A while ago I took a look at all of the things that have happened in the last while that I haven’t written about yet. What I discovered was rather discouraging. It is already 2007 and I still have stuff to cover from last summer. I have decided, then, that the time has come to get completely caught up on our adventures here in Germany. Yes, I know…this is a daunting undertaking, but if I don’t get caught up now, while the pace of life is manageable, then I don’t suppose I’ll ever get caught up. It’s now or never!
A note about our online photos: I have posted links throughout this set of Notes that say View Pictures. These links will take you to our
Yahoo Photos page where you can see all of the photos if you so choose. I have two warnings for you: there are lots and lots of pictures, and I think these links are only valid for 90 days. Should you ever find yourself wanting to see any of these pictures, but unable to do so (perhaps because there were so many that you were not able to see them all in 90 days), just send us a note and we'll provide access, copies, or whatever.A Brand New Church
No, I haven’t joined a new church! Our church did, however, build a new church building. This is an uncommon event in Germany or even in Europe. It is considered, therefore, to be a great blessing. We moved into our new church at the end of July, but before we moved in I took some pictures. There are two notable things about our new church; it looks very much like an American style Mormon church and it is very, very small for a Stake Center. If any of you would like an explanation of what that means, just drop me a note.
Germany is the place to be on the 4th of July
Some of you may recall that we tried to attend the 4th of July festivities last year. You might also recall that Mindy and the kids had only arrived on 1 July, so they were jet-lagged and tired. Trying to attend a 4th of July celebration under such conditions is what is commonly known as “trying too darn hard.” That is, of course, why we eventually decided to go home without seeing any fireworks.
For 2006, though, we were determined to stick it out. The 4th of July is a really big deal over here. Perhaps that’s because the American military community is primarily composed of folks who have sworn an oath to support and defend the constitution. Maybe it’s because we all, in our hearts, miss our home country a bit. Or maybe it’s because living in Germany helps us to deeply appreciate that it is a privilege and a blessing to be an American.
We arrived for the festivities at around mid afternoon. This year, unlike last year, there were tons of folks there that we knew. We got together with a couple of families from church and quickly settled on a place to enjoy the afternoon, the evening, and eventually even the fireworks. And then we decided to move to someplace better. And then we decided to move to someplace better again. Now, I know what you are thinking…this sounds an awful lot like my life. I would like to be on the record, though, as saying “I never once recommended that we move to a better spot!” Although I never did put up much of a fight either.
I have learned over the years that children only need two things in order to have the time of their lives: other children and sufficient space to maximize the activity level. Fortunately for the kids, both of those things were in abundance. As you can guess, our kids played and played and played and played and played. When they ate, it looked like they were playing. When they got tired, they simply played until the tiredness went away.
If you look at our pictures from the 4th of July, you will notice that there are several pictures of kids on blue wrestling mats. I don’t know who was so wise as to bring this simple toy, but it was a HUGE hit with the kids. It was while watching the kids on this blue mat that I discovered that kids are an awful lot like puppies. They like to grab each other and roll around for no particular reason. On occasion one will bark or another will growl, but for the most part they all get along famously. From time to time one of the puppies (kids) will lie alone for a moment, but that only lasts as long as it takes for a ball of tangled kids to roll over the top of them and drag them back into the fray.
