How were your holidays? Ours went something like this.

As my Dad pointed out it had been six years since all four girls were together in Melbourne for Christmas. And with six years came the addition of five new people to the table. There was more food than any of us could possibly contemplate eating, naps for everyone in the middle of the day, good wine, bonbons, bad jokes and even a Christmas carol or two thrown in at the end of a long but wonderful evening. And at the end of it all we attempted a photo of Nanou and Dapa with the grandkids. I'm hoping that someone else might have got a good one of them all, although the silly one will perhaps always be my favourite.

Christmas Treats

I have been itching to make things for Christmas for weeks now. If my sewing machine and box of crafty treasures was with me and not in some container somewhere on the Pacific Ocean I'd have perhaps made something like this for our fireplace or a few of these for our Christmas tree. I might even have made a stocking for E and some little boxes for storing her toys. But such lofty goals will have to wait for next year. This year it's all about simple.

**A note to my family: If you think you might be getting a stocking present from me this year and still want it to be a surprise on Christmas Day, don't read any more!**

Some Christmas paper, bought on the mandatory "new home" trip to Ikea.

Cut and pasted onto old jam jars filled with a Christmas inspired granola, based on this recipe here

And because you're never too young to start enjoying the making and creating that comes with Christmas, some labels, made by E (with a lot of help from her Mama) inspired by this post here.

All culminating in some very delicious, but oh so simple, homemade Christmas-y goodness ready to be sprinkled onto yogurts, fruit and other breakfast-y kind of things on Christmas Day.

All I want for Christmas

I've been trying hard not to jinx anything by not thinking or saying too much about it, but since Sunday night I've been watching the weather forecast and checking the status of central european airports with a fervor usually reserved for meterologist and farmers.  Lucky for us, Matthias' flight from Bangkok departed at the scheduled time on Tuesday night and he arrived safely back in Berlin on Wednesday morning (phew).  It also looks like we'll be able to fly to Vienna tonight and my sister will make it to Vienna on the train from Geneva. Our little family will be celebrating Christmas together.

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday, that your families make it through the snow and if not, you find yourself a warm place full of good cheer to enjoy the holiday.

Weihnachtsmarkt

The Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas markets) are one of my favourite things about Christmas in Germany.  Over the weekend I ventured to the one at Gendamenmarkt.  Everything was sprinkled with snow from the fresh fall we had overnight and even though it was freezing (-10 Celcius) there were plenty of people about warming themselves up with Gluhwein (mulled wine) and apple cider and tasting all the yummy sweet treats that were on offer.  I only stayed for a little while before my toes and fingers began to complain about the cold.  The last photo will do your head-in it's so blurry, but I love the lights so despite being horribly out of focus it made it to the blog!

Christmas Cheer

After a bit of a longer recuperation time than I was planning on having, I'm back up and about and feeling much more in the mood for Christmas.  Remember how I said I was going to make a wreath months and months ago?  Well, this weekend I finally finished it. I attached a few of the glass baubles I bought for my "tree" using bobby pins, added a few red berries and attached it to our apartment door.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I've decided to not go all out on the decorating for Christmas this year.  Matthias doesn't get back to Berlin until we head to Vienna for Christmas and the thought of hauling a tree through the snow and up five flights of stairs just for my enjoyment wasn't that appealing. Instead I've opted for this.

The red berries I picked up from the florist and are sitting in a vase filled with silver baubles. The birds are part of an ever-expanding collection of Christmas Tree decorations that I've slowly been adding to along the way.  I did take a photo of the whole thing, but I totally fudged it so you'll just have to trust me that it looks good.  And that's it! Well, as long as you don't include our statue of Nataraja who, in a spot of cross-cultural celebration, currently has our presents sitting under him.

Four sleeps to go...