Shortly after
Martinstag (the 11th of November), Quinn's day care had a 'Lichterfest' / Martinszug, where the children made and decorated lanterns. We all met at day care in the late afternoon, the older children had a short play celebrating St. Martin, and we lit the lanterns and walked around the block.
Quinn didn't really get the concept of holding the lantern, but he gave it a good try. I ended up carrying the load, trying to keep warm.
Martinstag is an especially important and beloved holiday in Eva's family...as the children (many years ago) all met with their lanterns, and the whole family later met for (what else in a German family) cake, coffee, bread, super huge sweet pretzels, and toppings for the bread.
Then it was finally time: for the annual Thanksgiving feast. While it is not very practical to celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany on Thursday, we had friends and family over for turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.
Quinn was especially excited that Nina could make the trip this year.
The bird this year was a bit smaller...only about 14 lbs, but it was just enough for dinner and a few leftovers. I used the carcass to make a great turkey white chili soup. Mmmm.
The bird was the best that I'd done, and in traditional Gould fashion, I hardly followed any recipes. Normally, this works, but my bourbon sweet potatoes really bombed. The cook in me loves going to the turkey farm near our home and picking up a freshly slaughtered bird.
All in all, it was a great dinner and event. Our thoughts were, of course, with our friends and family that weren't there, including the Colorado Gang, who were in the making their yearly homage to the mountains for Thanksgiving.
For those that are interested, the menu (and links to the recipies) was:
Quinn playing his favorite game, ABC's, with Nina.
...and Quinn baking with Nina. We can barely start cooking, and Quinn pulls up his chair and wants to 'help' us. Hands off the knives !
With the first Sunday of Advent, we got together with Tanja and Rene and made our own advent wreaths.
...and the Christmas tree. We skipped the tree last year: too much risk with Quinn crawling. We didn't think he could keep his hands off the tree this year, since he is such a curious little guy, but so far he has done well, and no ornaments have broken...
...more holiday pics later...
Here, I think Emily looks like she is dancing...
The 11th of November is St. Martin's day (Martinstag) and was the day of his entombment. Kindergarten children celebrate and reenact his funeral procession his day with stories and songs of his life (and the famous cloak story) as well as a latern procession.
There were at least 50 kids from Quinn's Kindergarten (and the daycare downstairs) and easily that many parents (if not twice as many). Quinn decorated his lantern.
Eva even helped out with the design by burning a hole in the lantern while trying to light the candle and stabilizing it. For as much fire that these kids were holding, there were no reports of fires in the area.
