Strasbourg Christkindelsmarik

Today we got to explore StrasBourg "The Capital of Christmas."
This market is a dream come true for Christmas lovers like us.  The Christmas market has 11 different markets.  Strasbourg goes all out decorating for Christmas.

As we arrived at the market it was starting to snow.
I captured this beautiful Honey Suckle Bush.  It's Beautiful.

My sweetheart and I had an entire day just to ourselves.
Jeremy had taken leave and all the kids were in school.
So we drove the 2 hours to France to attend one of the largest Christmas Markets.

I thought this chair was super unique.  It doesn't look that comfortable to sit it?
But it sure looks cool. 

It's so cool to see the different items for sale in France vrs Germany.
The first market we went to was Cookies.  That's right an entire Christmas Market full of cookies.
YUMMM!!!!  No body does pastries and goodies like France. 

Look at all these delicious Pastries.  It's a good thing I do not live in France.
I think I would gain all that weight I worked so hard to loose.  

I just loved this little booth.  It was a bunch of different flavors of chocolate Ginger bread men.
Each one was a different flavor and design.  Some seriously talented people out there.
The chocolate was pretty yummy too.  They had a couple fountains one with Dark Chocolate (my personal favorite) one with milk chocolate (Jer's Favorite) and the last one was white Chocolate.   

You know just posing with a Gargoyle.  I love this Man of mine.  

Look at these scrumptious cakes.
We did not try them but they sure look delcious.

This is a booth dedicated to Chocolate-coated Marshmallow treats.
Jeremy and I think they are yucky.  But they must love them here in France.

Pretzel doughnut anyone? 

The shop keepers are really into decorating their shops.  It fun to see all the
different themes. 

This year Strasbourg hosted another country and it was Portugal.
Jeremy and I had so much fun shopping and experiencing Portugal.
We Especially loved the food here.

Tina and her Blue Bear.  AWE!

Look at this beautiful Christmas Chandelier. 

Each ally had different lights and decorations.  

I think we need this bench for our house Jeremy. 

This tree was huge.  It was about 30 Meters in Height.
That's about 98 feet!

These two feed a lot of people with the ginormous pans.
We just had to try some of these potatoes.

The potatoes were delicious.  Just like dutch oven potatoes.
I'm not sure what the sauce was? but it was very tasty.

The Cathedral looks majestic at night with the fog. 

And...  The Market.

There has been heightened security because of all the attacks here in Europe.
It's crazy to see Police and Military members all over patrolling trying to make sure we are safe 

Trierer Weihnachtsmarkt

Jer and I in front of the Prota nigra in Trier.

The beautiful Porta Nigra in Trier

The City Centers are always decked out with a huge Christmas tree
and lots of lights.  We hit the market right when it opened so we didn't get to see
it all lite up.  

You can find these guys all over Europe.
People dress up and paint their entire body to earn a dollar.
This guy was pretty awesome.  When a Euro was placed in his bucket he did a little movement with his body
and wand.  It looked really awesome.  I can not imagine standing there all day just waiting for someone to
give me a couple Euros.  But they do look really awesome. 

Trierer Weihnachtsmarkt

I love that you can see all the building behind the Christmas market.
It really makes these markets magical. 

I was really surprised when we went to the market first
thing in the morning and it was still busy.  Not as crowded as at
night but I was expecting it to be dead.  Nope.  There is never a dead time at a Christmas Market
At least not that we have seen.  

I love all the Christmas market food.  Here is Jer getting us some Churros.

Me and my LOVE.
Christmas Markets make the best dates.

I really loved the mugs this year.  I like it when the mugs have the markets name.
We had to get the Kartoffelpuffer.  We tried this new dessert called Germknodel.
It's a yeast dumpling filled with cherry sauce and topped with a cream sauce with cherries.
It was so delicious. They had chocolate ones, and ones with just poppy seeds. 

Here you can see the Germknodel filled with Cherry Sauce.  YUMMM

Saarbrucken Christkindl-Markt 2016

Our first Christmas Market of 2016.  We attended the Saarbrucken Chirstkindl

Here are my boys at the Saarbrucken Christkindl-Market
It's kind of fun that this was the town Kayden served his Mini Mission.

I loved these little barrels with tables and benches. 

Saarbrucken had the cutest snowman mugs, Kayden drinking
Kinderpunch.  YUMMM... I think he is pretty cute too.

Beautiful Brooklyn eating Churros.  

My handsome Man and his Snowman Hot Cocoa.

I love how even the garbage cans are decorated at the Christmas markets.  

My beautiful family waiting for Kartoffelpuffer

I love Kartoffelpuuffer

Santa Clause is coming to town.

Only in Germany can you see huge Ketchup and Mustered hanging from the stall for all the brats. 

Saarbrucken has a couple Christmas Markets.
 We were crossing the bridge to head to the one on the other side.

Chandler LOVES the cotton candy.  I love this face.  Pure Heaven. 

Kayden was looking at the knives and ended up cutting his finger
so he made a smilie face to join our family.  So here we are posing with our new family member. 

It's so fun to try all the new foods.  Jer and I sharing a sausage. 

The town center had this huge beautiful tree and a bunch of light pictures.  

I love all the live music from local artists.  

Thanksgiving with The Kinsmans and The Gingerich

I do not have a lot of pictures for Thanksgiving this year.  We were not even going to celebrate it because we had a vacation planned to Dresden.  But I had a Mother to be who was going to deliver any time so we cancelled our plans and waited for a sweet baby to arrive.  The Kinsmans invited us to join their Thanksgiving.  I was so very grateful. And we had a blast.  

It was a beautiful Thanksgiving with some new friends.  

Tuesday night we got to watch cute Amelia while her parents went out on the town.
She helped us make the cute designs for our pies.  

Chandler, made his very first Pie.  He wanted to make PUMPKIN.

Can you see the smoke coming from the beaters?
He nailed it.  Way to go buddy.

You know quality control.  Its important.
No, don't worry the beaters did NOT go back into the bowl.  Ha!

Chandler's Beautiful Pumpkin Pie. 

This is one of the only pictures I took this Thanksgiving.
The kids had already ran into the house.
I didn't even get a  family picture. Ugghh Not my best Thanksgiving.

This was one of the kids favorite games this Thanksgiving.  I need to buy this game.

Here are the appetizer. Yumm
The day was filled with eating yummy food and playing lots of games.
It was just perfect!!!   

Sarah & Dennis Kinsman and Jer and I playing games.

This was one of the best photos of the night.  We all laughed so hard playing this game our tummies hurt.
That pretty much sums up the day.  Lots of laughter and just fun...  

There was a shortage of PIES.  Ha!
This year I made Choclate Pecan, Triple berry pie,
Jer made his coconut creme pie and Kayden made another pumpkin pie.

Here is most of our group.
Feeling blessed this year to be surrounded by wonderful friends.

The Kindsman
Dennis, Sarah, Denny, Emily, Jacob, and Benjamin

The Gingerich
Reuben, Dani, Morgan, Sam, and William