Christmas in Germany

WOW!! It was amazing to see so much snow. The country looked beautiful. I was totally mesmerised on our drive from the airport to Benedikts parents. I hadnt seen snow in over 10 years afterall!
We'd had a midnight flight which really didn't suit Nicolas as all the fuss and noise and bright lights at the airport woke him up in the middle of his nighttime sleep. And he was awake for 2 hours while we checked in and waited to board etc. And as soon as the plane took off he just let rip. I don't think we've ever heard him cry that loudly and with that much anger! Poor little thing was beside himself. It was very disturbing. After 30 mins of him screaming business class down, we thought his ears may have been hurting him so we gave him some calpol. And after another 20 mins or so he fell into a drug induced sleep. And then he basically slept through to 8am, waking only once for a quick bottle. But boy was that first hour stressful. Nothing we did soothed him.
One old man a couple of rows behind us even complained! Shame the air hostess really didnt want to tell us but she had to. She was lovely. They all were super helpful.

Benedikts parents were so happy to see their beloved grandson again. They'd kitted out their house especially for him. He had a lovely new playmat, a cool chair, new toys and clothes and a fancy bath station attached onto the bath.
The first day we were there we caught up sleep, ate lovely food and just chilled. The next day we got on with the important stuff: Shopping! We went to the Adidas factory outlet store of course and picked up loads of bargains. There are loads of other divine outlet stores (odlo, Salamon, Nike, Reebok, Asics, Puma etc etc! ) in the same centre so we shopped up a storm!
That afternoon we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber where the Grannies live. They were delighted to meet their Great Grandson. Benedikt and I took advantage of all the babysitters and went off to the Christmas market. Wow, it was pretty to walk around those cobbled streets with all the christmas decorations and cool stands. We stopped for gluhwein of course. And for roast chestnuts, yum! And then some more gluhwein.

The next day we headed off to Munich to stay over with Nina and Thomas, Benedikt's sister and her husband, en route to Austria for skiing! We left Nicolas in the capable hands of his Omi and Opa... but boy it was hard! 5 whole days without him. We knew we were going to miss him. We'd bought over loads of frozen breast milk (his parents had taken some back in November too) so he wouldn't be going hungry and he does love his grandparents so we weren't worried about him!
We had a nice evening with Nina and Thomas in their stunning new house. Nina was 33 weeks pregnant then and looking lovely. We can't wait for Nicolas's first girl cousin to arrive!
Then early the next morning we were off! Skiing - WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Read about it here
On our return journey we stopped off at Philip (Benedikt's good friend) and Tina's place, and saw their cute 2 boys again. Philip is Benedikt's best man at our wedding in May, we are all really looking forward to their trip to Kenya.
Then it was home to Nicolas! YAY! I couldnt wait for his first wake up of the night so I could snuggle him. 5 days had felt like forever, even though we'd had constant updates from Benedikt's mum!
And then it was Christmas. Benedikts dad got such a lovely REAL tree on the 23rd and Irene decorated it so beautifully. With real candles and all. Nicolas just LOVED looking at its sparkliness! We had a divine christmas eve. Heinz and Irene made Nicolas's first christmas so special. We had christmas music playing, santas bell ringing, presents galore and champagne with some lovely mushroom starters. After Nic opened all his awesome presents we put him to bed and continued with the scrumptious spread Irene had prepared. We had vegetable (and meat for the omnivores) fondue. With all the condiments and special sauces you can imagine. Benedikt & I ate our hearts out!