Our Little Bakery

melting the chocolate



Chocolate covered corn flakes!

  It's Christmas Eve so I'm just going to assume that everyone knows I'm referring the limitless supply of Christmas cookies and sweets that overwhelm the month of December. In the U.S.--at least in the Owens' home--the vast majority of baking is done in the two or three days prior to Christmas and the entire bar is always full, and often overflowing, with everything from triple berry pie and lemon bars to chocolate crinkle cookies and fudge. The 6'3" walking stomach ensures we never have to worry about making too much :-)



Sugar cookie dough, chocolate, and almonds!



In Germany, however, the Christmas baking season is conducted in an entirely different manner! It kicks off the first weekend of advent as the cookie cutters come out of hiding and the Christmas tins are hauled into the kitchen. Each week we added two or three new treats to the ever-growing accumulation of Christmas goodies and just today we finished the last batch--something that resembled peanut brittle but with almonds and pistachios :-)



sugar cookies with sprinkles!



In the last few weeks though I've had so much fun making dough, cutting cookies, and slicing little goodies into cute squares and pretty little triangles. Mama and I also experimented with my American Christmas CD as we baked....she's still convinced several songs are straight out of the movie "Enchanted" and way too "Disney" to be Christmas music. Selina, on the other hand, can't stop singing "All I want for Christmas is You" :-) All in all, the time we spent together in the kitchen was full of laughs, jokes, and...calories!



Lemon hearts!



So, as you can imagine, we have quite the stash of yummy little treats hidden away, but in keeping with tradition, once something is finished, it's careful stored away in a Christmas tin and taken to Mama and Papa's room for safe keeping. Then, with afternoon coffee, special occasion dinners, and the arrival of guests, Mama takes a plate into the bedroom, fills it up, and allows everyone only two or three special treats. Of course this results in a furious race to the most coveted types but it also makes the little cookies that much more special :)



A month's worth of Christmas goodies!



I'm sure many people reading this will get to sample a few of my favorite German Christmas treats next Christmas but for now, I'll make sure I sample enough for everyone :)

Christmas with the Kids

Sounds like the title of a corny movie...but in reality, it's the title of a corny blog post! ;-) Several weeks ago, I received a package from home full of little bits of American culture to share with family during the Christmas season. Among them, were two different craft projects for my four siblings.

 

The first weekend of Advent was an exciting weekend for everyone as it proved that Christmas really was well on its way and I thought there was no better time to give them their little gift from Oregon. As soon I gave the okay, the kids tore into their packages each pulling out a small window decoration--and instantly comparing it to everyone else's :-) Samuel was thrilled with his penguin and quickly ran off to put him on the window. Jonathan decided he wanted to make one of his penguins a snowman...but in the end all worked out fine. And yes, I do realize that's a pretty lame excuse for a "craft project".

 









Last weekend, however, I brought downstairs four Christmas door hangers--or at least the craft kits to make them. After making all four kids promise not to argue or fuss during the process, we unpacked the foam and set to work on making Santa, snowmen, and a gingerbread man.

Between Selina's task to cover up the "made in China" written across Santa's arm, Christian's creativity with his snowman's scarf, and the endless search for the missing eye of Samuel's gingerbread man, we had a memorable and fun time! All four door hangers turned out very cute and all four kids turned out very pleased. I'd say that's as close to perfect as it gets.

Tickle Fight!!

With three little brothers, I'll admit this is only one of many tickle fights I've participated in..but this one had a little twist. Normally, the boys are all giggles and smiles as they pounce on me and try to find my ticklish spot. Well, to me, it usually feeling more like poking and rarely causes me to break into laughter, but to please the boys who are trying their very hardest, I usually go along with them and make the scene they are striving for.

This time, however, I was laying on the couch when Jonathan jumped on me and started tickling. Samuel soon joined in and Selina, with a grin, grabbed my camera. The boys laughed as I tickled back and squealed with pleasure as I attempted to protect my rib cage from their little fingers and it seemed to me that everything was as usual...

That was before Samuel grabbed my foot. My rib cage, neck, armpits, arms--doesn't matter and I can control myself and regulate my laughing. But the boys had never really gotten to my feet before...and with both of them on top of me, there was nothing I could do. I tried to somehow get my feet under me but I didn't have a chance and the boys, thrilled with their new discovery, were only that much more intent on attacking my feet--behind the screen of my camera, Selina found us to be quite amusing.

