A white Christmas and we are not dreaming.

Waiting for Santa

Snow up to our windows (there is a hedge under there but still that is a lot of snow!)

Christmas Lunch with fellow Australians

Best way to keep the "champers" cold

Guess what this is! Clue: it cost 750 euros per kilo.

We had a lovely Christmas here. There was great excitement for weeks before hand. We have learnt many new Christmas carols and have even decided on our own personal favourites. We have crafted decorations and had major failures with glitter, we have visited the Christmas market, we have lit advent candles, we have opened 24 tiny doors and finally on Christmas eve we all fell into bed waiting for Santa to come. This year we left Santa a glass of milk and a biscuit as it seems you don't leave beer out in Germany, maybe Santa had enough in the Southern hemisphere and has to dry out before he heads home. Luckily for us Herr Fitz remembered some basic science and when we were preparing nourishment for the reindeers he pointed out that water freezes at below 0oC and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to leave a bowl out for Rudolph and his mates so they had to do with just a carrot. Christmas morning was wonderful. The kids slept to a reasonable hour and there was much joy as Santa sacks were discovered and the many packages from Australia were opened and placed under the tree to be opened after the customary chocolate breakfast. We did our own mini versions of Christmas tree which consisted of lots of getting up and down as there were only the 5 of us. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful cards and gifts we were sent and even though we know everyone was sitting attempting to nap off the heat and food that Christmas day brought as we were opening our presents we felt as though we were surrounded by our families...Skype helped a lot in that regard.

As there was so much snow and our city council appears to have gone on an early holiday and haven't cleared the streets our friends walked to our house bearing most of the food and wine including the prized 750 euro per kilo truffle. We only bought 16g and it cost 12 euros. While the kids played with new toys the grown ups cooked up a storm in the kitchen and started in on a few festive drinks. Much food, a few Lego creations, a very stinky cheese plate and a few more wines later we discovered the game the kids got for Christmas is pretty fun for adults too.

Boxing Day we decided to try our luck with the buses and trains and attempt to make it to visit friends in a town about an hour a way. With delays and cancelled trains everywhere and buses running on the emergency timetable and routes due to snow we surprisingly made it there and back without any problems. We enjoyed a fantastic meal, lovely company and the most beautiful and warm fireplace ever.

What better way to work off some of the food consumed over the previous couple of days but to go sledding in the park near by.

So after all the Christmas excitement we settle what could be a long winter. The kids are on holidays from Kindergarten for a couple of weeks and tomorrow we say goodbye to some great new friends who, after 3 years in Germany are heading back to Chile. We will miss them dearly as we have shared many kindergarten and playgroup adventures with them (as they have 4 kids) but know that we will most likely see them again on one continent or another.