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

Wow debinaustria, that Krampus is awful. I bet he has loads of little dc in tears. The small ones even scream at Nikolaus though! My dc got chocolate for Nikolaus day and I went in their room to steal abit and they had hidden it - then my neighbour came down with a chocolate santa for me.

Morning. Like the doggy bag, ML

Hamster wheel describes exactly how I feel atm. There is so much I need to get done that I don't know where to start and am more than a little bit tempted to go off somewhere exotic and warm and leave it all behind. Wouldn't really but I do have to bite my lip when dh comes back and goes on about how tiring and stressful his week in California was. Yeah right . Yes, I know he was working but when was the last time I got to go abroad for a week on my own? Or AIBU

Still no snow here.

I've been in the hamseter wheel for too long, I'm so dizzy. But we can all look forward to the end of term can't we? More relaxed days, time to wander over the Weihnachtsmarkt etc. I think we could all do with a week off.

Didn't know anything about Krampus till I read it here. We rarely even see Knecht Ruprecht as Nik's sidekick round here.

Had a lovely if hectic Nik weekend. Did mammoth shifts on the PTA stand at the village Christmas market.
This week we've class parties and open days for sec school at the weekend and what with all the school stuff I'm involved in plus 3 children's activities, I nearly told a German woman that I've so much logistical planning atm I could plan an invasion of another country from the kitchen calender - till I stopped half-way though and thought better of the expression...
People here tend to take what I say at face-value. I sometimes need a sign I can flip up, "I'm joking/being facetious/being ironic"
Invading a small country thing I stole from another MN thread about organising family life, still think it's funny.

Thank heavens for Amazon, had a panic about Christmas shopping and did a whack of it online, ordering stuff from the UK site to go straight to my parents. Sorted MIL out with a stack of healthy herby syrups for her hypochondria from the Weihnachtsmarkt & oils for her rheumatics.

As for bleh housework, I honestly don't know how working mums cope. I have washing piled so high in baskets in the utility room it looks like one of those odd art things which win prizes and prompt mutterings and hand-wringing from the masses.

Did only emergency washes yesterday otherwise d would have had to wear a summer dress to school today, in -1C freezing fog.

Def agree about the friendship thing.
ZZen wrote:
"I always found German people very open and willing to make friends, invite you round, hang about for a chat, meet up, have a laugh, offer advice."
Not my experience AT ALL here and this is a wee village with half/half natives & half zugezogene. Took ages, still isn't anyone here I'd witter on to about personal stuff like I do even on here. Only one I did was my friend who was a foreigner too.

Ernest must be worse for you with the boys at the IS cos you don't have the Krabbelgruppe, Mutter- & Kindturnen (yet with your d) or school stuff. There at least you could find someone anywhere on your wavelength to have a coffee with.
Sending friendly expat vibes from foggy RP.

Maybe Berlin is different because thereare so many Zugezogene from other parts of Germany that they are essentially in the same boat re trying to make friends.Actually I think I offended quite a few people by not responding to overtures of friendship, sort of fobbing people off.

Berliners are not unfriendly either IME. I didn't find I couldn't get on with people, ít's just the Berliner Schnauze I don't like - the screaming and ranting about nothing, pushing and shoving when there is no need for it, being rude and unnecessarily unpleasant - I've said it before, shops, public transport, markets etc. All those kinds of encoutners so fraught. I need lots of friendly chit-chat, SMILEs, a joke here or there, otherwise it all gets me so depressed I'd rather not leave my own 4 walls at all. That's what I will never get about Berlin.

Ah, you all need to move to NRW. I found it the friendliest area of Germany. They do a funny version of the Berliner Schnauze, a bit frech but amusing not nasty. The difference between hannover and duesseldorf was incredible.

Feeling a bit better now after a morning on the couch with my dawg (we love saying that) and a pot of tea.

Not to mention the news that on Wednesday a professional hamster is coming to clean the house. :-))) I can go out for the afternoon with the kids and come back to a clean house.

Just have to make some inroads on the modern art in my laundry room / our bedroom / DC bedrooms. LOL at fink for that image.

Yup fink - we did the Amazon deliver straight to UK thing this year too. Isn't it fab.