I was finally able to squirm out from under them and fall onto the floor--which, as you can imagine, only increased their delight. As soon as I got back on my feet and had both my height and my weight working to my advantage, I was quickly able to end the little battle--for this time!

I'll admit that sometimes having three younger brothers makes me want to pull my hair out...but it's moments like these that remind me how much I love them, how sweet they really are, and why I'm so blessed to be in such an amazing family :-)

The Joys of Biking :-)

Never in my life have I seen anything like it--and storms are something I'm fairly familiar with! Your typical rainclouds can be described as "dark" or "grey" but the clouds that caused me to gasp as I left school on Wednesday, were nothing other than the deepest of blacks. It certainly took my breath away and reminded me why I should always carry my camera! The only problem with these beautiful storm clouds, was that my route home sent me biking directly towards them.

Now, at this point, seeing the intensity of the clouds and knowing the bike ride home was a good ten minutes, the normal person would have doubled pace in a race to reach home before the sky opened up. But me? I was happily naive in my own little world. Pleased to be out of school, marveling at the beauty of the storm clouds, and listening to my music as I biked with not a care in the world.

I wasn't too far from home when I felt the first raindrop. Normally a little raindrop doesn't fase me--I'm from Oregon after all! But this wasn't a little drizzle, it was a big fat raindrop and wasn't alone. At first there were just enough raindrops to motivate me to pick up the pace. But as I reached the final stretch to my house, drizzle turned to hardcore rain and in one instant, the boy a few yards ahead of me, the two girls across the street, and myself all began peddling our hardest, clinging to the hope of making it home in time.

As I rounded the corner onto my street the sky opened up in a furious rain. I rolled my eyes and continued peddling. I'd dealt with my fair share of rain and this wasn't gonna kill me. Twenty seconds later, the intensity of the rain increased as the speed of the wind picked up and all at once I noticed it was no longer water pounding on my head, but hail.

In a very typical "Oregon wind" that blew the hail in all directions at once, the storm was raging and although I was only a minute from home, nothing could save me from the unavoidable soaking I was receiving. Nevertheless, I finally reached home.

I came bursting in the door out of breath and quite literally dripping wet. I was instantly greeting by a very sympathetic Mama and a ever-cute Sammi who handed me a towel to dry my hair--and then asked if I'd play Uno. :-) Still trying to catch my breath and pick the pieces of ice out of my hair and clothes, I took a rain check on Uno, but did of course warm myself up with a cup of tea :-)

For those of you who were waiting for the happy ending of snow, I'm sorry...I'm still waiting for that happy ending too. But I'm happy that even in what could've been a very unpleasant situation, I was able to laugh at the mess I'd become in 60 seconds on Grund Street and still have a great afternoon!

A World of Chocolate

Yes, this description could fit Germany in general--especially around Christmas time--but what I'm referring to is something a little more specific, a little more expensive, and unforgettably delicious--Germany's largest chocolate market! An international chocolate market to be exact, with booth after countless booth stocked full of every kind of chocolate bar and truffle you can imagine...and a few that I still don't know who would imagine. White chocolate and sea salt? dark chocolate chili truffles? Anyway, the vast majority was mouthwatering and to my delight, nearly every table had a bowl or two of samples.

 I went with three friends on Saturday night and by the time we got to the festival, the streets were already packed. Crowds shoved up behind those who'd made it right up to a booth and as soon as someone stepped back from their coveted position, another person would hurriedly step up to the glass. The crowded streets only added to the Christmas atmosphere though, and I thoroughly enjoyed navigating the crowds...but then again, I'd go Black Friday shopping every year if I could. :-)

You can't find a chocolate bar bigger than that!

Aside from the chocolate for sale, there was a variety of chocolate sculptures, chocolate artwork, and even the world's largest chocolate bar--of which I got to eat a small piece :-) I also recognized American English being used on more than one occasion. I finally whispered to Eva that Americans are so easy to find because they are always so loud and she laughed. We both laughed even harder not five minutes later when we walked by a group of college students drawing attention to their noisy behavior.Their accent was unmistakable and I just looked at Eva, shook my head, and said, "Americans."

The evening was so much fun and just one of a million things I'm so happy I was able to experience in Germany.

Sharing the Season

"It's here! It's here!" Anyone who saw my post filled with sentences in all caps and an abundance of exclamation points, would have quickly recognized my child-like excitement when I received my Christmas package from home. I wasn't expecting it for at least another two weeks so when Mama walked into my room with a big box thoroughly sealed with tape, I was taken my surprise and just like a little kid on Christmas morning, began my squealing and chattering.

