Tis the Season...

Tis the Season for all sorts of good things...

For decorating the tree
For Advent Calendars

For sending and receiving Christmas cards...we keep all the photo cards from years past too!

For Kiachl (sort of like a funnel cake- served with powdered sugar, marmalade or sauerkraut)

For Baking

For Clementines

For PHOTO CHALLENGES

And for making Caramels

But most importantly, celebrating the real reason for the Season!

What special things do you do to get ready for Christmas and/or enjoy doing during the Holidays?

Here are a few more ideas that I found on Pinterest...
Perfect gift for your neighbors
THESE are so cute
THIS looks like a fun book
and a Yummy Dessert for a Christmas Party

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

We have been in the States for the last 2 Christmases... (Beech Mountain 2010 and 2011)
so we were very excited to get a tree up in our apartment this year!  When we moved to Vienna 5 years ago, it was hard to find a Christmas tree until the first week of December- but this year we found one right after Thanksgiving!  Here we all are carrying the tree from the car- and since it was so tall, it didn't fit in our tiny elevator, so we had to carry it up to the 5th floor ;)

It's always fun hanging our ornaments that have photos or that the kids made.  We even have a few from when Brad was just a little tike!  Too cute.

Here is the finished tree...

Prepping for the holidays...

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is almost here already!  I have "started" Christmas shopping and even got our Christmas cards ordered...still, I feel the days are flying by as I try to prep for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and not fall too behind!

Yesterday, I posted this picture of Pumpkin Squares on my Instagram account (I am viennahunters if you want to follow me) and a few of you said you wanted the recipe...so HERE it is!  It is one of my favorite things to make for Thanksgiving (and way better than plain ol pumpkin pie)

Here are some other recipes that I like to make for Thanksgiving as well...
Sweet Potato Casserole, Aunt Cheryl's Wine Cranberry Mold, and Chocolate- Pecan Pie

What are some of your favorite recipes for Thanksgiving?  Do Share! :)

Fall Break...Bled, Slovenia

There are many great things about living in Europe- but one of the major benefits is being able to easily travel to other countries.  Austria borders 8 countries, so traveling to another country here is like traveling to another state in the US.  We had a few free days over Fall Break, so we decided to travel to Slovenia.

We stayed in a small town right outside of Bled.  This was a view from the farmhouse we stayed in.

The kids loved playing soccer out on the lawn and exploring nature

The views were pretty spectacular...

The kids loved exploring the castle grounds and trying their hands at ax throwing and archery

We also all enjoyed some traditional creme cake... Delicious!

It was a fun trip for the family- with lots of beautiful sites to see, very nice people and yummy treats!