randomly I've got a completely unused one in the Kellar - we got it twice one year for Christmas! I'd be happy to post it to you.

I hate monopoly!! I always loose! And not even by a little bit! I blame my younger brother, he used to grab the money and run off around the house :) we never got close to finishing a game.

Good evening you busy ladies

the one day I dont have time to post during the day it's been sooo busy on here there is no chance for me to keep up with everything.

we had quite a successful morning; ds2' pre school surprised us by being open to the idea of us bringing in an Integrationshelfer - they still say they cant see ANYTHING with ds2 pointing to ASD, but then if you dont spend time with the children I guess you wouldnt (sorry, me being cynical). AFternoon was lovely too as it was the Weihnachtsfeier at ds1 pre school. they had rehearsed a little play (Schneewittchen) and ds1 even had a role where he had to say 2 sentences. us, and his teachers there, were incredibly proud of him.

now we have 3 excited little boys in bed. although ds1 just came out of his room asking if it was morning yet.

cheas let me know what that marble run is like once you have had a little play with it!

nutella I will have a little think about Nutellachen's weight. are you writing everything down?

Ds1 playes Monopoly Junior at pre school and I quite fancy it too. for Nikolaus the boys are getting an Uno set.

we are finally started to seriously think about Christmas presents (about time). dh really wants to get a Carrera Bahn for ds2 like this one or that one.

Do any of you have experience with carrera bahnen? I remember my elder brother had one and we did play with it a lot, but I remember him being much older than ds2 is now.

nutella I noticed you have three brothers and no sisters?! I am the same, although I am the second born not third. another brother died as a little baby, so really it would have been me and 4 brothers! I guess it's a good thing I ended up having three boys, as I probably wouldnt have known what to do with a little girl. No of course we would have been delighted with a little girly too

right dh is calling me over so that we can go over our amazon list...

Ploom I have messaged you :)

Outnumbered we have a Carrerra Bahn for DS1 for Christmas (his request as a neighbour boy has it... actually that's one more whose house he plays at very occasionally so he doesn't do so badly) The neighbour boy is almost 5 and DS1 is 5, but I haven't actually seen them play with it as ours is in its box and I wasn't there when they played at the neighbour's - all I heard was that it's brilliant, DS1 wants one, and M has 3 thousand different cars - very spoilt only child who has absolutely everything! I think they are suitable from age 5 officially, I'd lay bets the neighbour boy never plays with it alone - his parents are very intense in their parenting!

The DC's boots don't look as full as they have in previous years, serves me right for starting the tradition of using DH's boots rather than their own! They have chocolate, a relatively large gingerbread rocking horse each, a cheap story CD in German (as Nikolaus is German...) and bath crayons each... its not really that generous but then they get stockings too so I don't really put proper presents in the boots. In previous years I have had a large but cheap item to take up lots of space, but I miscalculated with the CDs and crayons visually I think, though the older 2 have been going on about bath crayons every bath for months so they should be disproportionately appreciated ... at least I hope they aren't disappointed!

Happy Nikolaus to all the DC!

grinch thank you so much, that is really useful info. ds2 just turned 4, but will probably not really play with it by himself anyway as his play in general is very delayed. he'd quite happily sit in an empty room and talk to himself...but dh will be more than happy to introduce him to the world of boys toys

overall we are being less genrous wrt to Nikolaus and Christmas this year, simply because there is still no sign of a new job for dh . luckily pil will be conbtributing to our christmas presents, so they wont be getting loads but still at least once decent present each.

advent it's quite scary paying that much rent when job security just isnt there isnt it. as I said, we pay 1200 kalt, and we only have dh' salary until the end of January. At the moment I am trying to do an ostrich, but it really is scary as unemployment benefits just wont cover the expenses.

antique was it you putting that picture of a mooing cow with its bum in the air in my head? sorry had so many posts to go through, I am not doing a great job at successfully (or correctly) nametagging. anyway, you wrote it in a way where the picture so clearly appeared in front of my eyes, I actually laughed out loud!

Happy Nikolaus day everyone! 2 big 'boots' packed with satsumas, peanuts, walnuts, chocolate money, chocolate santa, marzipan Kartoffeln and a book each!

outnumbered we'll be having a toned down Christmas too as far as presents go but the same as you, my parents send quite alot of money for the dc to get themselves what they want and I know they're getting a 30 pound amazon voucher for amazon.co.uk from my aunt and uncle which is great as they can get some books that they've been waiting for. More cash from their aunty too so I'm not worried if they just get a token gift and some sweets from us. Were the boys pleased with their Stiefel this morning?

