Holiday Blog Swap

If you havent heard, Wife on the Roller Coaster from Riding the Roller Coaster is hosting a MilSpouse Holiday Blog Swap. This is my very first blog swap and Im really excited about it. There are some great bloggers participating, so be sure to check them all out. Just stop by the Wife's blog to see them all. I cant wait to read everyone's posts, which are all about Christmas.
You can find my post on how the military has affected our holiday seasons over the years on Nicole's blog at Flip Flops and Combat Boots. 

Im hosting Katie F. from The Life of an Army Wife. Katie is an Army wife from Wisconsin and new momma to a beautiful little five month old girl. Stop by her blog to find out more and to see some photos of her little cutie!

Here's her post:

Hello. My name is Katie F and I write over at The Life of an Army Wife. I love the holiday season. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I love listening to Christmas music, driving around looking at decorations and the warm fuzzy feeling you get curled up in your living room with the ones you love enjoying the lights of your Christmas tree

My family is big on traditions. My parent's made Christmas so special and I knew that I wanted to do the same for my kids. Now that our daughter is here we went all out for Christmas this year. The last few years we have gone home to WI to be with our families for the holiday's. This year a 17 hour drive with a 5 month old was out of the question so it will be our first Christmas just the three of us. While it's sad knowing we won't be going home for Christmas I am excited to start our own family traditions along with incorporating some of our families traditions.

One major tradition my family did was giving us a new ornament each year. Every year in the beginning of December my parent's gave us a new ornament to put on the tree. They always had some sort of meaning or represented us in some way whether it be a ballerina ornament or a high heel, it was always special to see what my parents had picked for us. And now 27 years later I have 27 ornament's to hang on my own tree. The hubs and I decided to start this tradition with our daughter and a few weeks ago headed to Hallmark to pick out Baby's first Christmas ornament. It is hanging proudly on our tree and our family member's have even joined in our tradition and purchased some ornament's for her

Other traditions include going to church on Christmas Eve, cooking a big meal for us to enjoy. A traditional turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas eve and a traditional italian dinner on Christmas day. 

Traditions are meant to be passed down and shared with one another. That is what makes Christmas so special for us. Sharing them with our daughter along with starting our own new traditions. Traditions that will last a life time and that will hopefully be passed along to our grandchildren. So even though we will be far away from our families this year they will be close by in spirit. What sort of traditions do you all enjoy during the holiday's?

I know one tradition I plan on starting is The Elf on a shelf. When Gianna gets a little older I think it will be such a cute experience for her. I see so many people blogging about it that I can't wait to start it. 

The most important thing of all however is that we will be together this Christmas. Celebrating the holiday's when your loved one is deployed is always hard and it has taught me to never take time together for granted.


Thank you for your great post Katie!


What are some of your Christmas traditions?

It must be guest blogging week for me....

Today I am a guest blogger over at Juli's blog, It's A Dog Tag Wife Life. If you havent checked out her blog, you really, really should. She is adorable, about to get married and features some yummy recipes on Tuesdays. Plus she has the most adorable pets!

Today Im talking about the differences between a Christmas spent in the States vs. one spent in Germany. After the holiday hub-bub settled down I was able to sit and reflect on how this year was different than my twenty-seven last Christmases. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Wednesday!

Secret Santa Gifts!

 I participated in two Christmas blog swaps this year. 

The first one was a Secret Santa sponsored by Wife of a Sailor. 

My gift came a few days after Christmas (which is why Im blogging about it now). 

I was so excited to open it, but that was nothing 

compared to my excitement AFTER opening it! 

My Secret Santa was Sam from Life's a Dance. 

If I didnt know any better, I would swear she a) already knew me, 

b) called my husband for ideas or c) is my long lost BFF. 

That's how well she did! 

When I saw everything I started jumping up and down and screeching

while trying to tell J what all was in the box.

So here's what I got: (AKA, the perfect presents for me!)

A super cute card with a 10$ gift certificate for a Kindle book, PUMPKIN SPICE coffee,
Carmel coffee, caramel macchiato creamer, a reusable travel coffee mug & 2 scrapbook paper kits! 

