Merry Christmas

 Wishing you a Christmas filled with joy and peace!

Cranberry Meringue Cookies

These are among my favorite Christmas cookies.  So much so, that this is the second batch I am making this season. The third when considering that the first batch was a double.  It might have something to do with the fact that I haven't met a meringue that I didn't like.  Need some convincing?  Then take a look at what I posted in April.  Anyway, the cookies eat fast.

Cranberry Meringue Cookies

2 egg whites, cold
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 drops of food red coloring (optional)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3.5 ounces dried cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 250˚ F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.  With an electric mixer set on medium, beat egg whites until slightly foamy.  Add lemon juice and continue to beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar (about 1 tablespoon at a time); food coloring (optional) and lemon zest, continue beating until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in the chopped dried cranberries. Drop the meringue by teaspoon (mounds about 1¼" diameter) onto the prepared baking sheet. Should yield approximately 60 cookies.

Bake at 250˚F for 35-40 Minutes, or until dry.

Enjoy.

Simple Christmas Décor

This seems to be the year of simplified Christmas décor in our house.   It wasn't a conscious decision. It just sort of happened and I am really liking the outcome.  In fact, I see a purge of my holiday decorations coming up.

 A few festive branches.

Pine cones, some additional candles, and just a little bit of shimmer.

Wishing everyone a peaceful third advent.

Craft It Forward - Thank You!

Yesterday I received mail; Craft It Forward mail from Juliette.   The package totally made my day and was so thoughtfully put together.

I loved everything, but these tags are my absolute favorite.  I just love their simplicity.  Now I just have to find a way to show them off, you know subtly.

This card that Juliette included says it all.

The Second Candle

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Advent season.

Happy New Year!

In Germany four-leaf clovers, toad stool mushrooms, pigs, and chimney sweeps are symbols of luck and wealth for the New Year and are often given as gifts.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's celebration.  We are heading across the street to our neighbors. Good food, cocktails and fireworks seems like the perfect way to send off 2010 and greet 2011.

All the Best for the New Year (with luck, wealth & health) and Guten Rutsch!

Monica

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone peace, love, health and joy!

Monica

Frankfurter Weihnachtsmarkt

We finally made it to Christmas Market in Frankfurt.  It was cold and the gluehwein was hot.  Perfect.

 

I picked up one of the stars in white to hang in the window over our front door.

Lots to do this week. Family is coming over on Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) and on Christmas Day we are heading to Austria for a couple of days.  Things I will undoubtedly become hectic at some point. Like tomorrow.  Will try to remember to breath deeply, light some candles and perhaps have a cookie or two.

Christmas Fairytale

One of my favorite guilty pleasures during the holiday season is to watch Drei Haselnuesse fuer Aschenbroedel (Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella), a film colloboration between the Czech Republic and East Germany.

It is a fairytale with a modern heroine set in a snow covered landscape and accompanied by a dreamy soundtrack.  Over the years it has developed into a classic in Germany and is shown on TV every year between Christmas and New Year.  I wouldn't miss it.

Weihnachtsmarkt, Plan B

We had to push the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt to next weekend.  I am at the tail end of a cold and the weather was awful on Saturday.  The thought of pushing through the crowds of people all holding umbrellas just didn't appeal to me. Today the weather was a little better, so we headed to another local Weihnachtsmarkt.

 

A spice stand!  I came prepared with my list and am stocked up.

Couldn't go past this with Sam along.

Hamming it up.

Lebkuchen Nikolaus.

This market was a definite improvement over the one in our town that we visited last week.  Frankfurt is on the schedule for next weekend.

Our town in lights

We went to our town's Christmas Market yesterday.   Honestly the shopping was a little disappointing, actually tremendously disappointing.  No stands with cute handmade merchandise to be found anywhere.There was a lot of Gluehwein (mulled wine) to be had though.  At just about every stand, as matter of fact.  I like the stuff too, but geesh. 

The center of town was nicely decorated though. Paper lanterns lined the main downtown street.

Cityhall... (we were married here)

I had more pictures, but we have my husband has a new camera and I we need to practice.  Next weekend we are heading to the Christmas Market in Frankfurt.  The shopping will definitely be better.

Christmas Cheer

The last couple of weeks have been kind of rough. My dad fell and ended up with a proximal humerus fracture  (the upper arm at the shoulder joint).  It was pretty bad and he ended up having to have surgery to replace the ball portion of the bone.  Not an easy thing at 83.  At least he is at home now.  Now we just need to get him to take it easy. 

So Christmas cheer was a little hard to come by.  We even had snow and I couldn't get excited.  Then yesterday our doorbell rang and one of my neighbors stood there with a little gift bag.   It included a lovely note, a CD with 24 of her favorite Christmas songs, cookie cutters and hot chocolate.

Christmas arrived at my doorstep yesterday.