HessenPark – A Journey into the Past
How’s that for a dramatic header! Pat, a friend of
ours, heard about a place north of here called HessenPark and she invited us (in August, I think) to go with her to see it. HessenPark is a folk park, which simply means that they have buildings and activities from historic Hessen (a state in Germany). They had a market square at the beginning with lots of fun stuff to buy and to eat. There was not a lot of information in English, but the experience was visually stunning. We did get to learn a few interesting things, like the technique used to make the half-timbered buildings that this part of Europe is famous for.One interesting thing about our visit to HessenPark was the little dog we encountered when we took a wagon ride around the park. He was
a small dog and he looked to be rather old. The fun thing about this little dog was that anytime the horse-drawn wagon would stop, he would sit quietly until everyone was either on or off, then he would bark with great authority at the gigantic horses pulling the wagon. What I was never able to discern was whether the dog determined on his own when it was time to go, or if the old driver gave some sort of signal. It sure was funny, though, that little tiny dog bossing around those mountainous horses!Another interesting thing was eating lunch at HessenPark. We sat down at a Café in the market square and they brought us menus, but I was having the most difficult time trying to make out what the darn menu said. Now I don’t speak a lot of German, but I consider myself to be a fair hand at reading menus. This menu, though, seemed to be in some OTHER foreign tongue, which I could not decipher. It could be that the menu was written so as to be like a menu from former times, or perhaps it was simply a change in dialect from Baden-Wuerttemberg to Hessen. Whatever the case, I sure was grateful the next time we went to one of our local restaurants where the foreign language isn’t so hard to understand!
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Europa Park – A Journey into the Future 
OK, not really…it just seemed to match the previous header so well! Europa Park, for any who are unaware, is an amusement park with rides, shows, themed restaurants, parades, and other such theme park fare. I have, myself, wanted to go to Europa Park for some time, but I have never found an adequate excuse. Luckily for me, an adequate excuse found me last August.
The young women from church were planning a trip to Europa Park, but they needed transportation and adult participation. Since Mindy is one of the youth leaders, we not only had an excuse to go (we could both drive, increasing the number of total available seats), but we also had an excuse to bring our kids along with us 
(we couldn’t really leave them at home, could we)! The best part was that there were lots of other families who were anxious to cash in on the available excuses and Mindy and I and the kids were able to spend much of the day as just a family or with one of the other families that was all there together also.
There were lots of rollercoasters and rides to get you wet. Cory is getting big enough now that there were actually very few rides that he couldn’t go on. Luckily for me there was a gentleman from another family of similar age and inclination regarding rollercoasters, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to ride the Silver Star! None of my kids were tall enough to ride (1.4 meters) and Mindy was not in the least bit interested. Scott Stephens, the other gent, was in a similar quandary so the two of us went off for ourselves and had a delightful time! That was an AWESOME rollercoaster!!!
One interesting note: the prices for food and drink were…brace yourself…reasonable! No, really! I fully expected to spend lots and lots of money on food and drink, but in the end we even had enough left over for special treats like cotton candy and crepes. It was a lot of fun for a very reasonable cost. Next time I need a theme park fix, I think I would choose Europa Park over Euro Disney. And since I once worked at Disneyland, that is mighty high praise!
A Visit from Steven
Well after more than a year of living 
in Europe, we finally received our first visitor from the States. My buddy Steven came over on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend and stayed for the better part of a week. It was an awful lot of fun to be able to share some of our favorite things about Germany with a friend.
We didn’t do much on the day he arrived, although I believe that we had dinner at a little café in Ladenburg. Sidewalk dining is delightful and the food was pretty good too. Plus Ladenburg is a very picturesque village.
On Sunday we left Steven at home while we went to church. After we got back, Steven and I went up to the castle in Heidelberg and did a bit of touring. I’ve been to the castle in Heidelberg a couple of times, yet every time I go back I always
seem to discover something new. This time I discovered the bergbahn. A bergbahn is simply a train designed to go up and down a mountain. The cars all sit at a funny angle, but it is certainly a lot better than walking up the cobblestone path to the castle.
On Monday we all went together to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in this part of Germany. The streets are picturesque, the buildings are interesting to look at and there are lots of shops that cater especially to tourists. There is also a wall that encircles most of the old village center. You can go to the top of the wall and walk around as if you were a city guard. Very Cool.
One of the coolest things to see was the museum of 
crime and punishment. I don’t think that’s how the name translates from German, but you get the idea. It is simply a collection of some of the most creative punishments ever devised. There are implements of torture, such as thumb screws (I never even knew that such things were real), and creative ways of inducing shame, such as masks of shame. There was even a thing called a double violin. When a couple was in an unwarranted dispute, they would be locked together, face to face, until they could resolve their difficulties. I think I know some people who might benefit from this sort of extreme marriage counseling!