Not the best picture, I know, but YUM! International Delight is my favorite creamer brand!!!

When I saw this I swear I broke out into chills and
a tear came to my eye. 

I cant wait to try this!!!

She really spoiled me. 
Sam, thank you, thank you, thank you! You did a GREAT job!
So great in fact, that my husband was a little jealous.
He always does a fabulous job at gift giving,
but he did not get me pumpkin spice coffee!
Ha!

The second swap was an ornament swap hosted by
The Mrs. at Trying our Best.
My gift was from Sespi at And You Never Did Think.
I received a snowman ornament and some yummy cookies
in the cutest Christmas tin.
No pictures because the ornament broke in transit. =(
But I could tell that it was a super cute snowman.
Thank you Sespi!

These were really fun to participate in so I will probably play again
next year. I hope everyone's holiday's were lovely!
Happy 2011! 

Our Christmas Eve Party...and how I almost ended up in the ER...

First of all I want to say hello to my new followers. We've reached 100! Woohoo! I will be hosting a giveaway very soon, so stay tuned!

So how was everyone's Christmas?

We stayed in Germany for the holidays, making it the first Christmas that either of us had ever spent apart from one of our families. It could have been weird, but thankfully we have a great group of friends here who helped us celebrate and we ended up having a wonderful Christmas.

We hosted a Christmas Eve party at our house. It was our first party in our German home and turned out to be a great success. Except for the fact that I almost cut my fingers off, but Ill get to that later.
Our idea for a Christmas Eve dinner party started off small with only about 10 people invited. Our house is tall and narrow, not really big enough to fit a ton of people for dinner, but somehow our little dinner party grew to 21 people, 18 of which showed up. We made it work.

I baked and prepped for several days prior to the party. On the menu was:
Two baked whole chickens
Homemade Gouda Mac & Cheese
Sourdough Bread Turkey Sausage Stuffing
White Christmas Chili
Crescent Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Cornbread
Chocolate Snowballs
No Bake Cookies
Striped Delight
Cookies and Cream Fudge
Puppy Chow

Our friends were awesome and helped out. They brought:
Ham, Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Apple Vegetarian Stuffing, Goat Cheese Dip and Asparagus Rolls.

Doesnt all of that sound delicious?! It was! J & I have been enjoying the leftovers. Ill be sharing some of the recipes with you over the next few weeks.

Now onto the finger cutting and my almost trip to the ER...
Cut #1: While I was cutting up the sourdough bread for the stuffing, I was distracted by J & Reese. I sawed right into my left thumb. Through the fingernail and into the skin above. It looked horrible, and bleed off and on for the rest of the night, but it didnt even hurt when it happened. I probably could have used a stitch, but I used super glue instead.
Cut #2: About an hour before the party started I opened the cranberry sauce (yes, it was from a can and yes, I like it, so no judgement please). I was holding the can, attempting to empty it, when I turned my head to talk to J. Somehow my pinky (on the same hand as the other cut) came into contact with the open lid and sliced it. Major ouch. This one hurt like hell and while short, it was very deep. It literally bled for over six hours straight. I tried holding pressure with my hand over my head, holding an ice cube on it, using a pressure dressing- all the tricks I knew, but nothing would stop the bleeding. I knew I needed stitches- three or four- but I really didnt want to go to the ER on Christmas Eve! I finally remembered that I had some steri strips and used those to help close the wound. I put a bandaid over it and went to bed hoping I didnt bled all over the sheets during my sleep. All this for a little cut on my pinky! Thankfully the steri strips worked and I didnt have to go to the ER the next morning, despite needing stitches. Next Christmas I think Ill ask J to cut the bread and open all of the cans!

It was our first true White Christmas as we still have about six inches of snow on the ground, topped off with an inch of ice. On Christmas Day we slept in, opened presents, ate lunch and went over to a friends house for food and games. We came home, video chatted with our families and played our new Wii game while drinking wine and eating cheese & olives. We had a fantastic time. While we missed our family and friends from home, it was a great Christmas!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

German Christmas Markets!

One of the best things about living in Germany in the wintertime 

is getting to go to the Christmas markets. 

Before moving here I had heard all about them from 

friends who lived here. 

