Our Christmas and New Year

Jaren decided he wanted to continue to work through the holidays so we didn't go home to visit family. I believe this was our very first Christmas that this was the case (aside from Jaren being in Iraq last Christmas). His work schedule wasn't too bad though. The Army takes all Federal holidays off and usually even throws in a 3 or 4 day pass. The Mon.-Wed. before Christmas, they worked half days and went home. Then we got a 4 day pass! Wahoo! Off to go visit the next best thing to family...friends!

We drove out to visit Jared and Jenny (Jaren's best friend and his cute wife). The drive to Kentucky was only supposed to take about 9 hours but we added an additional 2 hours to our trip with tolls going by Chicago, snow and freezing rain, holiday traffic, going home from work traffic, and accidents from bad weather traffic. Regardless of the less than pleasant drive down, we were really happy to finally hang out with Jared and Jen and their funny dog Charlie. We only took one picture right before we left and I can't even post it because Jared took it on their camera. Ours was already packed in the car. While their we got to see a booming metropolis compared to Sparta, WI. We watched movies on Jaren's new blu-ray player, Jared and Jaren played their computer game together, we ate lots of good food, and enjoyed a fun Christmas morning opening presents together. We were sad to leave and afterward I started bugging Jaren about finding a job at Ft Knox somewhat close to Jared and Jen. It's not likely though.

We stayed home New Year's Eve. We are probably really boring by some people's standards because we just watched several episodes of our new favorite show that is no longer airing...Stargate SG-1. Yes, we both like it and I know we're probably geeks for it. I think we paused right around midnight to kiss and say "Happy New Year". Then we finished the episode and went to bed. I thought it was a great night! The next day we went down to Madison to do a bit of shopping and looking around. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells (an hour north of Madison). They have an indoor water park so we ate dinner and played there the rest of the night. We decided to be adventurous and drive out to Milwaukee the next day to see Lake Michigan and tour the city. Our real excuse was that Jaren's favorite Italian restaurant, Carrabba's, is in Milwaukee (the closest one). We went there for a late lunch and then saw Lake Michigan, drove through the city, went to a cool museum, made a stop at Cabela's at Jaren's request, then drove the 3 hours back home. It was a lot of fun just hanging out with Jaren. I think we really need to have some kids soon though. Christmas morning just isn't as fun without them! All in good time. I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday season!

Christkindl Festival

Today I ventured out with my neighbors to another small Wisconsin town called Black River Falls. They were holding their first annual Christkindl Festival. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a festival of German Christmas. No one knows how to celebrate Christmas like the Germans. It’s thanks to German traditions that we decorate Christmas Trees, hang Christmas Wreaths and put Nutcrackers on mantels. Because of them, we bake Gingerbread men, open Advent Calendars, fill Stockings with treats and put Angels on-top of Christmas Trees.

Since the Middle Ages, German towns have held Christ-child markets, or Christkindlmarkt, in their market squares. The tradition of the Christkindl is known among German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and also Czech Republic, Italy, Liechtenstein and even some South American countries. Christkindl is a fairy-like being, dressed in a gold and white robe with a crown atop her golden hair. Depending on region and family tradition, either the Christkind (pronounced Kristkint) or “Der Weihnachtmann” (Father Christmas, also known as Kris Kringle and Santa Claus) will be the bearer of gifts for children on Christmas Eve.

During Advent, which runs approximately from our Thanksgiving holiday through Christmas Eve, rustic timber booths draped with fragrant evergreen boughs, line the town squares. It is here that vendors and artists sell items such as toys, blown-glass ornaments, cones of warm sugared almonds and steaming mugs of Glühwein (spiced mulled wine) to holiday shoppers.



This is a picture of Father Christmas (also referred to as the spirit of good cheer), Christkindl, and me...of course. These two teens actually went through an application and interviewing process to be this year's above mentioned characters.

There was a large tent set up with all kinds of booths with decorations, German food, handmade crafts, and baked goods. They also had a stage set up for performers that came about every hour or so.



