Frohe Weihnachten!

Hey All! It's time that you met the newest member of our Frankfurt Family. His name is Cree.

Isn't he beautiful? We got Cree in front of a supermarket a few blocks from our apartment. Brenda's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron helped us pick him out and even helped carry him back and decorate him. His name didn't come until the next day when, in her Christmas-fueled excitement, Brenda exclaimed, "Look at our Cree!". What she meant to say was, "Look at our cute tree!" Needless to say, we are totally in the Christmas spirit.

We had a great time with Ron and Marilyn while they were in town. As I mentioned last week, they came to two of Brenda's performances with several of their German friends. After the second performance we went out for a drink in the canteen attached to the opera house. At the stroke of midnight we all burst into a very operatic version of Happy Birthday in honor of Ron's birthday. Ron and Marilyn's German friends also had a birthday tradition they wanted Ron to experience. They sat Ron down in a chair and had four guys (myself included) each grab a leg of the chair and hoist him into the air three times. Ron wasn't expecting it at all and was surprised to say the least. Someone has a great picture of him as he's being tossed into the air but, unfortunately, I don't have a copy to show you.

The Nürnberg Christmas Market was really beautiful. There are a ton of shops, numerous eating options and even a teenage girl that has been selected to play the Christ child. Why baby Jesus is portrayed in Nürnberg by a teenage girl with long blonde hair is beyond me. We got to see her (or him?) talk, though, and she was nice enough to give all the kids some gingerbread.

Brenda and Marlar had their 2nd annual Christmas cookie bake off this past weekend. I played my role as quality control expert very well. I'm happy to report the cookies were delicious.

On Monday, Brenda and I head back to the states for a late Christmas celebration with our families. We are both really excited to go back. That also means that my next post will be coming to you from the US. Until then, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!