I didnt know quite what to expect, but I couldnt wait to

start going to them! 

I've been to five now and I can say that they are

a lot like the wine festivals.

There are booths selling food, drinks & souvenirs. 

Each of the larger markets usually has something that 

makes it special or different from the rest, 

but in general, they are all about the same. 

I dont consider this a bad thing since I 

love going to them! 

Although each market sells some of the same things,

you can usually find something unique at every market.

My first Christmas market experience was in Baden-Baden.

J & I had been there before three years ago.

It's a gorgeous town, famous for it's spas.

The shopping and gardens are also big draws for tourists.

The Christmas market was on the walkplatz in the main shopping

district. I went the day after Thanksgiving with three

girlfriends. It was snowing and cold, but we had 

fun anyway!

Booths selling everything from hats to ornaments

Pretty walkway with hand painted glass "windows"

The above windows were so pretty, as most were, and then we saw this one....

I had to take a close up of what is supposed to be Baby Jesus. 

We couldnt stop laughing!

It looks like a small, naked man, not a baby! 

And his "pose" is so... suggestive!

We werent sure if this was intentional or not, but it was 

funny nonetheless.

The gorgeous casino in the background. It's the oldest casino in Germany
and very elegant. 

A very festive booth

Candy! Chocolate!

My favorite booth..... CHEESE! 

Cookies, jams, jellys

Advent calender

Gluhwein booth

Im not a fan of Gluhwein, which is basically
hot, spiced red wine.
Red wine is supposed to be room temperature
or even a bit chilled, not steaming hot, at least for me
to drink it.
I do however LOVE Kinderpunch which is usually
a mixture of apple cider, orange juice and spices, served steaming hot.
It tastes like spiced apple cider, but better! 

I love how the hotels and restaurants all get into the holiday spirit!

Snowy landscape

My next Christmas market was in Landstuhl, a town close to base.
It was a very small market and did not have very many booths.
I have to say that this one was a bit of a disappointment,
especially after Baden-Baden.
Sinter Klaas was there though and for 2 euro you could
have your picture made with him and
receive a Gluhwein.

 Later he put on his hat (looks like a bishop's hat doesnt it?) 

and handed out ginger cookies. 

 After the Landstuhl market we went to the market at 

Burg Lichtenberg. 

J & I have been to this castle before and 

I've been meaning to write up a post on it. 

It's a gorgeous old castle in a town called Kusel, 

which is only about 20 minutes from us.

This was a medieval market and while I didnt buy anything 

(but food), it was a very unique experience. 

The workers were all dressed in medieval dress and the 

souvenirs sold here were of the sword and chainmail 

variety.

Because it was SO cold that evening, I hated to 

take my gloved hands out of my pockets to take pictures, 

so I only have a couple. 

Here is my favorite one... 

It's some type of pastry, like a churro, that was cooked

over a coal fire and then rolled in sugar and cinnamon.

It was AMAZING!

Last weekend J & I went to the Mannheim Christmas market. 

It is one of the largest markets in our region with over 200 booths!

We found some great Christmas presents and a

couple of things for ourselves.

We loved this market because it had such a large 

variety of things to buy. 

This is where I discovered my love of Kinderpunch 

and in fact, drank 3 cups! 

J says he loves going to these markets for the food alone.

You can usually sample everything before you buy

and we ended up sampling A LOT here! 

By far, the best thing that we ate here or at any market was 

the sandwich pictured above.

It was seriously amazing. 

We had some trouble understanding the vendor's English, 

but we're pretty sure that the bread and sauce on this 

sandwich are made from hemp seed. 

He said it was perfectly safe to eat and wouldnt affect us at all.

He was right and wrong. 

It was perfectly safe but it certainly did affect us- 

after we ate it we immediately wanted more! =)

It was delicious! 

We're hoping to go to a different market each weekend.

There are still so many that I want to see!

I hope everyone is having a good week! 

Happy Thursday! 

To all the Scrooges out there....

*Sigh*...

Why, oh why can't people be more tolerant and less rude?

Let me explain....

Today, J & I put our Christmas tree up

and

started putting up our decorations.

