The countdown is on...

Christmas cards have been sent (thanks Memoo!) and received
Cookie after cookie has been baked (and eaten)
Christmas parties and programs have been attended (with just a few more to go)
Gifts have been made and purchased
Suitcases have begun to be packed
And last night was our Christmas service at NCW...

On Friday, we head to America.
We are ready.
Ready to spend time with our family.
Ready to relax.
Ready to have some fun.
Ready to celebrate our Savior's Birth.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...

Family Poem...

Luke has been working on a project about "his family" for school for a few weeks now.  He could choose from a long list of things to do.  He made a family crest, a family tree, provided a waffle recipe that has been passed down from his great-grandmother (and this morning I went to school and shared some fresh waffles with the kiddos) and wrote a poem that cracked me up....

Hunter, is my family name

From all around Europe, we all came.

Back to Europe we went,

4 and 1/2 years we've spent.

We came here a church to start,

Our home is in the city's heart

German, a language I not yet knew,

Schnitzel and Sachertorte learned to chew.

I've been to 4 different schools, 

But everywhere they think I'm cool :)

(and yes, he is just like his mom and put a smiley face at the end of his poem!)

Tis the Season...

For making Advent wreaths...

for making Gingerbread houses...

For waking up to shoes filled with candy from "St. Nikolaus"...

and for visiting Christkindlmarkts...