Friday, December 22, 2017

Almost Christmas/Fast Weihnachten



Charlotte has been baking like a whirlwind and we hope to get at least the baking done before Christmas.  Peter bought a Christmas tree today.  We still sound all very hoarse and some feel perkier than others, but no fevers anymore.  Julius decided to throw up on our bed today.  That meant that I not only had to wash the bedspread, but also the down comforter.


Charlotte hat wie ein Wirbelwind gebacken und so bekommen wir vielleicht alle Kekse bis Weihnachten fertig.  Peter hat heute einen Weihnachtsbaum gekauft.  Wir sind alle sehr heiser und einige von uns fühlen sich schlapper als andere, aber wenigstens hat im Moment niemand Fieber.  Julius hat sich heute entschieden, auf unser Bett zu spucken.  So mußte ich nicht nur die Tagesdecke waschen, sondern auch das Federbett. 



I read a new book to the children today, called The Griffin and the Minor Canon.  We really liked it.  You can read the story (without Maurice Sendak's pictures) here.

Ich habe heute den Kindern ein neues Buch vorgelesen.  Es heißt Der Greif und der jüngste Domherr.  Die Geschichte ohne Bilder kann man auf Englisch hier finden.  Sie ist sehr lesenswert.       








4 comments:

  1. Such pretty pictures! The advent calendar is especially lovely :) I feel for you having to do all that laundry. Too many times I've picked up heaving cats and tried to move them into the kitchen so they wouldn't throw up on beds or chairs or the rug! I'm definitely not always successful. Sometimes I have been able to throw a rag down in front of them.

    It's so nice that Charlotte has been baking for you, and I'm happy to hear that all of you are on the mend. This evening Chanda and I made pignoli cookies and finished listening to _A Tale of Two Cities_ (we both knitted on Christmas gifts while listening). She really liked it, which I'm happy about. It's one of my favorite books. She's determined to finish _Nicholas Nickleby_ next. Yay! I think she wants to watch the movie with me. Tomorrow we will finally begin _A Christmas Carol_."

    I better get some sleep! Good night :)

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    1. I found this calendar at Vidler's, the interesting store in East Aurora. We took Morgana there. I gave it Jonathan for Advent and he loves it! He brought it back from college to open the last little windows. It is from Germany.

      Julius is not supposed to be on our bed! I don't mind, but Peter simply does not want that and I respect his feelings. Julius must have gotten into the bedroom when nobody was looking. I know what you mean about trying to move heaving cats! We always try to get Julius outside when he starts doing it, but sometimes you do not notice that they are doing it! Julius always eats a certain type of grass outside and then throws up. You would think he had learned to avoid this grass, but no, he keeps doing it.

      Congratulations of finishing "A Tale of Two Cities." I have never read this one. But we have read "A Christmas Carol." We also have an audio version of it. I once saw it performed in English when I was still in Germany, but I have to admit that I did not understand much, it was too hard. It is wonderful that you want to finish "Nicholas Nickleby"! It is such a shame to not finish it once you have read so much. And the end is actually faster moving than the rest of the book.

      It is raining and we need to do more Christmas preparations. Veronika is supposed to read in church tomorrow, but she has zero voice. I wonder if she will be able to.

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  2. Yes, I remember Vidler's. It looked like a very nice store.

    I buy wheat grass in the summer for the cats to nibble on. It's supposed to be healthy for them, even though they do always throw up. Cleaning up after them after the wheat grass is not so difficult, as it doesn't stain and doesn't smell. But anything else is very unpleasant!

    I hope Veronika was able to read? But if not, maybe another time! It rained all day by us also. Morgana plans to make biscotti today (it's Sunday now!) and Chanda plans to make french chocolates. I need to finish some Christmas cards which will now be New Year's cards (!), wrap my CT family's gifts, and prepare our Christmas morning breakfast egg casserole. OH! And we still need to get a tree! Usually Greg takes a day off work for us to drive and cut one down at a tree farm, but he was unable to do that this year. Chanda says she saw some nice long needled ones in the East Village that she would like to get. I just hope it's not too expensive!

    (And, yes, Nicholas Nickleby really picked up at the end. I was pleased about that. I enjoyed the parts with the two business brothers. They were funny, and their kindness was much needed and greatly appreciated, not just by Nicholas, but by me, the reader!!)

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    1. I guess Julius throws up grass plus some other disgusting stuff, it always stains our beds.

      Veronika could not read, no voice. Maybe next year. We are getting snow and are supposed to get lake effect snow over night. We have not written one card or sent one present so far, you are much better organized. No tree is bad :). We got ours on the 23rd. It is not a pretty one, but there were basically no trees left. I hope you will still find one. Good luck with this all and also the traveling. So sad you could not do the tree farm this year. I actually heard a radio ad the other day, asking New Yorkers to buy real trees and not artificial ones. They are a huge problem for the land fills.

      And yes, those two brothers are kind of funny (as well as this crazy neighbor, who throws the vegetables).

      More tomorrow!

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