Second weekend in advent #Germany #Christmasmarkets #Loveit

Nobody quite does Christmas like the Germans. And we've been lucky enough to grow up with many wonderful traditions that have come out of having a German mum. And one that I want to continue for as long as possible is visiting the German Christmas markets, which are cheap, cheerful, cold and simply super exciting for my own kids.

It all begins with the train journey, which you can only sum up in one word as: FAST. We zip through the French countryside at 200mph (322 km/h), covering the 500 or so km to Paris in 1h 45 mins. A speedometer on the screens in the train lets you know your speed at all times. For kids who love train journeys anyway (like mine), the train is the best start to the Christmas market trip. Having to change trains in Karlsruhe to get on a local regional train only makes it even better (as now trains can be compared).

Small Fry eating one of his birthday presents from his school friend

We travelled on a Wednesday as there is no school, and because the 6th of December is the feast day of Saint Nicholas (who lived in the early 4th century). Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and student! But it's his legendary habit of secret gift-giving that gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus (Saint Nick).

On the 6th, Saint Nicholas visited us twice - once in the middle of the village where the kids got cakes and the parents got mulled wine and sang traditional German songs (We Wish You A Merry Christmas in English has now been added), and then later at cousin Meike's house where the kids got a round up of their behaviour over the past year read from a special magic silver book (Small Fry has been brave at swimming but needs to close his mouth and say excuse me when he burps, while Fingerling has worked very hard at school but needs to listen to mummy and daddy). Thankfully the good was better than the bad and they each got a present. And of course Saint Nicholas speaks both German and English. Phew!

Meike's daughter Tabita getting her summary of the year. What do you know, she also needs to listen to her mummy and daddy more.

The girls getting their presents

Tante Helga reading the bedtime story 

The best bit had nothing to do with Santa, and more to do with the discovery of a massive Spiderman statue in the cellar where we were sleeping. Random but fun.

And of course there were the actual Christmas markets. First up, Karlsruhe's. 

It was absolutely freezing. So so so cold. It must have been around 0 or 1 degrees but with the windchill it felt about -5. Freezing for us, even colder for the kids who didn't have the benefit of a hot drink (because they were too cold apparently to drink the hot punch....anyway...)

A few things lifted their spirits though:

The ice rink

Santa Claus arrived on his sleigh. Fingerling LOVED it, jumping up and down in excitement. Ah, to be 3 at Christmas.

Santa Claus left on his sleigh with a splash of fireworks, and then we went over to meet him...and got MORE chocolate.

The decorations

And we had great company:

(plus Oma was there too)

We also went to the Speyer Christmas market. Equally cold but a little sunnier.

Toffee apples!

We also went to the artistic gymnastics end of year Christmas show at the local sports hall in Graben (where Meike is a coach). It was lovely to see the kids ranging from about 4/5 to about 18 perform. Reminded me of our old Monument Dance Centre show experiences from way back when. Although this one was even better for the kids as they played scenes from the old Disney version of Cinderella between each dance (that was the theme). And, of course, Santa Claus popped by again at the end and had MORE sweets for the kids. 

No wonder they like these German trips...

Anyway, the snow arrived across the whole of eastern France and the south-west of Germany and we escaped just in time, while poor Auntie Christina, Uncle Simon and Oma got stuck in Frankfurt for between 8 and 24 hours :( Another reason to love this super speedy train. 

The gift that keeps on giving:

Advent begins #firstweekend #busybutworthit #allhappensatonce!

It's pretty easy to have a busy weekend in Paris....calculate the transport time to get anywhere, the regular weekend activities such as swimming lessons and Church, grandma staying, a birthday party, a birthday experience as a present, the visit of a good friend, daddy away, and for the first time in 5 years (that I'm aware of), snow lying in Paris...and voilà, an action-packed weekend.

It started with the snow:

 ...which has fallen in central Paris before but rarely stays. But it honestly was freezing, freezing cold. Just remember that when I recount Sunday's activities...

And then there was that birthday party. Actually Small Fry's. This one was with his mates from school (too many to combine school mates and our mates for his real party a couple of weeks back). As I'm now at the 33-week stage, I decided to pay more money and have less to do, so we booked the soft play room and 10 little 4 and 5 year olds tumbled around for 2 hours while the parents sat and drank free coffee. A perfect birthday party I might add.

And then Sunday after Church, we got an open-sided tour bus that totally lied when it said the top floor was heated. Well it might have been but it made zero difference as it was at least -3 up there plus the old wind chill factor from the open sides. We lasted 40 minutes before we stumbled down the stairs to the only mildly warmer enclosed part. But we still had a great time and it was totally worth it. The kids also got to see the sites they would like to visit on Wednesday mornings when the weather gets warmer (Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Panthéon and La Defense) and they truly believed they had seen the whole of Paris. Good enough for me.

 As you can see, the weather wasn't great.

And the best bit by far for the kids was seeing the Eiffel Tower with its head in the clouds. So say the kids. "Phew" is what I say. In fact, when we go up it in January (tickets already purchased) Small Fry has already asked for it to have its head in the clouds. Hmmm.

The best bit for me? That wonderfully warm and sweet hot chocolate that we needed afterwards to defrost. It was a special treat for me as I shouldn't be having them, but I really, really needed heat and sugar. For about 3 seconds. And that was enough sugar for me. Funny how you adapt.

Daddy got home safely despite the freezing fog, mummy had a lovely evening drink with her young/old friend, and grandma did the swimming. Everyone's a winner chez nous.

And we all slept well.

Christmas cheer #startsearlychezus

Christmas is well and truly upon the G-K household...which is a-ok in my book because I love advent and all things adventy. And this year I had a good excuse to start early as we are finishing the school year early in order to get to Scotland the slow way (via London, the train, a Christmas show, and 2 nights with friends).

El Puma is SO proud of his amazing Christmas tree purchase. To be fair, it's a fabulous tree - our best yet (maybe that's what happens when you buy one on the first day they are available). It is big, busy and perfectly round, and we had great fun decorating it. 

Advent calendars are out, our Christmas cards are already on display and we have the advent wreath waiting to be lit.

And this morning we invited our friends round to make reindeer cup cakes.

Not bad, and it's not even December yet.

That time of year #Christmaslist #cakeyeshorseno

Maybe it's something the kids picked up from school, but both were very keen to write a list to Santa this year.

Chances of getting all the gifts on the list? Slim to none.

Luxury ride #that'swhatunclesarefor

Just because #heaskedforthephoto