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Unexpected Bad News
Early on Tuesday morning the phone rang. It was Mindy’s sister, Erline, calling to let us know that Mindy’s father had died unexpectedly on Monday. We were shocked and saddened and quite a bit dismayed. This is exactly the kind of phone call that we had feared since our move to Germany. I was also immediately concerned because Steven and I had planned to fly to Stockholm on Tuesday, and I wasn’t quite sure how to balance family needs with by desire to be a good host and friend.
After discussing the situation with Mindy, I concluded that the funeral would not likely take place until the next week and that there would be very little that we could do to be helpful from this side of the ocean. With those conclusions in mind I decided to continue with the planned trip to Stockholm. Plus denial was starting to look like a really good coping strategy.
Steven handled this whole situation with calm and compassion. Amazing since I'm not sure how I would cope if I crossed the ocean to visit a friend, only to have them lose a close relative during my visit. I truly feel that it was a blessing having him here at that time since it kept us focused on happier things. If Steven hadn't been around, I imagine that we would have spent a lot of time just wallowing in self-pity. Instead I got to continue making happy memories. Oh, and the trip to Stockholm was loads of fun.
Stockholm
There is actually a bit of a story about how we ended up with a trip to Stockholm. Steven and I did most of our planning by email. I believe that our discussions regarding what is nearby and what we should make the effort to see took place in separate emails. I had spoken about how beautiful Switzerland is, but when I asked what he would like to see he responded that he would be interested in seeing Sweden. I, being both enthusiastic and none too bright, never stopped to consider that Sweden wasn’t one of the places I had spoken of, or that it was at least a plane ride away. I guess you could say that we ended up as accidental tourists in Stockholm.
Getting to Sweden is easy and fairly inexpensive thanks to Ryan Air. Unfortunately, Europe’s most popular low fare airline doesn’t fly exactly into Stockholm. It flies instead into a smaller airport about an hour south of the city. That means that the first thing you must do when you arrive in “Stockholm” via Ryan Air, is figure out how to get into Stockholm. We were going to take a taxi, which would have been VERY expensive, but a kind English speaking taxi driver recommended a bus service that was well coordinated with Ryan Air arrivals and departures. On his advice, we rode the bus into Stockholm.
In Stockholm we found our hotel, a Best Western
, without too much difficulty. After dropping off the bags we headed to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a 17th century sailing ship that sunk shortly after it launched. It was recovered in the latter half of the last century and it is remarkable for how intact in remained during its centuries under water. Since its recovery, great effort has been put into its restoration and preservation. It was a spectacular site to see, but it was also interesting because there was a lot of information presented about what ship-board life was like then. We also learned a lot about how a ship of this size was used as a propaganda tool.
After the Vasa Museum, we did a bit of wandering about, both to see the sights and to find a place to eat. We came upon a restaurant that looked promising, mostly because they had
posted a menu with an English translation. The most memorable part of that dinner, at least in my mind, was the appetizer. We ordered some sort of sampler that included deer and elk, but we were a bit unclear about how exactly the appetizer was to be prepared and presented. When it arrived it looked to me to be primarily composed of different raw meats. At first I just stared with thoughts of steak tartar running through my mind. Steven, being more experienced and bold, decided that the meat probably wasn’t raw and bravely took a bite. “It’s smoked!” he declared. I then tried some myself and found it all to be very, very tasty.
As I recall, the next day was occupied by a bus tour
of the city (in English) and by more general walking around. I would make just a couple of observations about Sweden. First of all, I was surprised by how many English speakers we found. As far as I could tell, everyone spoke English. I’m not sure where I heard it, but from someone I heard that in Sweden they do not dub movies or television and therefore the Swedes learn English from the American and British media. Second of all, there were 7-11’s everywhere! They were, in my opinion, more ubiquitous in Sweden than Starbucks are in America. Viva globalization!
