Well, this will update you from my last post until now!

Christmas was quiet this year, but nice. We had a Christmas Eve service on Friday night and then had a meal afterwards with the church family who was staying around town for the holidays. That was really nice! Christmas day London opened a few presents and then Jason and I got to work preparing our Christmas dinner. We made turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and homemade rolls. Simple, but so yummy! Later in the day we Skyped with my family and opened up our stocking stuffers together, which was fun.

It is funny how the whole town shuts down on a holiday. In the U.S. all the stores are open full schedule except for December 25th. Here the stores are closed every Sunday (except restaurants) and holidays, and the days before holidays close way early (2 p.m.). This means making sure you have EVERYTHING you need to last you several days until the stores are open again and the day after a holiday it sure is busy!

On the 27th we borrowed David and Meg’s car and drove to Berlin to pick up Anna from the airport! She was SO exhausted from the long trip and we were all so happy to see her! London especially has been LOVING having Anna here. The first week she kept saying things like, “I love Nana the best!” and frequently asks about her first thing in the morning when she wakes up, “Where’s Nana?” We have had to rotate who sits by London at meal times because London can’t stop patting and “loving” Anna at the table and gets really distracted! I have loved having a buddy here during the day when Jason is at work!

The day Anna came

The day after Anna got here we took the train to Goslar, a medieval town in old West Germany whose Christmas market was still up and running, though it was the last day. It was a really cute town and we took a break from the cold and toured the medieval palace in town. It was really run down for several hundred years and used for grain storage until the late 1800s when they decided to renovate it to preserve the history. We took a picture by this really cool old door.

Getting warm in a German cafe

The first week of January was slow for Jason as the company classes hadn’t started back up yet. Now he is back into the full swing of things and we are on more of a normal schedule. We had a wonderfully relaxing holiday, though! Lots of staying in our pajamas and watching movies together and just good family time. With all the snow we had and all of the holidays with everything shutting down early (they also close everything on Jan. 6 here for “Epiphany”) it really forces you to relax!

I also had my 20-week doc appointment last week. Unfortunately, my doctor couldn’t tell the gender of the baby on the ultrasound. Everything is looking great, though, and I am feeling the baby kick and squirm all the time now! She said maybe next appointment she could see more... crossing our fingers!

I am now 21-1/2 weeks and definitely starting to look pregnant. Here is a pic!

Monday Anna and I had a tea party with London using the little teapot and tea cups London got for her birthday from Aunt Tina and Uncle Rob. She LOVED pouring the tea herself, adding milk and sugar, and didn't even eat her special pastry we got at the bakery because she was so into pouring her tea. It was SO cute!