Willkommen 2011!

Caden and his friends, New Year's Day

This year we welcomed the New Year with our next door neighbors. It was a fun evening. Our neighbors, Steve and Jana, invited us to join them. They have a 9 year old daughter and Caden loves playing with her as she does him. We live in a duplex and thankfully our baby monitor works next door. We were able to put Caden to bed around 9pm and he slept until 9am!! Him sleeping so late is amazing because (1) he NEVER sleeps that late, and (2) at midnight our town sounded like a war zone. It's legal to shoot fireworks in Germany and people do. We set some off with our nieghbors around 11pm to help wake me up. We weren't the only ones shooting them off before midnight. I just don't have the energy to stay up so late anymore. But I made it and at midnight we went to our neighbor's top floor and saw the the beautiful firework show.

Our neighbors cooked duck which was really good. The only other time I have eaten duck was at a Thai food restaurant in Texas and it was slimy and gross. This duck was not slimy and had a nice flavor. Jana also cooked rice, dumplings, pasta, and several other things. Jana is from Slovakia and her family made some homemade Slovakian pickles and salami which were both very good. Steve is American. We have some wonderful German neighbors who live on the other side of us. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors. We actually know our neighbors in Germany better than we did our neighbors in the States. We knew our next door neighbor's names in the States but never ate a meal with them. We have had both neighbors over several times since living in Germany. In fact, Jana brought me delicious homemade soup last fall when I was sick. Once we move back we hope to continue this and really get to know our neighbors, especially those who live next door.

New Year's Day we had some friends over for dinner to celebrate the New Year. We had three families over for a total of 12 people. There were 8 adults and 4 kids. We had a great time. We cooked a spiral ham for the first time, which turned out great, black eyed peas, corn, peas, Greek Salad, rolls, and several appetizers of fruit, cheese, crackers, chips, and dip. For dessert I baked chocolate chip cookies, one friend brought homemade apple pie, our neighbors brought peanut butter balls, and our other friends brought muffins. The food was delicious and the conversations were enjoyable. All of the kids got along great. I even put up a kid's table and the kids sat there and ate very well. I started off having Caden in his high chair but once the other kids sat down he wanted to join them. He did wonderful!

We hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful new year. May God bless you in 2011. Many blessings from our house to yours. Happy New Year!!