Der Weihnachtsmarkt: Glühwein und Waffeln und Lebkuchen

[finknottle]

Hope I typed that right, have lead in my boots this morning. Had a great weekend with lots of Glühwein and Weinschorlen and Nikoläuser.
Didn't get back from a Christmas party till 8 last night and too late to make the Kranz. I usually start decorating on Dec 1st so will do that with d after school and then light a candle tonight.
We're in the UK as well for C'mas but I still do decorations, put the tree baubles in glass vases so even they get an outing.
I love white fairy lights, put some all over the place and in the evenings leave the lamps off and light downstairs with fairy lights alone.

The tree lighting on Saturday was great fun, friends of ours were there and their 13 yr old d took mine to the fire & waited 15 mins in the crowds for Nikolaus while I was plied with Glühwein.
Think my ideal Christmas is Advent here and C'mas day in the UK, then back here for Sylvester. So this year should be good.
Mind you when we're here we have roast beef on the 25th, or goose. Think if I served Truthahn, h would clobber me with it.

Taipo have mailed you.
Have only one school meeting this week but a stack of reports to write. It is very good for my rusty brain but v hard work getting into. Feel rather fragile this morning, housework beckons and all I want is a bucket of tea and an aspirin

Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely day yesterday. My Christmas dinner was great so thanks for the tips! We had a nice meal with the neighbours and they were very brave and tried everything even roast parsnips and the carrot and turnip which they didn't know.

They all had a mince pie afterwards but weren't so impressed! The cheese board was great too and we sat 'til midnight drinking and talking. H behaved himself if I excuse the complaints that the Christmas dinner was not Indian style. He did say he prefers his British wife to her British food so I guess I have to take that as my compliment.

Lovely sunny day today so have to try and get my dc up and dressed and go for a forest walk. H is back in his lab!

Christmas greetings von der Insel
Am playing with my new laptop and using the neighbours' wireless network, will bring them a bottle of Sekt as a thank you.
My mum asks "Is it too early for Sekt?" earlier each day?

H is always a bit arsey here but is v pleased with his saxophone and is at least making an effort after we had words on C'mas Eve. The sax is LOUD though so we've banished him to the shed where he toots happily.

Children up at 5.37am yesterday - I went to bed at 3 so was thrilled. Excitement and noise levels high and their cousins arrive tomorrow, levels will then be stratospheric.

Yes, it's lovely here but the tea and coffee taste foul as the water is so heavily chlorinated, our water in Germany is much purer. Imagine not being able to get a decent cup of tea in England!

Glad you're having a good time back home finks. We always notice the chlorinated water too and end up buying bottled then my dad always says what a waste of money so we hide it or go thirsty! One of the few things I look forward to on coming back to Germany is haveing a good thirst quenching drink with no maoning!

There are electronic security barriers in most big shops & supermarkets - I set them off every time going IN and have to warn the guards. It's the magnetic clip on my handbag
And cameras everywhere.

LOL Fink, you were so looking forward to your holiday and now you're homesick for Deutschland. That sounds familiar. I can often be found in my parent's kitchen muttering, "FGS, don't they recycle anything here?"

My Irish friend always says that somewhere in the world it is late enough for alcohol.

I am glad that your meal went well Admylin, despite the rather backhanded compliment from your dh.

We went sledging today about 35km from home. The DC were very excited and had a great time.

Our neighbours surprised us when we came home, they appeared with a bottle of champagne and some foie gras. I gave the foie gras a wide berth and stuck to the champagne.

Not homesick. Trying (inadequately) not to depress admylin!
I do find it quite cheering that I can think of positive aspects to life in D while I'm here relishing so much. For years I had expat goggles with very thick lenses.

Relishing: reading 3 newspapers a day. Real papers, not online.
Customer service: asking without half-expecting a barked retort. General level of courtesy much higher, makes dealing with people much more pleasant.
The countryside, ah, the views.
The lanes. I love English lanes.
I'll shut up now.

Did I mention newspapers?

Can't beat the countryside and the newspapers and the general politeness around. I was trying to explain the difference to the neighbour the other day but had to be careful as she is German so didn't want to offend but she has never been to UK to doesn't see what I meant!

Finknottle, what do your dc say when they are in UK? Do they ever say it's better in Germany? When we go home they both want to stay for ever. I don't think it's because of the holiday atmosphere either because when we go everyone (my family that is) just gets on with their normal lives as they are so busy, even my retired parents have their things to do so we don't get treated with sight seeing and day trips more than usual ifswim.