 
I received the box only a few minutes before i had to leave for handball, so I decided to wait until I got home to open it so that i didn't have to rush through everything. Naturally, handball practice felt like it would never end but when I finally did get home, I got on skype with my family who watched me open there box of Christmas gifts and American culture :)

Weeks ago, as she was shopping, my mom had asked me for good gift ideas. I replied with several things--one of which was American napkins. Cute napkins are popular in Germany and I told her that if she could find ones with American flags that would be really cool because you can't get them  here. Well, hearing the story in context, I'm sure you understood that when I said "you can't get them here" I was referring to napkins with American flags. However, a few sentences on gmail chat didn't do such of good job of putting my statement into context. I had no idea my mom thought I meant that you can't get napkins in Germany until I opened the box and found over a hundred napkins in a variety of patterns and colors :-) At least napkins are popular here!


Exchange students have the most unique wish lists--and this was the BEST Christmas box EVER! ;-D


I'm also excited to start putting together the stockings that arrived in the box! On Christmas day, I'll be sharing a bit of my family's traditional morning by filling up the big red stockings and before breakfast, watching everyone open them in their pajamas. :-) I won't be forcing by family to come running into the living room at 5:00am sharp though...:-D

Now, trying to get a bit of German Christmas back to the States has been an entirely different and somewhat frustrating adventure! Back in October, I mailed box number one, expecting it to take 3-4 weeks. Nearly 7 weeks later, that box is MIA somewhere between Gomaringen and Coquille. Box number 2 was mailed nearly two weeks ago and who knows how long it will take. Yesterday, Mama and I went to the post office to mail box number three (why we ended up with so many boxes is another story ). She inquired as to why, after seven weeks, my box had not arrived. No one had any idea and reluctantly, we sent box number three on it's way. I'm beginning to think some grinch of a postal worker somewhere is snickering evilly as he fills his face with kilos worth of Germany's mouth-watering chocolate!

Now that all boxes have been mailed, I need to get to work on getting out a few Christmas cards!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Everywhere I go!!! I suppose this post would have been appropriate two weeks ago, but to avoid making my American readers jealous, I decided to wait until the Christmas season had officially begun on both continents (after Thanksgiving ;-).

Although the decorations have lined the shelves of every store since the end of October, on Sunday, the season became official with the beginning of advent and Germany was transformed into a beautiful world of red and green. In addition to the countless decorations and never ending supply of Christmas baked goods that can be found in nearly every house, Christmas paintings, window decorations, and a giant advent wreath suspended from the ceiling give my school a bit of Christmas spirit. I find it ironic though, how in a country far more liberal than the U.S., no one has a problem with the school's public display of an advent wreath.



Perfectionist or not, I was happy with the end result!



 

 My home began to look like Christmas last week when Mama and I made the advent wreath. Well, actually she made the wreath and I made a little decoration of greenery with a candle for my desk, but we had a great time looking through all the decorations being sold, deciding on which shades of green to use, and picking out the perfect candles. Mama did laugh at my perfectionist nature and told me that wreaths are supposed to be from nature and therefore won't be completely even or perfectly circular. I simply replied that with enough glue, anything can be perfect. I was happy with my tiny wreath by the time it was finished and despite the many attempts it took me, I had a great time making it.

As soon as the first weekend of Advent arrived, it brought with it a whole new level of Christmas festivities! Of course, our house became properly decorated and we made special Christmas cookies--but mama finally gave the okay for the season of Christmas music to begin! If you count the among of singing I've been doing around the house, that season started long ago, but at least now it's official. :)

As if the first week of advent wasn't enough just being with family and enjoying the pleasures of the season, Gomaringen had its annual Christmas market last weekend! I had heard so much about German Christmas markets and was so excited to finally experience the typical part of German culture that sounded so fun--and I wasn't disappointed! I went with Eva and the two of us walked around from booth to booth, bundled is jackets and scarves to keep out the chilly evening air. We purchased some fun snacks to nibble on as we wandered around and bumped into friends from school along the way. I had a hot glass of punch to help warm my hands and with it, got the 2011 Gomaringen Christmas Market coffee mug! It was a wonderful evening.

You might think that the Christmas season is a time that I might encounter a bit of homesickness as everything is so different and no one knows all the traditions that I've come to love with my family, but on the contrary, Germany + Christmas = absolutely amazing! I'm so blessed to have been able to experience "the best of both worlds" and will definitely be bringing back a bit of German Christmas culture with me for next year :)