A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
It has been another full and prosperus year. We have enjoyed so many fruits for our labors and it seems they just continue. I hope this finds everyone well and getting ready to enjoy the holidays. We have just returned from Germany and are slowly getting our clocks back to normal. It doesn't seem bad going over, but coming home just takes longer to get adjusted. We had a great visit with Jim, Kathleen and Zmo. We were there from November 23rd to December 14th. I'm sure that they were glad to see us leave as we were using their bed. We certainly enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Jim and Kathleen, but also the many interesting people we met along the way.
We were there for the season of Weihnachtsmarkts. It starts in late November and runs to Christmas. They are Christmas Markets. We had the opportunity to go to five different markets. Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Fr, Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, and Ulm. They were all different and and all very much alike. The food was wonderful and of course the Gluewein, which is a hot mulled wine. They had both red and white. Each market had it's own special mugs. There were booths that had almost everything you could need for Christmas. There were ornaments, nutcrackers, incense houses, leather work, wood work, and goods from all over the area.
We went to Ulm by ourselves and what a sight. The cathedral there has the tallest spire in the world. They have a pipe organ that was magnificent and we were lucky enough to hear a 30 minute concert while we were there. The building was huge. As we sat listening to the concert, we watched our breath. It probably was in the low thirties in the building. We traveled to Ulm by rail and it was nice to see the countryside all covered with snow. We bought scarfs in Ulm, as the wind was blowing and we needed the protection around the neck opening.
Our trip to Strasbourg, France was by bus, with a group of teachers from Kathleen's school. It was a long day, but well worth the trip. We had a group lunch at a small restaurant that was spectacular. We were certainly ready to get back on the bus at the end of the day. It was a two-hour ride.
Of course the biggest part of the trip was spent with Zmo. We really enjoyed seeing her and how she is progressing in her kinder school. Her languese is amazing. She speaks German very well and her English vocabulary is grow every day. She had a little friend come home with her one day who spoke no English. Annette is talking and Zmo said, "Grandma, she olny speaks Duetsch."
Jim is the chief cook and bottle washer. He is a very good cook and almost everything we had was german origin. He did make pizza one night which is one of his specialties. We are trying to get ready for Christmas here at home and that is going slow. We will go to Cindy's for Christmas and will probably spend a couple of days there. The ground was bare when we came home, but we got enough snow to cover the ground this morning. Hopefully it will melt, but the temperature is supposed to stay cold all this week.
Again, "Merry Christmas and may you have a wonderful new year."