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Good Trip – Sad Reason
I must admit that there are many good things 
about working for the Army in Germany. One nice thing is that when something happens like a death in the family, emergency leave is granted immediately and without question. Another advantage is that if you lose a loved one while overseas, the Army pays for you (but not your family) to fly home. This may not seem like a significant advantage because of the “not your family” part, but actually it was. You see, Mindy got to fly all the way into Twin Falls instead of flying to Salt Lake and then driving to Twin Falls. It doesn’t seem reasonable to me that anyone should fly from Germany and then get straight into a car to drive for 3 or 4 hours. Flying directly into Twin Falls allowed Mindy to arrive a day earlier than otherwise because she didn’t have to make an overnight stay in Salt Lake. And because Mindy was flying all the way into Twin Falls on a ticket paid for by the Army, she didn’t have to fly with me and the kids. For her, that was another significant advantage.
It actually seems rather fair that I would have to do that long trip with just me and the kids, because that’s exactly what Mindy had to do when we moved to Germany. 
Now don’t get me wrong; I think I have the best kids in the world. But even with the best kids in the world, St. Leon-Rot, Baden-Wuerttemberg to Twin Falls, Idaho is one heck of a long trip! We all actually left on the same day, but Mindy was on an earlier flight. That meant that after dropping Mindy off, the kids and I got to wait around the airport...and wait...and wait...and, well, you get the point. By the time the kids and I arrived in Salt Lake, we were all pretty tired. I had slept a bit on the plane, but not much. It makes me glad that I have a sister-in-law who lives less than 30 minutes from the Salt Lake airport. We arrived in Salt Lake, picked up the rental car, and headed to Aunt Erline's so we could crash.
And crash we did, at least until about 2:00a. That's 
when the kids woke up. Jet lag is a SERIOUS bummer, especially when it's compounded by somebody else's inability to sleep. I was a tired puppy, but after everyone else had woken up we grabbed a bit of breakfast and headed for Twin Falls.
When we finally arrived in Twin Falls it was one week to the day after Mindy's dad had died. We go to be there and watch the outpouring of love and support for Mindy's family. There were flowers, food, gifts, and cards. I was both surprised and impressed. On the next day, Sunday, we all went to church together, and once again I was amazed by the outpouring of love and sympathy that I saw.
While we were there, we got to learn some very interesting things about my father-in-law and his last couple of years on this earth. About 2 years ago, a bad case of brochitis because pneumonia and when things got a little dicey, my father-in-law decided he had better go to the hospital. When he arrived, they did a quick check and took him immediately to the intensive care unit. Later the doctor told him that if he had waited just 10 more minutes, he probably would have died. He recovered well from that near death experience, but everyone says that he was different after that. He was more involved with the family and spent more time with his wife. One sister reported him saying that if he were to die tomorrow, it would be OK because he had taken care of what needed to be taken care of and had done the things that he really wanted to do. We took great comfort in that.
On Sunday evening was the Viewing, which was 
a very difficult time. It is heart wrenching to see someone you love after they have died, but there is a certain amount of closure that it brings also. The best thing about the Viewing was the stories that people told about Tom when they stopped by. If the measure of a person's life is the impact that they have on others, then my father-in-law's life was a tremendous success!
On Monday was the funeral, and it was wonderful! Mindy prayed and the eulogy was given by Mindy's sister Shauna. Next there was an interesting presentation by two more of the surviving children, Kirk and Charisse, who gave some of the most humorous and delightful rememberances of their father. The final speaker and the funeral was Mindy's sister, Erline. Erline spoke about the hope that we find in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her talk was both moving and comforting. It was the very best funeral that I remember.
On Tuesday, I took off with the kids to head for home. My intent was to minimize the disruption to the kids schedules, even if that meant some hard traveling. We drove straight to the airport in Salt Lake from Twin Falls, hopped on the plane and woke up in Frakfurt. The most worrisome thing about the flight home was that we only had three seats together. One seat was across the aisle and up a bit. Since Mose is the oldest, I sent him off to be by himself while I stayed together with Sara and Cory. Fortunately, Mose ended up by a very kind gentleman who did his best to assist Mose in coping with the long flight. I remember opening my eyes once and seeing Mose assleep against the arm of the kind gentleman, which I can tell you is not comfortable, but there was no complaint. It gave me hope that there is still some good in this wicked world.