There were also two reindeer and a baby camel to see. I just thought the camel was so cute that I tried to give him kisses (not really). He wasn't really having much of it and instead gave me lots of disgusting (revolting) stinkers. How kind of him. :)



They also had the traditional Santa Claus come around and I had to get a picture with him. He kept calling me "little girl" which made me feel a little younger. :)

I couldn't bring myself to eat any sauerkraut or try any Glühwein or German beer (obviously) but I did have my very first (whole) bratwurst. It was very tasty! I have tried bites of other bratwursts before but could never bring myself to eat a whole one. I quite enjoyed this one. Very delicious! I also tried my very first fresh-roasted chestnut. Considering I am not a huge fan of any nut other than peanuts and sometimes cashews...I didn't really care for it. But my neighbor sure liked them.

The Christkindl festival was a lot of fun! And it was nice to try some new things. I would have liked to have Jaren there but I still had a great time. Definitely another one of those things that enhances the Christmas spirit!

Winter Driving

Our winter has been very mild until this week. It was only just a few days ago that we started staying in the 20's and 30's during the day. Yesterday was our first day of snowfall that stuck to the ground. We only received and inch or so but it still made for several accidents. The local news reported that the county received about eighty phone calls mostly reporting minor accidents or asking for assistance on the road. I know that snow and cold temperatures make for slick road conditions but come on, eighty phone calls for maybe an inch of snow???



I was in the line to pass this accident (how on earth this guy managed to flip on his side driving straight...I will never know) and about 200 ft after I passed it I witnessed a car on the freeway overpass just ahead of me slide right off the freeway and roll over down the hill. Yikes! Maybe these Wisconsin drivers are over-confident with their winter driving skills or think that you can still drive like a speed demon with a thin layer of snow/ice on the road. I'm not a huge fan of driving in these types of conditions but I really don't mind it unless there are a bunch of idiot drivers on the road flying by. Hopefully this isn't a precursor to what the rest of the winter driving will be like. Drive safe everyone!!!

Thanksgiving

Jaren and I decided to just stay here in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. We invited another military family from our Branch to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. They have two boys ages 7 and 5 and a little girl around 1 1/2. This was our first Thanksgiving having it at our own home. I got cute plates and table cloths and even made cute little turkeys with candy in them for each place setting. Sorry, I'm lame and didn't take pictures. We decided to split up the food assignments. Among other things, I was in charge of all of the desserts and went a little overboard. :) I made a pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll (for Jaren), and a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake that was SO good. Only us adults ended up eating dessert and they didn't want to take a ton of it home so we had left over dessert for days...bad to have when you're trying to watch your weight. We also ate Thanksgiving dinner left overs for another three meals. I never got tired of it. It was all so good! After dinner and dessert we hung out for a while until the cute little girl was getting restless. Once they left, Jaren and I watched movies and enjoyed a quiet night together.

The following day we didn't get up and rush off to the stores for any good deals but Jaren decided it was finally time to get a Blu-Ray player. I said this would be his Christmas present and he agreed to let me wrap it. We also bought a couple of Blu-Ray discs and DVDs. Of course, when we got home the first thing Jaren did was take it down stairs to open everything up, plug the Blu-Ray player in and try it out. When I made a comment about wrapping it up for Christmas he simply said "Oh well". I have a feeling that he had no intention of letting me wrap it. Like he said...oh well.

The next night we drove over to La Crosse (the nearest "large" city) and went to see the Rotary lights they put up every year. You can drive through or walk around to see all of the lights and Christmas displays. Choirs and bands come to perform as well. It was a nice way to get in the Christmas spirit. Sunday I put up all of my Christmas decorations after church. Unfortunately, Jaren left Monday so we won't be able to get a Christmas tree. When he gets back , he'll be on the swing shift for a straight week and won't have time to get one then either. We'll just do without it this year.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great! Happy Christmas shopping!