Wald Weinacht

So on Saturday night me and the older kids left Daddy with Baby and walked up past their school a little way to meet with the rest of our little village for Wald Weinacht.  That means ‘Most Awesome Christmas Celebration in the World’ in German.  Okay, it literally means Forest Christmas, but just look—it was totally the awesomest thing I’ve ever seen.

We bundled up and went up at met at the firehouse at 5:00 and were told to bring lanterns, so we brought along the lantern that Ethne had made in Kindergarten, and got the candle lit.  Jethro looks ornery, but really he was happy.  :)

Here’s a picture of some kids I don’t know, just to show some other lanterns, because I think a lantern parade is awesome.

 

Then we went down the road a ways, then across this field, which was marked by burning torches every little bit.

Sorry, it was dark and everyone (including me) was moving, and all of my pictures are blurry.  But here’s a shot of the first of the procession.

There were quite a lot of us.  It was a good showing for our tiny village.

As we got to the edge of the forest there was a little band playing Christmas music.

When we got into the woods, the trail was lit with plenty of candles.

After a while we came to the little area where there was a bigger band playing Christmas music and the lit tree.

Once everyone got there, we sang two Christmas songs. 

 

Talmage smiling/grimacing for me.  :)

Then they announced that they had seen Samichlaus, so all the kids had to yell to him so that he would come.  They all yelled, “Samichlaus!!  Samichlaus!  Samichlaus!”  And out from the woods in the other direction came Samichlaus, his donkeys, and two Schmutzlis.  Schmutzli is Samichlaus’ helper who wears dark clothes and has a black beard.  (Sometimes there’s only one, sometimes there are more.)

 

They walked around the circle, shaking hands and greeting the children.

Then Samichlaus stood in the middle, and let all the children gather around him while he read a story.

It was magical.

After the story, Samichlaus and the Schmutzlis went to different spots, and the children stood in line for their turn to recite a poem or song or verse to him.  Then he gave them a bag of treats (peanuts, an orange, a pear, a chocolate candy, and a little lebkuchen –a dry gingerbread cookie thing). 

Here’s Jethro and Talmage and Jethro’s friend Elias talking with Schmutzli.  Hazel said the little poem

“Advent, advent, the little light burns.

First one, then two, then three, then four.

And next, the Christ child at the door.”

And Jethro said it in German, which he learned last year at school.

And some pictures of my kids + Elias in front of the tree.

 

Talmage didn’t want to be in the picture, unfortunately.

Then, for those who wanted, there was a bonfire and they were serving hot tea.  We would have stayed if it was hot chocolate, but it was okay, because we needed to get on our way anyway, as it had started to drizzle and Talmage was ready to go home.

Back through the candle-lit trail.

Can I just say I just ADORED and LOVED everything about this???  It was sooooo wonderful in every way.  And really, it just beats the crying pants of off going and sitting on Santa Clause’s knee in the mall (and I’m totally not against sitting on Santa’s knee in the mall). 

Incidentally, I was talking to my friend Karin today, and she said that where she lives, they have something like this, but you have to RSVP and then pay 20 franks per kid.  But I’ve heard other places just ask for donations.  Ours was completely free.  We totally live in the right place.

Now, I know you all want to hear more about Samichlaus and Schmutzli.  Well, Samichlaus lives in the woods and doesn’t have reindeer, but donkeys.  He comes on Dec. 6th and fills boots that children have left outside their door with peanuts and oranges and treats.  But he doesn’t come on Christmas Eve/Day to leave presents, that’s Christkind (Christ child). 

And here’s more info about Schmutzli from this site (you should definitely check it out):

Known as Schmutzli in the German part of the country and Père Fouettard (from "whip") in French, Samichlaus's alter ego usually carries a broom of twigs for administering punishment to children whose behaviour throughout the year has not been up to scratch.

Kurt Lussi, the curator of religious folklore at Lucerne's History Museum, says that the St Nicholas custom in Switzerland became interwoven with a festival of noise and masks dating back to pre-Christian times. Schmutzli, he says, was a symbol of the evil spirits which these ancient festivals sought to drive out with a combination of noise and light. Winter processions involving loud noise and lanterns continue to this day in many parts of Switzerland.

"Schmutzli means an ugly character with a concealed face, and this figure appeared with a black face, red eyes and a black cap."  He gives the example of an illustration from 1486 that depicts a demon who abducts children. "This child-stealing motif returns again in Schmutzli," he said. "There's also the Sträggele, another child-stealing figure which I would call a native Swiss demon. Birch brooms are associated with it and that's also what Schmutzli carries."

A demon-looking guy to scare kids into being good?  AWESOME.  :)  (More info about different cultures’ Christmas demons/scary-dudes here-check it out.)

Some other pictures:

 

As a parting tidbit, my friend Karin (and her family) was at our house today for dinner, and saw all the peanuts we had from Samichlaus on the counter, and she said, “Did you know there’s a Samichlaus in every peanut?”  And we did not, so she showed us (and this picture came up when I searched for images of Samichlaus and Schmuzli, so I thought I’d share).  See in that bit of ‘sprout’ up on the top, there’s the hat on top, the nose (and face), and the beard on the bottom?  Awesome.