Grinch your Nikolaus Stiefel collection sounds great. I know some dc get lots of stuff for Nikolaus though. Do you think your older too will be comparing what everyone got at school/Kindi? Ds told me last Nikolaus that so and so got a new TV and ten psp games or something extortionate like that! What on earth do they get at Christmas then? I wonder!

Actually, nutella I also hate Monopoly! It goes on for too long and I also never manage to get a hotel! Still, I might try and get that UK one as it really does work out cheaper so thanks alot for that tip ploom (and the street names are right)!

I'm STILL racking my brain for a present for my dad. In the end I think I will give in and get a botle and just take the pain when I go to post it.

Morning! Hope all the dc were happy with their Nikolaus goodies. Ours just had a small bag with their favourite sweets & chocolate in & 5€ from my IL's. I agree advent about how crazy it is to see some dc getting huge presents - I dont know whether its instead of Christmas or as well as. Hope the former!
I always check the prices in amazon uk before I buy anything - the difference can be huge. And maybe if you got British monopoly it would force your dd to speak English.

outnumbered - I've not tried either of those Carrerabahns but dh bought one from Aldi or Lidl a few years ago and its still a huge hit with the boys (as well as dh!).

I'm trying to work out what time I should leave to go shopping so as to time it right for my GP appt at 10.20 - dont want to come back home in between. Its also really cold & snowy outside so I think I'm trying to put off going out.

outnumbered ds had a Carrera Bahn when we lived in Berlin, the dc shared a small room so he had it set up in the living room and every now and then we'd take it to bits and put it away so they had room to play lego. The flat was abit small for alot of toys!

When we first moved to Hanover he had a big room to himself so it was set up there all the time. He only ever played with it for a short time, say half an hour as he would get mad at the cars jumping off the tracks. In the end we gave it away to the neighbour for her grand-dd to play with. Ds has always been a book worm though and apart from building lego and bionicle he never really played much with anything.

ploom speaking of checking prices in the UK, dd is into Lush products at the moment and has asked for some items for Christmas. She checked yesterday (with currency converter) and in the UK they would cost 18? and here 32? for exactly the same stuff. I wonder why that is.

Happy Nikolaus! We've been quite restrained here and the DC are just getting a small Sackerl (don't laugh - I don't know what you call it in Germany ) filled with nuts, a satsuma, a chocolate Nikolo and a small present each. They'll get more at school - at least at primary; I'm not sure about DD1 - and will no doubt be getting another Nikolosackerl from my PIL at the weekend, so I don't think we need to go overboard.

advent I was going to get some gardening-related presents for my Dad from dotcomgiftshop, but have just had another look and can't really find much that I like after all. However, I've remembered that I have bought him a few bits and pieces from M&S - a gardener's hand care set, an insect hotel and a bird feed jar when they were on 3 for 2 a couple of weeks ago.

outnumbered I felt the same about having DS after two girls (although I did grow up with a brother) - it felt so strange to start with and I kept referring to him as "her"! I must admit I would have been more than happy with three girls, despite what my ILs think, although can't imagine life without DS now.

Ploom I always check prices on Amazon UK too, but even Amazon.de can be far cheaper than the shops here. I can't remember whether I mentioned that I forced DH to return two Advent calendars to the toy shop as they were ?6 cheaper on Amazon. I'd had quite poor service from that particular shop in the past and, while I'm happy to support local shops, I resent having to pay more and get poor service into the bargain!
Hope your appointment goes OK; I really have to force myself to go out again after the school run. I realised on Tuesday evening that I'd barely left the house all day (had just taken DS down to the road to help him cross over, as he'd gone to and from school with a friend); this cold weather makes me very lazy.

