How was your Christmas?

Our Christmas was full of family time fun, some surprises, and of course, amazing food. We spent the holiday with G's parents, near Frankfurt. Instead of driving, this year we decided to take the train. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole train experience was the exact opposite of what I imagined. It wasn't the cold, uncomfortable, and extremely loud train ride I remember on Amtrak from my college days. We had a small glass encased room, with a table, reclining seats, and even wait staff. Anyway, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th in Germany so my Christmas Eve was fantastic. As I've mentioned before, G's Mom is the Martha Stewart of Germany, so to say that we overate is an understatement. She served a different meal for every dinner and every plate on the table was practically licked clean - I started wearing my loose fitting jeans in the evening! She has a way of making every meal just perfect. Here's our table on Christmas Eve afternoon.


Denzel's first Christmas was full of more firsts...

His first Christmas present wasn't an instant hit. He was freaked out by the squeaking starfish. But after one day of close inspection and a lot of test bites, now it's his favorite toy to try to rip apart!

He also had his first experience with stairs. He was brave for the first two steps and then he got stuck.

And he survived G's first "let's see what he does when we....." idea.


We spent a lot of evenings playing Monopoly. It was the first time I played with G and his family and let me just say, they take the game to another level. It was a Monopoly War! Now I understand how G can make me go bankrupt, every time we play. But I had to forgive him for kicking my butt in front of his family because he gave me such a cool Christmas gift. It was a small white paper package and when I opened it, it was a piece of cheese. Huh? You can imagine my facial expression. But then he told me to read the inside of the wrapping....

The inside of the wrapping is a flag and printed in the middle are the details of our trip to Amsterdam! Anyone have any suggestions on things to see or do in Amsterdam:)