I hope you’re having fun doing Christmasy things and have Christmas songs in your head and Christmas tastes on your tongue!

Pictures in a hat.

Just some (yeah, many- I’m his mother) pictures of a cute cute baby in a hat.

I absolutely looove the light and bokeh in the background.  It is so pretty.

 

 

I love this face.

Cutest expression!

 

Other than that, all I have to say is that my husband is so wonderful and I love him so much.  I will miss him while he goes to America.  And he’s fun to kiss and cuddle with.

The ned.  (ha ha.  That was funny to me, so I didn’t fix it.)

Primary Program

Today in my church we had the primary program (which means that the kids in our church congregation ages 12 and under did a presentation for the main hour-long church service in front of everyone).  As a counselor in the primary presidency, and mom to 1/3 of the primary, I was really really proud of how well they did!

Jethro wrote his own talk about temples which was really great and he also translated another boy’s talk into German and read it, and Hazel and Ethne both memorized their parts (Ethne’s in English), and we worked and worked with them almost every night so they knew all the words to all the songs. 

Our primary has nine kids in it, three of whom speak no English, two of whom speak almost no German, and four who speak both.  So though our numbers are few compared to many wards I’ve lived in, the challenges are a bit different.  (And next month when our two nursery kids come in (one of whom is Talmage), there will be another one who knows no German and one who speaks only Swiss German, and no High German.  Sheesh.)

So we have a lady in our ward who plays the harp, so we were lucky to have her accompany two of the songs.  It was really nice, but she had never made it to practice with us, so we were winging it.  And then I had kindof gotten a piano solo together just to play while the kids were going up to the stand in case the harpist wasn’t there- but in the end we had extra time so I ended up playing it, and luckily it went really well even though I had not practiced much at all.  (It’s a very nice arrangement of Praise to the Man, found here.  Although I’m listening to the version on the website right now and realizing I play it about ten times faster.  Maybe not quite ten times, but a lot faster.  And I like it faster.)

Anyway, we put in some extra songs since we have very few kids and needed to take a bit more time, plus songs are always good.  So I found an arrangement for ‘I Am A Child of God’ at freewardchoirmusic.com and I personally think it was the highlight.  When we sang it I looked up and saw a few people with teary eyes.  Brett said he loved it, and had teary eyes himself.  So, I recorded our kids singing it at the practice on Saturday, and while it’s not anywhere near as nice as hearing it for REAL, you can take a listen if you’d like.

Oh yeah, one funny thing was at the beginning the primary president was introducing each of the kids and they each stood up as she said their name.  She said Ethne’s name, realized no one could see her behind the stand, and lifted her up in the air for a second, then set her back down.  Maybe you just had to see it, but it was cute.

Brett invited some of his coworkers to come, and they did, so that was pretty awesome.  All in all, it was a really really nice program.

While I’m on the topic of church, can I just say that I love my ward (congregation)?  It’s really great—I love that on any given Sunday, the opening prayer might be said in English, a talk in Spanish, translated to German (which is then always translated to English by headset), a blessing on the sacrament in French…  it’s pretty cool.  I usually don’t get to listen to anything, because it’s pretty difficult to wrestle a baby and four kids (remember, Brett’s on the stand) and keep your headset on.  But hey, who am I kidding, it’s pretty much impossible to listen when you have little kids even when you aren’t relying on a headset. 

In other news, Brett’s leaving to the United States of AMERICA on Wednesday.  He and two coworkers are going to Vanderbilt University in Nashville to spy on their competition.  I keep saying that because I think it’s funny and he keeps shaking his head at me and saying they’re collaborating.  Anyway, he’ll be gone for a few days and he’ll get to be in the U.S. for the first time in about two years. 

And guess what.  I’M going to be in the US for the first time in two years (almost exactly) when I fly to Arizona for my sister’s wedding on the day after Christmas!!!  And, get this… I’ll be ALL BY MYSELF.  It’s going to be totally outrageous to be without children.  Outrageous and AWESOME.  Think about it—two 20 hour plane rides to read, sleep, look out the window, or do whatever the heck I want because I’m not trying to help any kids go to the bathroom or eat their snacks, or pick up their snacks from all over the seats and floor, or get them to stop crying and go to sleep, etc. etc.  I’m pretty pumped.  Pray for Brett—he’s never really done much time by himself with all the kids.  :)

More about Jethro.

So Jethro has exciting news---

Yep, the guy has glasses! Thanks to Kristi and Margot, who told me about Zennioptical I bought my last pair of glasses from them and now Jethro’s, and they’re great. Glasses for around $20?? AWESOME!

The FedEx man delivered them the night of Jethro’s birthday party, so he had an extra present to unwrap.

Oh yeah.

And look at this picture… he’s sitting back against the couch instead of hunched 2 cm from the computer screen! (And doesn’t he look so cute in them?! What a good-looking boy.)