Hello all. Glad to hear you are all having a nice Xmas.

Fink - am about the newspapers - one of my bigest "I miss" things about UK. However, munching through my supply of cadburys and MrKipling Bakewells so not feeling the pain too bad!

We had a pretty miserable Xmas in the Gabster household, courtesy of the incredible puking baby, namely DS. Poor luv. And of course now he now has another tooth coming through too, so won't touch his milk . What with teething, then his dodgy tummy last week, and now this am going to have to go to the KA next week to get him weighed - am getting a bit worried. Oh well.

On the positive side - have polished of all but the unwanted ones in the tin of roses, dog is asleep at my feet, have given notice on the rental house(!!) and still have another week and a half with DH at home. Oh, and officially had a white Xmas here - it snowed in the evening.

Poor Gabster's puking baby.

Papers: went today to buy 2 more, parents have Sunday Times and I wanted The Observer and the Independent On Sunday. Took them to the pub

?Wtf? IoS front page is a picture from Gaza, underneath is ONE banner:
"When mothers fall out: the vicious foul-mouthed row embroiling the internet sensation Mumsnet"

page 6 "Brown vows new alliance with Obama"
page 7 "It's nappies at dawn on Mumsnet"
What?

What were you doing up so early finknottle?!

I'm being a good wife and got up early in sympathy with h going to work. I saw that article too in The Independant. Goes to show what a bunch of women behave like sometimes, surely someone could use it for behavioural research...all the flouncing and bitching. What could it mean...myabe that's why men rule the world.

Dd got some money for Christmas and it's burning a hole in her pocket so we have to go to the shopping centre today. Sat last night reading about all the schools I could send her to apart from Gymnasium. See it doesn't even leave me any peace in the holidays.

Do your dc not fancy school in UK? Mine do even though they don't like the idea of uniforms. I think I would cry the first time I saw mine in their school uniform - of pride and relief too.

Ahhhh, Ad, can almost picture your DCs in their uniforms. Sweetness.

Its a pretty sorry state of affairs when a MN squabble makes it to the front page of a broadsheet. Have to investigate!

Things looking much better here. DS is MUCH better (phew) and had his first decent full meal today - although he is still a bit grotty with his new tooth.

Hoping to get out on my own this afternoon - thought I would see what bargains are to be had in the local town instead of going into Munich. I have a hankering for a new handbag!

Good to hear your DS is recovering, Gabster. Did you get a handbag?

I am a handbag addict. Can't stop buying them.

I have had a look at the moldie threads but am keeping out of it. I can understand that some regular posters felt a bit left out and upset but it all got a bit heated. Absolutely ridiculous that it was in the papers. I even told DH about it. His comment: the journalist must be a MNetter, noone else would give a stuff.

We have the PILs visiting so I will be hiding in cupboards MNetting on my iPhone for the next 5 days.

Glad to hear you're recovering in TheGabster household. What a time to get that - I bet you have one of the few families who didn't put weight on over the Christmas holidays.

I'm not much of a handbag or shoe person, I think our years of poverty as a student family somehow forced me to not surrender to such inclinations. I've read about students having big debts and entering working life with huge loans to pay off but that it takes so long to recover is a different story. Of course it doesn't help when you have a oops-I-forgot-to-ask-about-pay type of h like mine.

Mmelindt, that iphone sounds great. I can imagine loads of places where I could be online if I had one! Do you have some sort of flat rate for internet with the phone contract?

I'm the one who's up early today!

I spotted the article about mumsnet on the plane back from Germany on Sunday. I almost got up to ask the woman a few rows in front of me if I could borrow her paper.
I dislike mobiles but I fancy an iPhone.

So what did you stock up on Gacelo? We're running out of branston over here but my mum is coming in January so we're saved!

My brother is coming to Scotland in spring/summer. I can send supplies back to Hanover with him. I let you know once I know when he is coming.
I didn't buy much, Milka mostly. I don't miss many things, maybe because I'vebeen away from Germany for so long now. I ate a lot of rye bread while I was there and had some Chio chips (ungarisch). I would have loved to take some of my mother's Christmas biscuits and Stollen (she is a fantastic baker) but there was absolutely no space in our luggage. Too many Christmas presents to pack. I need bigger suitcases.

