Holiday Menagerie

Hi!  How are you?  Did you have a good holiday weekend (those of you in the states that is)?  Did you get any good Black Friday Sales or Cyber Monday sales.  I am still working on my shopping.  I am doing all my shopping on line this year.  It just seems easier to have it all shipped to the house than trying to hide it in the car without someone seeing it or getting it into the house.  Today, I feel totally in the Christmas spirit.  Maybe the weather has a little to do with it or the the Christmas music our Amazon Alexa accidentally played when she misunderstood my command, but I am in the mood.  I am looking forward to attending a few Christmas markets in the next couple of weeks and watch some holiday movies with the children.  The younger ones are finally at the age were they seem to be able to sit for more than 20 seconds and are beginning to watch shows that are not Paw Patrols or Daniel the Tiger.  The other day I watched the parent trap with the girls and they totally loved it.  OK, so now on to the photos in today's post.  We made some Christmas cookies to give to some friends this weekend.  I just adore Martha Stewart's Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies.  I am sure I have posted about them before, but they really deserve another mention because they are always so well received. This weekend we went to see Paddington 2 since it was pouring rain outside which left us with very few options of things we could do.  Huge Grant was a riot in the film.  I actually liked it better than the first one.  Not pictured here is us skipping on Thanksgiving dinner.  I gave myself a pass this year.  It isn't a holiday here in Germany and well the kids had too many activities that day.  It just seemed pointless and the kids didn't mind.  My 10 year old actually told me he hates turkey.  Do you know that the German Florentine cookie is my favorite.  I am actually not even sure it is called a Florentine.  I mean the bakeries around here call it a Florentine, but when I google recipes none of them look like this. I may just go to the bakery and ask them for the recipe. I just think the combination of nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit is perfection. Next up my husband and Addy participated in her class craft day where they made Advent stockings. I think he did a pretty good job sewing the thing up given he has never sewn in his life.  Last but not least, we spent a fun evening this past week making Christmas cookies with some friends. We just adore this family and we are so grateful for their friendship.  Well, it is late here in Germany.  Baby it is cold outside and I have to run before all the cyber deals are over. Wishing you a fantastic week ahead!