Guten Tag

The reset of December was pretty good. I went ice skating with some friends at the Bitburg rink. It is only about 15 min from my house and it was really neat. It was covered, but was an outside rink, so you had a beautiful view of the trees surrounding the rink. They also had a little cafe there where we stopped from time to time to get hot chocolate and coffee which warmed us up nicely

On Sunday a friend and myself decided to go to Ramstien air base but do to some issues with the ID that the spang base issued me..... they wouldn't let us on base.... after we drove an hour and a half to get there!!! needless to say we were not happy, but didnt want to make the day a total bust. After running a few ideas by (and realizing that due to it being Sunday most of the German places we would go would be closed) we opted to do a movie.

The nearest one that has English dialog that we knew of was in Luxembourg. It was very interesting crossing over, it has open boarders, but in germany they don't really have an abundance of street lights, and as soon as you corss over into Luxembourg they are Everywhere! the theater was pretty easy to find and parking was also relitively easy. Once there, we found a movie to see (opting for In Time") and then wondered over to the mall to kill some time. It was so neat to see it done up all for the holidays!

It was so nice to walk around. They had a lot of clothing shops similar to the US malls, but the bakery and chocolate stores definitively had that amazing Europe look to them! Also, the food court was very different. Instead of that 'fast food' feel it had a lot of small cafe's and restaurant type areas to sit in. Some were on the simpler end and had sandwiches and soup feel, and some had more of a wine bar or pub atmosphere while there was still a few that carried that upscale 'fine dinning' feel. (but definitaly no McDonalds or Burger King, lol).

We ended up grabbing food close to the theater at a bar/grill style resturant. The food was great and of course i had to finish off my meal with an irish coffee

About that time we moseied to the movie theater. They definitaly didn't have the 'movie style' popcorn and vending area i'm use to. instead it was more like a candy shop that you chose from with a wide array of gummy candies, chips, chocolate, ice cream and so on. After stocking up on goodies we made our way into the theater, which was HUGE! and the seats were reather comfortable (although the don't compaire to the cinima suites form Kansas City's AMC theater... but that is a hard one to beat... especially when i got movies for free when i worked at the bar there).

The movie was very good, both of us were very happy with the pick. after that we headed home and called it a night.

My friend and myself wen to a Christmas market that was one town away from where I live. I didn't expect it to be very big, but it actualy had a ton of booths there! There was such a variety and so much to see. They had Music playing and hot chocolate (with Bailey's of course) and also gluhwin, which is a spices warm wince, it was perfect to ward off that winter chill.

Didn't want to waste any time experience the local culture.... like the spiced wine!

.... or the hot chocolate with Baileys

Here they had a black smith who, at the time, was making a small iron snail

and they had a ton of festivities as well, such as some Christmas carol singing

and they also have a tradition where Saint Nick comes around with little bread people and hands it out to the kids

Also, they have these amazing grills, its a circular grill that hangs on a chain and can be swiveled over an open flame. they were cooking secures over this which i had to try and of course... it was amazing!!!!

Alll in all it was a wonderful day and I can certainly see why the Germans like the holidays so much and have so many christmas markets that they go to. They are so much fun and truly get you in the Christmas mood Its such a nice way to get out and about and spend some time with friends and see something new as well as pick up little gifts here and there for the holiday

This day I had thought about going to Ramstien with a friend, but when it came around I was just wanting a relaxing day, and any experience I had with "black friday" is anything but 'relaxing

That morning i slept in accompanied by two cats keeping me nice and toasty. When I woke up I decided to see if there were any online deals worth biting at (figured if I did do any shopping to start the day out, it would be from the safety of my own home ) OR at least so I thought. As it turns out I still hand some persistent bystanders that were not about to be shrugged off.

Eventually I made it out to shopping some time in the afternoon. I went ot the on base BX and managed not to get to carried away. I did pick up a pretty cozy pillow and an ornament all in all it was a pretty good shopping day

This year ended up being a very nice Thanksgiving. Earlier this month I had gone to the upper level of our house and introduced myself to our us-stairs neighbors. They ended up being a wonderful nice military family that made me feel instantly welcome. As the Thanksgiving holiday loomed closer, I was a bit unsure if I would do anything. My house was still rather a disaster zone from unpacking all the furniture and other items that had been in storage the past year or I would have had a little 'get-together' at my place. However; I had piles of stuff and boxes filled with packing tissues at every turn (which Nermal and Tiger saw as new welcomed play areas).

About a week or two before the big Turkey Day, I did receive an invite from the upstairs family to join them for the holiday celebration. I decided to take them up on the invite The day before I went out and found a new outfit or two, which is always a bit fun to do, especially when you find an outfit you are rather happy with. I had planned on making a cheese ball to take upstairs, but was at a loss when I found out the on base commissary's didn't have Blue Cheese! (and i didn't even bother seeing if they had old English Cheese). So I wondered around the store until I settled on a gingercookie mix and a pumpkin bread making kit. After gathering up the remaining necessities I checked out and decided to bake the bread the night before and the cookies the day of. The bread turned out pretty good, There was a tad bit in the center that managed to remain uncooked, so I cut the loaf into slices and put it back in the oven to finish them off. My grandma said that putting some aluminum foil over it and/or letting it bake in the oven after you turn the heat off will help do the trick. So that will be on my 'tips list' for the next go around. The cookies turned out great! I opted to do the 'ginger snaps' cookie mix.

I managed to, despite all the cookies pans and dishes, not have a cookie sheet. So I decided that mini cookies was the way to go and for that a pie pan worked out beautifully!

And I happened to have a bit of extra time on my hands, and thought "what a perfect time to make little ginger bread house" pieces to kick off the holiday season! Sooo... Thats exactly what I did

I went upstairs for dinner once all the baking was done. They had such an amazing ensemble for dinner. The Turkey was amazing and we had a rice with chives and bacon (can't go wrong there), green beans, the sweet potato dish with marsh-mellows on top, and a wonderful Flan dessert. Afterwords we chatted for a while as the food settled than, by the request of her daughter, worked off some of the meal by playing a Wii dance game.

It was a wonderful way to spend the holiday with new friends and to reflect on all that I am thankful for!