That was actually how we figured out that he needed glasses- he was always so close to the computer screen when we watched movies, and we were always saying “Jethro! Sit back!” And one day I said, “What’s the matter, do you need glasses or something?!” and suddenly ding ding, it occurred to me that maybe he DID need them. I don’t know how long he couldn’t see the board at school, or the clock, but now he’s all fixed up and again can see. And sight, as we all know, is a beautiful thing.

At night, Talmage says "Come in my woom." And then he says, "King kong." So I sing him a song and he rolls over and gets all cuddled down in his blankets. It's really cute. Then he says, "King more kong."

In other news, I cracked my rib. It hurts a lot. I had a cough for the last few weeks, and one morning I woke up with a sore sore side, and it really killed when I coughed. It started feeling a tiny bit better, but then a few days later (yesterday, in fact), I again woke up with it as sore as ever. No fun. Apparently you can crack your rib from coughing. I don’t recommend it.

Then today Brett gave me a hug and I was like, “owww my rib!” and I said he’d be sorry if I ended up in the hospital because he had broken off my rib, and then they'd ask me what happened, and I’d tell them that my husband did it, and then they’d come have a little chat with him, and then he’d go to jail. And then he’d be bored. And he said, “And then you’d starve.” Now that we’ve got that settled.

In other news, my baby is soooo soooo soooo cute and gets cuter every day and it’s practically unbearable. Because you know, my other children were once his age, and then they did this awful thing to me, where they got bigger.

See, Jethro used to look like this:

Hazel once looked like this:

Ethne was this little birdie:

And Talmage was this little too:

You can see why I’m getting a little upset. Because now they look like this--- giants!

Okay, okay, you’re right, my kids just keep getting cuter as they get older, but STILL – I looooooove this age. Just turning one. They’re so very adorable and the perfect delicious size for hugging and kissing and generally eating up. (And yes, I realize I already posted this picture. I am posting it again.)

Okay, the end.

Jethro’s Party

So on Friday, Jethro finally got a birthday party.  Emphasis on the finally.  His birthday is July 14, so we were a bit late.  In fact, I had Brett help me write the invitation, and this is what he wrote:

For those of you who (like me) don’t speak German, it says, “Jethro is 9!  Actually that happened a long time ago, but he has a lot a patience, and didn’t forget that we promised him a party.”
It’s true.  I did want him to have a party with friends from school, I felt like it was important, but for whatever reason it kept getting put off.  So anyhow it finally worked out. 
When the boys were arriving, they watched a couple videos on youtube.  Jethro picked this one, and his friend Lamin picked this one. 

Then we all went to the park and the boys played games.  They played flag tag and keep-away and things like that.

Then we sang Happy Birthday (in English, German, and supposedly Chinese, but I’m doubtful it’s even very close to Chinese).


And Jethro opened his presents.

Then when the fire was roaring, we all roasted our wursts, and some marshmallows, and ate cake.  It was a good time.  I think all the boys enjoyed it.  I’m sooo glad that Brett came home early and pretty much ran the show while I (feel like I)  ran back and forth between the house and the park.

Happy –late- birthday Jethro!
And here are some pictures I took of Jethro the other day.  I love this kid!
  
  

Stuff.

Look at this cute, sweet, cute cute CUTE little boy!  Sheesh he’s so cute.  I just love him.

Hazel loves him too.

On a tangent, Hazel has been wearing that shirt for the past 3 years.  See—here she is at 4 years old.  (And I ADORE that face on the right.  Well, I adore her face always, but you know what I mean.)  But yeah, I think I had her sleeves rolled up 2 or 3 times back then.  It’s a good shirt.  I think I got it at a garage sale.  I often did that with clothes that I bought at garage sales for the kids to grow into—get too excited to wait any longer and had them wear it before it really fit them.  I miss garage sales.  And our kitchen walls were green.  I picked that color, then I regretted it.  But oh well, the green walls are no longer mine.  Though I’d rather have green kitchen walls than 70’s lime green tile on my kitchen walls.  Such is life. 

That was more of a tangent than I had intended.

On Wednesday I made the kids sit down and I taught them about the first Thanksgiving.  Cause hey, they’re not going to learn it in school here.  :)  If you feel like doing a little history time with your kids, you should check this site out- it’s amazing with all kinds of different things, some interactive slideshows, interviews with some pilgrims and Indians, and just a TON of stuff.  And I bookmarked this site because I want to read it for my own personal enlightenment.  It’s pretty thorough.

Then we did Thanksgiving-themed crafts.  Jethro chose to make a Mayflower with a walnut shell.  (Idea from pinterest, if you feel like checking out my pins, here you go.)  And sometimes I do say to Jethro that he should let me do his hair, and he always declines.  And usually I let it be.

Hazel and Ethne made leaf-feathered turkeys.  Ethne declined a picture, however.

We had a fun night tonight, but I’ll tell you about that in a different post.

And here’s a cute boy to end the post with.