Christmas in Wonderland

Hello people of the world,
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a not-too-messy New Year.
I had a lovely time, far too short and very stressful but it was well worth it. Philipp and I went to stay with my parents over Christmas, we only stayed one week because we wanted to be back in Germany for New Years Eve or Silvester, as the Germans call it. The most stressful thing about the entire holiday was getting there, we started off really badly with a two and a half hour delay in Baden Airport, then once we finally made it to London, we had to get a taxi all the way across town, which took an hour and surprisingly only cost us 40quid. We stayed at my friend Sarah's house, which was such a blessing, because we would have had to sleep at the airport otherwise - we can't afford Hotels!! We were only in London for a night and half a day but I have now decided that to go there is one of my New Year goals, oh and Paris.........

Excited to be on the London Underground. Photo by Philipp Linder

Once we finally made it to Middlesborough, to be picked up by my parents and driven home, I was exhausted! It was so nice to see Mummy and Daddy, I always forget just how much I miss them, until I come home. I know 'Home is where the Heart is' but I still have the feeling that Home is where Mum and Dad are, and everytime I'm home, I feel a little less stressed!

Anyway, back to Christmas... There was so much Snow, I have not seen this much Snow since I was a child and probably I only thought it was so much back then because I was so small!! The few days before Christmas I spent the entire time hoping and crossing my fingers for a White Christmas because we havn't had one of those for YEARS!!!

So much Snow!!

Photographing in the snow. Photo taken by Philipp Linder

Seeing my nieces was amazing, they have changed so much since October. Selma was a little Angel, she is so polite and friendly, and she wants me to play with her all the time! And Lotta is such a sweet little girl, she has the biggest and the best smile that can pull me out of the darkest of moods.

Playing with Selma. Photo by Philipp Linder

 Christmas Eve was spent at my parents house, having a delicious Cheese Fondue, and a nice glass of Port and a Mince Pie for dessert, Yum! And for Christmas day, we went to my Sisters house. There was so much food, I won't even begin to tell you everything that we had but I will say that it was Amazing!! I ate so much. I'm pretty sure I put on at least 5kg just over Christmas lunch.

Our Christmas Tree arriving, it was Huge!

After Lunch, Philipp, Selma and I went Sledging! The poor little thing couldn't even walk, the Snow was so deep, and poor little me had to carry her up the hill time after time! Luckily Philipp came with me because he had enough energy to deal with a 3 year old whereas I was suffering a lack therof, due to staying up late down at the pub!!
We unpacked presents after a nice hot juice to warm up. It was very sweet because Selma would get really into delivering the presents to the people around the room, and sometimes she would get excited and give it to the wrong person.
After the hype of Christmas was over, it was so nice to just relax for a few days, we didn't have long though because we were leaving on the 28th again. One of the best things was going to see Emily and Roman after the children had gone to bed, and we played round after round of Carcassonne. This, thanks to my sister, has become my favourite game right now. All I need is to get my hands on a copy myself. I think Emily really liked that we came because Roman isn't a fan of Games. However he always sat with us and played referee for us and we all drank a lot of Port and Whiskey and generally had a good time. I wished we lived nearer to them, I miss the fun Emily and I have together.

Reggae Carcassonne!! My favourite!

Getting back to Germany was easy! We only had problems getting all the things we bought past the Ryan Air staff. In England they've really got issues, they're so Mean! But lets not dwell on that because all-in-all Christmas was Fantastic, and nothing should ruin that!
Well that was my Christmas, how was yours?

Lots of Love, Madeleine xxx