I think that the most physically challenging part of the entire journey was the drive home from Frakfurt to St. Leon-Rot. We made it, though, and we even managed to stay awake until bedtime. We got all of our stuff unpacked and the kids all ready to return to school the next day.
Mindy stayed in Twin Falls an extra day so that 
she could have a bit more time with her family, so she didn't arrive home the same day that we did. That means I got to get the kids up and ready for school before I headed off to work. I had arranged to have a friend from church look after the kids until I or Mindy got home. Unfortunately for Mindy, there was a problem with one of her flights and she didn't make it in to Frakfurt that Thursday. Now the interesting thing is that Mindy's sister, Erline, and Mindy's father were planning a trip to visit us. The day they would have arrived was the day after Mindy was supposed to be back home from the funeral, which as you might imagine was not a part of the original plan. Erline decided that even though her dad had died that she would continue with the trip as planned. Since Mindy couldn't get back on Thursday, she ended up arriving in Frankfurt on the same day as her sister, only at different times and in different terminals. This also means that someone had to pick the sisters up at the airport, someone had to pick up the kids from school, and someone (me) was supposed to be at work that day. I sincerely hope that you get the strong impression that things were getting a little crazy around here!
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A Visit from Erline
With a bit of luck, and a lot of help from friends, we actually got Mindy, Erline, the kids, and myself all home by Friday evening. As I recall, we all just kind of collapsed that night. It was a lot of fun having Erline in town, although it was probably more fun for Mindy than for me and the kids. While Erline was here, her and Mindy
went to southern France, to Bavaria (to see the Castle Neuschwanstein), to Rothenburg, and to Heidelberg. Me and the kids went along on the trip to Heidelberg, since we kinda live there. I'd provide some of the details, but since it would be mostly second-hand, I'll leave the main story telling of those adventures to Mindy or Erline.
There is no doubt that the ladies had a lot of fun together and it was very nice to have someone to whom we could show all of the things that we love about being here. Erline was here for almost two weeks, so by the time she returned to the States, we felt like we had been running full speed for about a month, which I suppose we had. It would have been nice if we could have had a break about then, but life doesn't have a pause button, does it?
Crazy October and Sara's Birthday
To be perfectly honest, I don't really remember everything that happened in October. What I do remember is the feeling that the break 
neck pace of life continued, or possibly even increased. I know that we had the Open House for our new Church building and we also had the Dedication of the new Church building. Plus there was Halloween and the related activities. I just remember getting to Halloween and thinking; “What happened to the last two months?” Again I felt like it would be really nice if we could have a break from the pace, but that wasn't going to happen yet because Sara's birthday was coming up and the time had nearly come to begin our preparations for our trip home for Thanksgiving.
Given all of the excitement and activity of September and October, I think we should have been able to skip Sara's birthday. She didn't feel the same way. As a comprimise, we didn't do anything real big and she didn't complain too much. Instead of a birthday party, we just gathered up a couple of Sara's friends and went to an indoor Spielplatz for a day. Later, Sara and I went on a little father and daughter shoppping trip in downtown Heidelberg. Sara enjoyed the shoppping, but I think I enjoyed it even more. When you only have one daughter, you have to spoil her as much as possible.
