Christmas OCD

Abby goes to a German school, so it's only fitting they speak only German. This causes quite the 'Lost in Translation'-type moments when it comes to things like field trips or special activity days that I am to participate in. It happened again just last week, when I thought I was invited to a special breakfast WITH the children. It turns out it was a special breakfast FOR the children and I was only supposed to drop off my food and leave. Cue 15 minutes of pure awkwardness, standing around, holding Oliver, dressed to the nines, wondering why there wasn't a place for me to sit and where the other parents where. They must have thought I was on crack. Ugh -- crazy foreigners!

Two things stuck out to me as I was standing around looking like an idiot: Germans don't care about peanut allergies because they give the kids big bowls of shelled peanuts as a snack every day -- rebel yell -- AND Abby most definitely got my OCD.

Just look at the awesome snowman she made below. It's the one up front. The other kids made their snowmen all crazy style with mismatching eye colors, crooked buttons with varying sizes, hat pompoms that don't go all the way across -- I could go on forever! **Shudder** Perhaps they would have performed better if they had parents were so invested in their academic careers they would even go uninvited to the special Christmas breakfast :P

That evening I was getting gas and backed into the gas pump. I was super glad we didn't explode in a fiery ball of flames and was pleased that there was no damage on that side of the car. Unfortunately, the bump knocked snow off the other side of the car and I was bummed to find out that someone had crashed into the back of our car and didn't bother to tell us.

I'd be super petty to be peeved over something so small when we've been so super blessed this year. I guess a vehicle is not really yours until you've -- or someone else -- has smashed it around a few times. I'm not going to bother to fix it; I think it gives the large beast some street cred.

Speaking of blessed... this year we were invited to have a traditional Christmas with a wonderful German/Swiss family in our ward. It was fabulous. Oalf and Antje are some of the most honest and humble people that I have ever met in my life, and it is truly a blessing to count them as some of our closest friends here. Oalf served his mission in Toronto, which makes him nearly a Canadian, right?

The Lewis missionaries are also fantastic. The Lewis' are serving as Abby's primary teachers, and she just adores having them around to cuddle and play with her. They have grandchildren nearly the same age as Abby and Ollie, and our children are a reminder of what wonderful little miracles await their return home next year.

We had a traditional feast of cold meats, cheeses, vegetables, eggs, and homemade breads.

Jeremy REALLY wanted to decorate our tree with real candles this year. Yup, not going to happen. Antje also gave in and used fake candles.

Antje had some little figurines that she got from her grandmother when she was very young. She let Abby play with them until she told us how precious they were. Jeremy and I were pushing each other out of the way to pry them out of Abby's hands. Some people are just too trusting.

I took this video of Abby without her knowing. She was in charge of sitting still for 2 minutes while we sang a song. She did.... well... see for yourself.

This is a random video of Oliver 'talking.' He makes these awesome high pitch sounds that do NOT sound like they come from a baby. He really freaks people out when he does them in public.