Don't mean to be toooooo rude but does anybody actually know any Germans who understand sarcasm? I mean, I knew one once, but he had lived in the UK for a long time and had amazingly high standard of English. As to the friendship thing, it's only now I live in the sticks/a small village I am making good friends, and there are still some wierd stand-offish ones, funnily enough most of them are British!!

Lindt - can just picture you with dog/bag under arm. Very chic. But the hamster wheel picture ruins it a bit.

Everyone is too negative at the moment so let me share my positiveness - because I'm feeling really good about how much I'm getting done actually. Doing much better than I thought I would with DS in tow. [halo emoticon]

OK, the whole weekend was a wipe out due to the boff and poo diet, and I still haven't even got a tree yet (let alone started buying Xmas dinner food) but I have ordered our goodies from Brit shop, and have just bought the last present this morning!! WOOHOO. This means only have the fun stuff of looking for stocking fillers now.

We all went into town this morning (DH, DS and me) - was amazed how much we got done - is so much less stressful with DH to help. Then when we got back we were a little late for lunch nap but gorgeous DH said "I'll do that, you take the dog out and relax"!!!

And when I got back he had laid out lunch too.

He is like a new man when he does not have to go to horrible work place.

Gabster
Can I borrow your DH?

I am trying to get mine to cheer up a bit at the moment. He was a bit better at the weekend after I gave him a bollocking on Sunday. I just wish that he would stop being so pessimistic and enjoy the fab life we have here.

Sorry gabster. Did not mean to moan again. Got my neighbour coming over for coffee later. She is bringing homemade brownies. :-))

hmmmmm .... brownies

hmmmmm .... chocolate

hmmmmm .... cake

actuall,

hmmmmm .... anything that isn't plain toast or clear soup at the moment!!!!

ah well don't want to sound too much like a whacky ethnologist that has discovered a hitherto unknown tribe in the back of beyond. You know I let off steam about Germany a lot. I found it an incredibly stressful place for me personally but the friendship aspect I really didn't find difficult.

I think we should adopt Daphne as the German corner mascottchen though definitely. Is your little girl any happier these days ML?

our dog has gone to work with dh today

ds has been lovely without her ....hhmmmmm

and dd has at last turned up

but ds and I had a trip to the coffee house for hot choc earlier and a quick play in the park

tis very quiet here

sits in peace .........

ps

sorry tis cinders by the way ....

Thegabster when you've finished lending your h to mmelindt can I have him? He must be one of the few males who isn't a pain in the backside when he's off work! Mine is like yours mmelindt, he can't enjoy the fact that we've upgraded in quality of life, size of flat, now own car etc. My neighbour is thinking of some sort of natural remedy that I can smuggle into his bed time cup of tea to try and cheer him up. He'd never take anything freiwillig so I'll have to sneak it into his drink.

My door Kranz is dropping needles every time I open the door the step is covered in them! We're going to have to venture back into the forest and get some other type of greenery.

recognised your "voice" but wondering why you're a Viennese tart these days.

Sounds like you're having more fun than I am anyway!

I need a Christmas name but not feeling inspired

I need him first though admy, my bathroom needs a real male to get to work on it. You know the way they used to be fashioned, able to deal with electricity and fix things etc

Zzen, how about Zzzenpiperspiping?

Believe me, myhammer.de is better than any dh these days!

That's a good name. So you think with myhammer we can slowly start phasing out the husband?

dh has returned with a curry from vienna..
twas yum

my name is not very true ...
iM not a tart, and Im afraid we are a few miles from vienna

just un cindered for a while

dh is lying on the sofa
not channel hopping just going through
the channels.....

so im hiding

I have a few single mum friends or just single no dc friends and on the subject of finding a partner they say : he's going to have to be one hell of a man to fit into my life because I do everything myself and I manage (otherwise they use myhammer.de!)

Lol cinders, my h has worn out the controls.. just watching ...

ooh really fancy a good curry. Haven't had one in ages come to think of it. That's an idea. Have a friend coming over on Wednesday and in her honour have been cleaning the bathroom on and off today.

I do clean it anyway but today I was cleaning it thoroughly. Makes quite a difference

the television

is

AWFUL...........
yet he

goes patiently through all the channels...

click
click
click

How does myhammer work then?