New Year's and Nunleys

Our dear friends the Nunley family made the trek to Memphis from Cincy to celebrate the New Year with us. Sarah and Hannah were thrilled to be reunited with their buddies Abby and Audrey. Kim picked out an Elvis nutcracker for me to add to my beloved collection. He accompanied us to Beale Street for a night of BBQ at the famous Rendevous and some blues action at Rum Boogie Cafe. Other highlights were visiting the Peabody and witnessing the duck march, eating a Huey's burger and shooting fireworks at my brother's house on New Year's Eve.

T and Opa's house

We usually go visit T and Opa's house when we are in Arkansas for Christmas. Terri, Darin and Maggie were there and we had a nice visit.

Heading to the U.S. for Christmas

On December 18th, we were scheduled to fly to Atlanta via Dusseldorf, but our flight got canceled due to a snowstorm. We spent an extra night at the lovely Holiday Inn and made it to Mutah's house a day later than planned. She spoiled us as usual and we loved being reunited with my brother Jason, his wife Mandy and their two children, Jackson and Mallory. Aunt Pat and Uncle Jerry had a sleepover at Mom's before they flew out to Baltimore Christmas morning. Cousins Jenny and Bradley popped by for a visit as well! The Christmas Eve service at St. Mary's was beautiful and the girls were thrilled to be back in the USA! Santa brought Hannah a Nintendo DSI and Sarah got an ipod.

Nikolaustag

Germans celebrate "Nikolaustag" in the beginning of December. The night before, the kids polish a shoe or boot for Nikolaus to fill with treats. Oma came over that morning to play "Nikolaus" and brought socks she had knit that were filled with chocolates and euros!

Sarah's class party

Last weekend, the Schiff family who have twin boys in Sarah's class, invited everyone out to their home for a little celebrating. They live on a horse farm, so Sarah was naturally very excited about the event. The kids ate a nice potluck lunch and then got to brush the horses and go for a little ride. Their teacher, Herr Schuette and some of the parents were coaxed to get on the horses too!

Eystrup tree lighting

Hannah's third grade class recently sang at the annual tree lighting ceremony and sold cookies to earn money for their class fund. It was cold and rainy that day, but we enjoyed our small town's celebration anyway!

Wilde Sau

A couple of weeks ago on the first Sunday of Advent, Oma took all the family out to eat at a local restaurant. It was very yummy! We had goose, duck, Rotkohl (red cabbage) green beans, potatoes, Knoedel and Bavarian cream for dessert. The only thing missing was Thomas' brother, Hermann. He had developed a blood clot in his leg and had to spend a week in the hospital. After the meal, Sarah was a little distraught about the choice of meat and claimed she was going to be a vegetarian!