We watched Christmas movies

(Elf, Just Friends, Christmas Vacation),

and listened to Christmas music.

We baked cookies and made a huge pot

of chili for dinner.

It was the perfect day!

I LOVE the holiday season.

From September through December

is my favorite time of the year.

I always put my tree up in November,

just as my mom has always done.

It's tradition.

You don't have to like it, but please, respect it.

I posted this today on FB, that we were

putting up our tree and enjoying the beautiful weather

Germany was blessed with today.

This was almost immediately met with sarcasm and disdain

from a couple of people.

I don't care what they think, but

I was surprised by their negativity and judgement.

I respect their right to celebrate when they want too,

if at all. I just wish they would respect mine.

Personally, I don't think Christmas decorations, movies, music, etc.

detract from Thanksgiving.

In my opinion, four weeks just isn't enough time

to enjoy the happiness that the holiday season brings.

I'm not skipping over Thanksgiving.

I'm simply celebrating the holiday season, the season that I love.

I believe that the decorations, etc. add to the festive feeling

that this time of the year has.

They bring J & I joy, and really, in the end,

that's all that matters.

Last year, J was deployed to Iraq during the holidays.

He loves this time of the year as much as I do.

This year he will miss Thanksgiving,

so this weekend was the perfect

weekend for us to put our tree up.

Regardless of our past and present situations,

the above applies to us every year.

We will continue to put our tree up in November

and listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies.

Because that's what makes us happy.

It's tradition.

And it's ours.

So what do you guys think? When do you begin to put up your decorations,

listen to Christmas/holiday music,

and watch holiday movies?

Even if your opinion differs from mine, I'd still like to know! =)

It's that time of the year again!

I love the Christmas Season.

LOVE.

The decorations,

spending time with family and friends,

decorating the tree,

baking the goodies,

the joy of giving and receiving,

and yes,

the Christmas cards!

This year I am ordering my cards from Shutterfly.

In past years I have ordered my Christmas cards

from other online sources

or bought them in a store

and wound up disappointed with the finished product.

This year I wanted something special.

Shutterfly is offering all Bloggers 50 FREE Holiday cards.

Free people, free.

I think we can all appreciate that.

To get in on this promotion, go here.

This will be our first Christmas away from both of our families

so I want a beautiful, meaningful Christmas card to send to them all.

Shutterfly offers so many different cards to choose from!

I was surprised by the variety of colors, designs and photo options.

I'm having trouble choosing just one.

I had it narrowed down to eight (yes, eight!) when I asked my husband

for his opinion.

Now we have it narrowed down to four

and I'm finding it nearly impossible to decide!

My favorites are:

(image via Shutterfly)

I love the candy cane writing!

(image via Shutterfly)

This one makes me want to sing Christmas songs

and I like the monogram.

(image via Shutterfly)

This one is so bright and happy and

reminds me of my favorite Christmas song.

(image via Shutterfly)

This one is elegant with lots of space

to write your own message.

I might just have to close my eyes and pick one

because I don't think I can decide.

I can't wait to start receiving Christmas cards!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas in September

It's time for my last Birthmonth giveaway!

My second most favorite month (after September of course)

is December.

J's birthday, Christmas, New Years, holiday movies, presents,

eating, baking, celebrations with friends and family, decorations.

I love it all.

And now that I live in Germany,

I'll get to experience the famous Christmas markets.

So, to get ready for the holiday season I've got a

Christmas themed giveaway.

Here's what you get:

Cranberry tart lotion and body gel

Two Yankee Candles in "Christmas Wreath"

A bite of German Chocolate

Two Christmas cookie cutters

Santa's Little Helper napkins

and what's in the box? ...

A Kathe Wohlfahrt ornament!

(Santa's a pilot of course! =)

Here's how to enter:

Be a follower of my blog (1 entry)

Follow my on Twitter @kmack143 (1 entry)

Blog about this giveaway (1 entry)

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite holiday movie is (1 entry)

Four ways to enter.

Be sure to leave a comment for EACH entry or it won't count!

The winner will be chosen by random.org on Sept 30th.

There are only 95 days left until Christmas!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from Paris...