My friend ended up having to stay in hospital overnight so I looked after all three of her DC until early evening. Luckily Wednesday is the one day when we rarely have anything on in the afternoon; today would have been a lot trickier logistically, as DD1 is going to the theatre, DD2 to music theory and DS has a friend over (plus I also need to go and pick up the pottery that the DC painted for their grandparents for Christmas).

advent I've found the same with the Body Shop; they're not cheap in the UK (but you can get some good bargains on their website - I used a 50% off code to buy some stuff yesterday) but are absolutely extortionate here. Online, you have to spend more to get free P&P and there are far fewer offers and bargains.

advent we pretty much never made it to building houses let alone hotels. Funny it probably wouldn't even cross my mind to think about buying such a huge gift for my DCs.

chease my PIL sound a little like yours when it comes to price/quality. When they offered us the tumble drier (which is awesome) they had popped into the miele showroom and looked at the most expensive ones possible. DP picked the one that came top in terms of reviews, it's an AEG and awesome :)
DP and I joke that if we have a girl we will be waiting for the day that Opa buys her a pony - because Opa will be mush in the hands of a granddaughter and a pony is definitely the last thing we would need/want!

ploom I'm about 5'8" and DP is 6'/6'2". Any other information you require?? :o We are both unlikely to ever pass as "slight" or "slim"... good luck with the shopping! I move so slowly I'm often not dressed before 10:20 - but then the joy of pregnancy insomnia is only bearable if I can go back to bed and sleep in :)

outnumbered Yup, the only girl! I completely understand what you mean about not being sure what to do with a girl, although at some point in the future I hope to have at least one of each - DP has two older brothers and arrived ten years after them... I've told him he was supposed to be a girl !

Yes I have noted down everyones guess, grinch your change has also been noted. I will give you all until... ummm midnight tonight? and then post the list of guesses tomorrow. :)

I also know quite a few children who get really expensive presents for Nikolaus. also for Easter (my dnephew got a 100 Euro Puky Laufrad for Easter this year, whereas ours got some colouring pens, colouring book, and ds1 got some new shoes which he loved and also needed). For Nikolaus ours got a present about 5Euro worth, and of course some chocolates. And they were so excited, especially ds1 who got an Uno game, and according to him it's his favourite game EVER and how dod Nikolaus know that etc
ds3 insisted on wearing his far too small Santa outfit (9-12 months!!) to kiga today.

linzer I'd be lying if me and dh, when pregnant with ds2 and ds3, hadnt thought 'Oh wouldne it be nice if we also had a little girl...'. but as soon as we found out the sex, it was absolutely fine, and I also woullndt send them back to get them exchanged it was/is MIL who was the most disappointed. she is still waiting for a granddaughter, but my SIL just had her first child, also a boy, and it took her 10 years to conceive so who knows if there'll be any more for them.

also, wow to you looking after your own 3 a s well as three more children from your friend. I hope she is better soon and that it's nothing serious!

advent dh has now ordered a carrera bahn. I guess if ds2 isnt really interested, than there are still two more boys - plus dh - who might be.

ploom I wont by ANYTHING in a shop before checking the prices on Amazon first. I really do want to support local shops, but then I have to support our bank balance too ds3 is getting a balance bike for Christmas from us and PIL. I checked several local shops, but it was 30 Euros more expensive than on Amazon!! glad to hear carrera bahn is hit in your house. I guess it really just depends on each individual child, let's see what ds2 will think.

nutella you never know, you might end up with all of the same flavour like us and there really are quite a few advantages to that too...like passing clothes and toys down. from what I have found, mums with girls would quite like to have more girls, and mums with boys would like to also have a little girl. not sure why that is though?

if we do decide to have another lo in a few years time, I already know everyone will be saying we want to have another go at getting girl. but that really is only partly true. like with the others, we would be thrilled with either. but it would definitely be our last. definetely!

we've had some more snow, just in time for Nikolaus. It's now stopped again, but now we have clear blue sky, which is just as nice.

far too many smiliey in my posts, sorry!!!

outnumbered "Supporting my bank balance" is definitely a good one to use on my parents, who are very thrifty but at the same time very opposed to Internet shopping if it's something you can get on the high street. I dread to think how much stuff I've had sent there already, waiting for us at Christmas... although they do admit it's handy for people like us who can't physically go shopping in the UK.

My MIL is absolutely convinced that we only had three because we were desperate for a boy. I've even told her that I would actually have preferred three girls (I did like the idea of having three girls before I found out what sex DS was, I must admit), but she just won't listen. There's definitely something in what you say as I have two friends with three boys who were secretly hoping for a girl third time round (one is now considering a fourth, not sure to what extent the fact that they were hoping for a girl influenced this decision) and have two friends with three and four girls respectively, neither of whom has ever said they'd have liked a boy. Oh no, hang on - I've just remembered another friend with three girls who is hoping for a boy next time (but more for her DH than for her).

