A Real German Christmas

I totally folded that star from 30 little sheets of paper without using any
glue.  Also, Paul gave me a Christmas gingerbread cookie-heart-placard.
It says, "For my Treasure Mouse."   ::aw:: Treasure Mouse!
And I call him, "My snail."  It's a German thing, okay?

Real German Christmases are mainly on Christmas Eve, and we definitely did that in style.  But, we were so caught up in the fun (and fooood) of it all, that I completely forgot to take any pictures.  But, you know, sometimes you don't take pictures because you just want things to keep going.  Pictures usually make everyone have to stop, pause, throw off "the groove" so to speak.  I didn't want to do that on Christmas Eve.  

Because you don't pause magicalness!

We were invited to spend Heiliger Abend (Christmas Eve/Holy Night) with our friends who I will call Awesome-Family-of-Amazing (or AFA) out at their appropriately awesome and amazing small farm in a little village.  I got to feed rabbits and see chickens again--I was so happy.  

And, People!  There was a whole meal that only consisted of 50 kinds of cake and hot chocolate!

Then we got to go to the 800-year-old village church and sing Christmas songs and watch a nativity play!  And I got to say, "Frohe Weihnachten" to the pastor who looked just like Jonathan Edwards (without a wig)!  

Also, the real candles made their real village church Christmas tree catch on fire.  REAL German Christmas Tree Fire!

Back at AFA's house, we ate another meal that entirely consisted of different kinds of BBQ'd meat (and potato and caprese salad)!  Yes yes yes!

And then we got to watch everyone open all their presents (you do that on Christmas Eve here) and then they even gave us presents (what?  overwhelmed!).  And I'm pretty sure that some of those presents they gave us were actual, for-real, hand-knit socks.  

And I'm like, "Sheesh AFA, way to make us forever indebted to your unbelievable niceness."

HAND-KNIT SOCKS! For cryin' out loud!

And finally, as if to cap of the incredible Germanness of it all, we all gathered around the German Tannenbaum as the German night slowly fell on the rolling hills leading down to the German Baltic Sea...

...and we played Uno.

Seriously, it ranks in my top five Christmases of all time.  Easily.