HOLIDAYS
The holidays are almost over.  We had a nice Christmas here in the apartment.  We now have a modern iPad so I can skype with a camera and see videos that I get on the emails or facebook and we can take it to church because it has all the books that we use in church.  It is really a nice device, I love it.  Steve got a small electronic keyboard.  He will enjoy teaching himself music on these dark days.  We spent December 26th in Heidelberg and saw the inside of the castle on the English tour.  We took the funicular to the top of the mountain.  It was a nice cold day with no rain.  We will spend New Years with the Broo's and the Schrade's for dinner and fireworks.  There has been loud banging sounds the last few days from some kind of firecrackers and getting more frequent as the new year celebrations get closer.  Poor pets, Patch is already under his blanket.  They sound big enough to make holes in pavement.  They sell fireworks in the Penny grocery store!  Today, Dec 30th, we still have no snow and it is pretty warm with highs in the mid 40's on most days, lows in the mid 30's.  We have had a lot of cloudy and rainy days but today was sunny, cold and clear.  It seems to rain on most of Steve's days off.  Patch is slowly adjusting to not having Muffin as a companion.  He has called for her during the nights and looked for her but is now not doing that as much.

CHRISTMAS EVE
We had a wonderful family Christmas Eve with our good friends, The Watson's.  They invited us and the Sister missionaries over for the evening.  First we all walked to the local Catholic church in Wallstadt for a Nativity program that the children in Wallstadt do every year.  It was nice and there where a lot of traditional German Christmas songs.  Next we went to the Watson's for a nice meal.   We used a Raclette (small grill) on the table to cook a variety of good things individually.   We had cheesecake for dessert.   I made egg nog, it was all good.  We sang songs and the kids opened one gift, a book.

Ivy,  Robyn, Carly, Macy

Christie and Myles with the girls

Sister Holly Nufer and Sister Chloe Lehman with the Watson's.

Baby Ivy May and her sister, Macy.

The sister's made paper stars and home made braided bread for gifts.

Ivy's first Christmas and first gift to open.

MISSIONARIES FOR DINNER
I love to have the current missionaries for dinner.  Here is a picture of our current missionaries.  They always seem to get rotated so quick and we always miss them.  But then there are more that come into our lives and we feel blessed to get to know more of them.

Sister Nufer and Sister Lehman 

Elder Nelson

Elder Nelson and Elder Lietsalmi

WEIHNACHTSMARKT
We enjoyed the Mannheim Weihnachtsmarkt at night this week.  The Germans have lovely Christmas markets and they light up the downtown area very nicely.  It is a bit difficult to capture night shots but I tried.  It is always better in real life.

The Wasserturn area.

The pyramid has lights that change color, it is a pub they set up just for the Christmas market time.  The Water Tower is in the background.
There are vendors all around the park around the WasserTurm.

The Christmas shopping downtown and the stores all  bright with lights.

The area behind Englehorn store has an area set up for vendors too.
This area is decorated very nice too.

I like the orange stars and green lights on the trees. 

Another downtown shopping street all decorated with lights.

Germans have wonderful Chocolate stores.
This one has a light chocolate fountain in the back of this picture that looks like a castle and really large chocolate Santas.

My daughter loves Macarons and Marzipan.
I would send some to her in the states if I thought they would arrive in one piece but I think they would not be good after being in the mail.

Really nice and very large chocolate Wasserturm.

The Parada Platz also has food vendors and Christmas scenes for kids all around it.  The fountain has blue lights on it this year, very pretty.

The store windows have displays of stuffed animals doing things.
The children really love these window displays and they are different from last year so maybe each year they are different.
Steiff is the famous German company that makes stuffed toys.

SAD DAY TODAY December 23, 2013
Muffin my sweet kitty is gone today.  We figure she was 13 years old in September.  I had to put her to sleep today at the vets.  She had an incurable inoperable tumor in her stomach and she was suffering, couldn't eat, no nutrition was getting into her system, so it had to be done.  I am of course very sad.  She was such a sweet kitty.  Her brother Patch has never been without her and he will miss her too so very much.  When we first got these kitties, I had to bottle feed them because Momma Bella decided she wasn't going to be a foster mom any longer.  Muffin was always smaller than her brother Patch.  I will miss her, she was so sweet.

When we first got them, being bottle fed by me.   Sept 1999.

BIKE JERSEY's
Today's project was to change the zippers in my two old bike jersey's from short ones to full length two way opening zippers.  I really like the zipper in my new PV Bikechick bike jersey that opens all the way and from the top and the bottom so I decided to change my other two jersey's to also have that kind of zipper.  Here is the jersey I modified last June.

These two jersey's are from the early 1980's so I've worn them a lot and like them, they are cotton and much looser fitting than current styles.  Now if the weather gets nice again here, I'll go for a ride.  But right now, it being winter, if I do go for a ride I'll be wearing a lot more than a jersey or two or more.  I haven't ridden much this winter yet.   Last year when I rode I wore many layers, you can see them in that old post in the link here.
http://susanssmith2012.blogspot.de/2013/02/biking-in-kafertal-wald-park-on.html

My two altered jersey's for today's project.

Short zippers before

Long zippers now.

MOONRISE
The weather has been pretty warm for December.  For the last few days we have had some sun.  That makes the winter much more pleasant.  This is a moonrise at sunset from our apartment window.

From the kitchen window.  Our Christmas star we bought last year at the Weihnacht Market. 

From our living room window, our Christmas tree is up too.

SKIRT PROJECT
A good friend at church gave me more fabric that she had left over from other things.  I made this corduroy skirt and little purse for Robyn.  It is lined, has pockets, side zipper.  I hope it is a warm skirt for winter.

CHRISTMAS CANDY
Saturday we made some Christmas candy from the recipes that Steve's Mom used when he was growing up.  These are some of his favorites.  We had some help from our good friends Robyn and Macy Watson.   They helped us decorate the tins also.   We made fudge, caramels, pecan pralines and pretzels with white chocolate.  We put them into cookie tins and will give them to some friends for Christmas.  It was fun.