Nope - didnt acquire handbag in the end.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a designer freak or anything - just fancied something to cheer myself up but we watched the news about all the unemployment and I started worrying about how we are going to manage when we move back and just could not bring myself to part with any money after that.

LOL at ML hiding in cupboards to feed MN addiction.

Gravelo .... mmmmmmm .... ryyyye breeeeeead.

Ad - I was up feeding DS at 6am but managed to convinced him to go back to sleep for 20m. Don't know how you can face MN at that time in the morning!!

TheGabster, I've been thinking the same as you - my biggest wish for 2009 would be to move back to UK but it doesn't sound as if it's the best time to be going back. Looks like we'll have even less chance of getting jobs there now although depends, do you think it'll be all areas or more retail and finance where jobs go?

I keep looking at articles about surviving the great depression and asking old people how they fed their families when they were poverty stricken!

Yup Ad, I do think it will be retail and Finance first, plus small businesses I suppose. DH seems quitely confident that he will be OK as he is in quite a specialised area of Engineering and his experience, blah blah blah. I was hoping to get myself a small job in a local shop for a while so I suppose that is probably out of the window now. Bum.

At least we will get a good rate of exchange for our Euros when we get his pay off!

My sister has a fairly big house and has said we have have the spare rooms so its not like we will be destitute either (I hope).

Right, going to bad as have had nightmare with DS tonight - starting putting him to bed at 6.45 - he has been asleep 15m!! Stupid Bloody teeth!

Ahhh, poor ds - it's such a lovely age though, you can give him plenty of hugs. Make the most of it, when they get older you might not be allowed to touch like with my ds! Not cool mum or mum you're being ridiculous is all I get nowadays when I tell him how cute and cuddly he was when he was little.

That's good that your sister is willing to help, might be good to take your time at first and look around before you decide where to live. We had 1 day to find our place and it's just a few streets away from where I would really have liked - if I'd have had more time I would have got it just right.

So what are you all doing tomorrow night apart from watching fireworks? We're going up to the neighbour, she has a raclette - whatever that may be - and bah humbug might or might not join us!

ooooh - recalette - that's a good idea. Have you really not had one before?

Its like a fondue only instead of a pot of cheese you have this big grill machine and you put potatoes and pickes and special cheese under it to warm/melt and lots of bits and pieces. Its a really relaxed, leisurely, social way to eat. And the plus is of course there's lots of cheese!

Even your DH can't say its too Christmassy (although I think it is v. traditional for the Germans on Xmas eve).

good morning fellow germans. back from UK. Did everyone have a good Christmas? Stocked up on soooo many tea bags, that together with all the boys' presents, had no room for owt else in car

mmmm raclette.

Do they do New Years Eve fireworks here? Not sure if we'll be doing anything.

Hope everyone's well. Anyone able to give a brief catch up? Gab - moving date & update? Ad - settling in?

Anything else?

Welcome back Ernest, I was thinking about all the long lost German mumsnetters yesterday. ZZZen hasn't been on either and taipo, quietone and hupa. Glad you had a nice time - did you really only bring tea bags? Come on tell us what other goodies you brought back? What did the boys say about being in UK? You were wondering about moving back in near future, did they give their opinions?

Looking forward to raclette now! Never had it before, suppose because you need the special machine/grill thing to do it. Only ever had fondue but not with cheese, it had some sort of stock and everyone put bits of meat in and then fished them out and I didn't like it.

Just got back from the shops, it wasn't too bad - either everyone bought so much at Christmas or they'll be storming the shops later. Yesterday in town it was so busy, people looking for bargains and spending Christmas money. Very cold in Hannover today, I am not going outside again - now I'm glad we didn't get a dog.

Hi everyone - glad you´ve all had an enjoyable Christmas. We had a really relaxing time which was great.

admylin raclette is really great - we had it at Christmas. It´s just as TheGabster explained. You have these little trays to put the food in and then put them under the grill. One word of warning. The trays aren´t that big so you think you´re not eating that much, but after you´ve refilled them a few times you realise you´re completely stuffed and can´t sleep for hours (at least that´s what happened to us at Christmas).

We´re having fondue tonight (yes we love Cheese). Dh has bought a ridiculous amount of fireworks and we´re heading to the neighbours before midnight to set them all off.

Hope you all have a great time.