Round about mid-November, it was once
again time to make the arduous journey back to the Western United States. Luckily for me (and for the kids), it was all five of us traveling together this time. The flight over really wasn't too bad. In fact it was over before we knew it. When flying west, from Germany to the States, we usually leave in the morning (Germany time) and arrive on the evening of the same day (SLC time). What that means is, by the time we arrive it feels like about 04:00a the next day and it also feels like we've been awake for almost 24 hours. Once again, I simply cannot say enough about what a blessing it is to have a sister-in-law who lives less than 30 minutes from the airport in Salt Lake!Jet lag got us again, which is why my kids were all
awake at 01:00a the next morning. I guess that's OK, because by that time I was having trouble sleeping too. After waiting for about 7 hours for the rest of the world to wake up, we went out for a nice breakfast and then headed to Twin Falls to spend some time with Grandma Strader.We spent about six days at the family home in Twin Falls, from Saturday until the Friday after Thanksgiving. We were able to attend Church with Grandma Strader all all of Mindy's brothers and sisters were in town and at the house at one time or another. We were able to enjoy movies at real American style movie theatres and we ate lots of American fast food. Thanksgiving dinner was delightful and many happy memories were made.
By the time we headed to my sister's place in Pingree, Idaho, my kids were sleeping in each day until 05:00a or even later. I really hate jet lag. We arrived at my sister's place at around noon on Friday and were greeted by a rather large pack of children. There weren't many more than 20 kids all
together, but it seemed closer to 50. Almost all of my family had gathered with the intent of enjoying a Thanksgiving feast together, even if it was a day late. My sister had arranged for us to use a local church building because there were way too many of us to fit in any normal house. The feast was spectacular and it was awfully fun being together with so much family.We spent Friday night at Nadine's place in Pingree and then got up on Saturday morning and headed south with Grandma and Grandpa Tillett. I must confess that we took a little detour on the way in order to have a chance to play DDR in an arcade in Orem, Utah. If your not sure what DDR is, send me a note and I'll explain. Let me just say, though, that in all of Germany there are only 3 DDR arcade machines, but at the
Nickelcade in Orem they have 2. I love America!!! My sister Karen and her family met us at the arcade there in Orem and we had a fun evening playing video games together (well if not together all the time, at least at the same general place).We spent that night at Grandma and Grandpa Tillett's house and attended church with them on Sunday. It was a great deal of fun watching my children and my parents interact with each other. I don't think a child ever feels more unconditionally loved than when they are with their grandparents. I don't think that a parent ever feels more proud than when they get to show off their children to their own parents. It was a delight for all of us!
On Sunday evening we traveled a little further south
to the house of my youngest sister, Holly, who had agreed to endure our presence until Tuesday. Holly has four children; Michelle, Brody, Michael, and Rose. Michelle is just about Sara’s age and Michael is about Cory’s age, so for the kids staying at Aunt Holly’s was one of the most enjoyable things we did. It was especially nice for Sara because Aunt Holly taught her how to scramble eggs and how to bake chocolate chip cookies!Mindy and I had fun, too. Uncle Josh, Holly’s husband, works in the management of a packaging company and while we were there he had the opportunity to bring home a packaging job that needed to be reworked. The process entailed ripping little bottles out of the incorrect packaging, assembling the new packaging, and then
repacking the little bottles. It may sound tedious, but it was actually quite a bit of fun! The kids, all seven of them, pitched in to help with tearing the little bottles out of the old packaging. The adults sat around the table assembling packages and repacking the bottles. I enjoyed it because it was fun establishing a “system” and working to make the process more efficient. The kids liked it because Uncle Josh pays cash! There are few things more satisfying than an unexpected payday.On Tuesday we packed up the rental car again for the long drive back to Twin Falls. It snowed quite a bit that morning, which made us a bit nervous about the drive, but the sun came out and the roads cleared. We made it back to Grandma Strader’s with nary a hitch. The next few
days were blissfully uneventful, except that when Friday came we had to pack up again. You can be assured that as the time approached for us to come home, we were more than ready to be done living out of suitcases.On Friday morning we drove back down to Aunt Erline’s place in Salt Lake so that Mindy could spend a little more time with Erline and Shauna before our flight home on Saturday. For our last dinner in America (at least for a while) we took the entire crew (all 5 of my family, Aunt Erline, Aunt Shauna and Uncle Lynn, and baby Charlie) to the Olive Garden to have dinner. Unfortunately it was Friday night and so the Olive Garden was a little busy. It took about an hour and a half for us to get seated. The food was OK, but I was reminded of how much I was missing German salads. The Olive Garden salad has always been one of my favorites, but it just doesn’t compare to the side salad served at Schützenhaus. I guess I was starting to get a little homesick for Germany.