Yes, having DC of the same sex is definitely easier clothes-wise. I often think it's a shame I can't pass on DD2's clothes to DS and have to go out and buy new clothes for him (although we do get quite a bit handed down), which we'll never be able to reuse. I should really have had another boy to get more wear out of them.

outnumbered Ds has a Carrera Bahn and really enjoys playing with it. Having said that, we tend to leave it built up for a couple of weeks and then pack it away or it just sits there not being used. Your ds will probably need help building it together and it can be a bit frustrating at first keeping the cars on the track, but after he´s got the hang of it, I´m sure he´ll have fun.

advent Could you order your dad´s present from the M&S website? You can choose to have it sent straight to your dad and then the delivery charges would probably not be so high.

I´ve been baking Pläztchen with dd´s class this morning which was good fun. Mind you, one of the mums who was meant to be helping couldn´t come in because she´d been up all night with a stomach bug. She still got up at 5.00am to make a Teig and sent it in. I really wish she hadn´t bothered and hope that the oven temperature was hot enough to kill any bugs. I´m sure we´ll find out in the next couple of days if that´s the case.

hupa hope you're right and the baking killed any bugs. What kind of biscuits did you make?

I've had a look on amazon.de and got a couple of ideas (from Linzer) of what I could add to the bars of chocolate for my dad so I think I might pop over to the garden centre or one of the bigger Baumärkte (maybe cheaper) to see if I can get something there. Wish me luck!

My problem with the UK sites for shopping is that I have to use dh's credit card and although there's no problem with that, I just don't want to use it unless I really have to as at the end of the month it all goes out of the account and it's already strained to the maximum as it is (thanks dh's boss). Also he's not going to their big Weihnachtsfeier in a restaurant on the 12th and when asked why not by colleagues he's saying well he'd be more in the mood for it if he'd got his Christmas bonus! They have to buy their own drinks too so not as if it's free! well the meal is, but it'll be hog roast or something with pork/bacon like last year that most of the Arab, Indian (dh) and veggie Mitarbeiter don't eat.

So if I put together what Linzer and outnumbered say I should either stop at two (if they are the same sex) or go for four (and fingers crossed two of each) :o DP will be pleased.
Ok, we'll figure out how this first one works I suppose and go from there :).

hupa fingers crossed for the Teig! I think I would have the same worries

outnumbered I don't think you can have too many smilies!! :)

And really my only case against all boys (sorry but girls don't have the same problem... often) is those smelly teenage years!!! My older and younger brothers are in total three years apart and they shared a room even as teenagers.... I can't help but wonder if they competed to stay away from showers, clean clothes, changing their sheets and other general personal hygiene! - sorry hope no-one is eating lunch when they read that :)

Can a baby turn breech at 37 weeks? I feel like it's moved over and is now lying with back on my RHS then yesterday I kept feeling the bum poking out of the right side below my ribs, although returning to bum up position when I stand up.... hmmm

Oh and I'm sure it's on the right because it feels like the bean is squashing my liver into my ribs whenever I try and bend down to do anything, or lean forward!

Nutella has anyone guessed 3800g? If not, then that's my guess!

outnumbered I don't suppose I'll get a chance to play with the marble run before Xmas, but you were looking at one for a birthday, weren't you? I will certainly let you know how it goes down with dd.

linzer I've probably said before that I was desperate for dd to be a girl as MIL kept going on about the family only ever producing boys. I'd ever so slightly prefer a boy next time round, but a girl would be great too, since I've kept all dd's outgrown clothes.

advent I don't get the point of massive Nikolaus presents, either. I didn't get anything for dd, as I knew she was getting something at Kiga, plus she's at PIL's this afternoon, so likely to get yet more there and she's got 5 advent calendars, but when we went to put our boots on this morning dd found chocolate santas in each of hers and I found packets of Lindt things in mine, so I guess dh thought it was important!

I made some vanilla kipferl yesterday and they turned out great, so I've decided the recipe for the others was at fault. I'm planning to make some Bergische Zitronen - Rahmplätzchen tomorrow - will cut out heart shapes and then dd can decorate them with some pink sparkly Streusel that I spotted in Tegut yesterday - she is already very excited

I wouldn't normally bake plätzchen, as managing a batch of mince pies is about as much as I can usually fit around all the concerts I have to do in December, but dsis is coming to stay tomorrow to write her master's dissertation and doesn't like mince pies. I may have to find some super simple chocolately plätzchen to make as well, if I can find time...