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Too Short and Too Long
The plane ride home was uneventful. There were no missed flights, no difficult connections, and no difficulties getting to our car or getting home from Frankfurt. The worst part about coming home was…wait for it…the jet lag. By the time we got back to Germany we had all pretty much adjusted to mountain standard time. Now it felt like we were waking up in the middle of the night to go to work and go to school. Yuck! Middle of the night or not, we did get up and go on Monday. Even now, more than a month later, it still doesn’t feel like we have quite adjusted. We do fine, sleep wise, but even though the pace of life has slowed down considerably recently, I still don’t feel like we have quite gotten caught up. There has just been too much craziness since September.
When we got home our friends all asked us about the trip. We told them honestly that it was a lot of fun, and wonderful to be with family, but that we were very glad to be home. A friend from church summed it up best when she asked, “Was it too short AND too long?” I think the answer to that is a resounding YES! That is exactly how it felt to come home; we had spent too long away and we had come back far too soon.
Zig-Zagging Thoughts
We had a very nice tree for Christmas this year. It was a live Blue Spruce (at least until they cut it down) and it had very solid branches. The kids had to put many ornaments on the bottom-most branch in order for it to hang all the way down to the ground. Why all of those ornaments needed to be on the same branch is beyond me, but I was very impressed by how well that branch withstood the abuse.
We created a new word at Christmastime this year: floornament. Each of the kids has a special ornament that Mindy bought for them specifically so that they could have an ornament to play with (it made her nervous to have them grabbing at the more precious ornaments that adorn the tree). These ornaments are large enough that even the branches of the might Blue Spruce cannot support them well. That being the case, we usually just keep those three “play with” ornaments on the floor under the tree. This year it occurred to me that these are no longer ornaments like those on the tree. No, there were floornaments because that’s where they belong.
Since returning from our Thanksgiving visit we
have consciously tried to slow the pace of life. During the entire Christmas season, the only “thing” we did was take a single trip to the Heidelberg Christmas Market. Other than that, we have done our best to minimize our efforts and our commitments. You might have noticed that we didn’t even send out Christmas Cards. We did visit with several friends who were having Christmas get togethers, but for most part we have just hung around at home. It would be difficult to express just how wonderful that has been after all the craziness of the previous months.
For New Years we bought some traditional snack foods and we all stayed up until midnight. We had gotten the kids all ready so that as soon as we had yelled “Happy New Year!” we could send them all off to bed. I had forgotten, though, about the fireworks. Everyone, or so it seems, lights fireworks in the first few minutes of the New Year. After a few moments of listening to the cacophony outside our house, it occurred to me that Sara, whose bedroom is in the very top of our house, has a window that is high enough that we could probably see some fireworks from there. I grabbed Sara and we dashed up the stairs, climbed into her bedroom, and threw open her bedroom window. The view was SPECTACULAR! I have never been witness to such a display! We called to the boys and soon all three kids were crowded at the window enjoying fireworks such as we have never seen.
I think I would also like to comment on teeth. Cory lost his very first tooth this week and the significance of that milestone was not lost on him. If the stories I hear are true, he did about 5 minutes of the happy dance before he even tried to stop the bleeding. Mose, our oldest, also lost a tooth this week. He had a cavity in one of his molars, which just happened to be the tooth that was loose. Well that poor tooth cracked in half the other day and one half came right out. Unfortunately for Mose, the other half was not so cooperative. Mindy was able to get it out, but that did not result in a happy dance from Mose. Just the other day we were all together in the van and it occurred to me that loosing teeth had become the topic of choice anytime there was a chance for a family conversation. I sat and listened for a moment to everyone else and everyone was talking about teeth! There was no talk of politics, religion, school, gossip, television, or Prussian history. Perhaps we have finally found a topic of family discussion that we can all sink our teeth into.
