A very German Christmas

I'd be lying if I said we didn't know it would be different this year. Neither Jason nor I have ever spent a Christmas away from home our whole lives. That is 51 combined years of being with our families on arguably the most important day of the year! Talk about being blessed. Even though we weren't with our parents and siblings though, we had each other. And now we are our own family. We had such a good first married Christmas.

Jason had a 4-day weekend (which totally has me spoiled since he also only worked 1/2 days all week), so we started out Friday with a trip to the Christmas market down in Nuremberg. It is about 1000 times bigger than the one in Bamberg, so I was pretty excited. Not to mention it's only about a 45 minute drive, so it is a great day trip. It was your typical German day - rainy/cold/no sun - but I'm actually kind of getting used to that. (When I woke up this morning, we had beautiful blue skies, but I didn't get excited...it lasted all of 15 minutes). Anyways, after a little iphone navigation, we found a parking garage that was really close and not very expensive, so we went for it. And then Jason decided to park the car UNDER the wall. Genius, really. Except to leave, I had to get in the car first so that it would lower it enough to clear without scraping. We are really crafty.

I told you. I said there wasn't room for a piece of paper between our trunk and the wall, but Jason disagreed. Then we both agreed paper maybe, but definitely not card stock.

Here are a few pics from the Nuremberg Christmas market:

"to the Christmas market"...I think

SO delicious!!!

There are a bunch more of pics from the trip on Facebook, but I'll try to keep this post a little shorter and stop there!

We made it back to Bamberg in time to Skype with my parents, Lindsay, and Adam for Christmas present opening that night. Lindsay and Adam were leaving Saturday for Cleveland (where his parents live), and Mom & Dad were leaving the same day to head to both of their parents' in Illinois, so we had to celebrate a little early. It worked out really well!

Getting all set up :)

And there they are!

They are so cute. Lindsay's wearing the scarf we got her, and I swear Adam's face isn't normally that grey color. Anyways, here are a few more pics from our Skype date:

Jason opening up his gift from Mom & Dad

Dad so happy about his DGB Mug Club membership :)

Jay & I with our new platter from Mom & Dad! So excited

After it was all said and done, Jason decided to give me one of his presents, too. He'd been going and back and forth about giving it to me all week, but he finally gave in since I didn't have a gift of my own to open that night. Prepare yourself...

My very own pair of fur-lined Crocs! Now, yes. I am guilty of being a long-term hater of Crocs, and every time Lindsay and I see them, we just have to make a comment. Like, "They're PT Cruisers for your feet." I mean they are the worst shoes of all time, right? WRONG. These things are amazing! Jason has a pair he brought back from Afghanistan, and since all of our floors are wooden, he puts them on as soon as he gets home from work. Well, I started wearing them myself when he was gone, especially while I was cleaning, moving boxes, etc. And so he decided to get me my own! I'm kind of obsessed with them. I had actually looked some up on Zappos a few weeks ago and told him about these incredible fur-lined ones. What I didn't know was that he'd already ordered them for Christmas. He thought I'd gotten into his email and seen the confirmation. :) He knows me too well.

Saturday was, of course, Christmas Eve. And we had dinner plans at our friends Jae & Stacey's that night. We opted to bring the deviled eggs and a dessert. So I made them all on my own! (Well, with a few calls to Mom.) Okay, so they are really easy things to make...but just keep in mind I have never cooked in my life until now!

Here was the final product:

The deviled eggs were okay, even though everyone was really nice and said they were good. But the toffee was AMAZING! And really, really easy. It is just saltine crackers, brown sugar, butter, and chocolate chips. That's it. So simple and so delicious.

We had a really great (and huge!) dinner at the Marquis' house with even greater friends. Then it was back to Langestrasse 9 for some How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and we were off to bed by midnight!

Christmas morning was...different. I am so used to coming downstairs to the whole family and tons of presents under the tree. But Jason and I got each other one present, and it was really nice. It felt so much like Christmas, which is what I was most worried about. It's not about where you are or what's around you, it's about who you are with. So after opening our stockings from JB, I opened my gorgeous new watch from Jay, and he got a new Patagonia fleece.

Adorable ornament from Lindsay (we got 3 packages last minute on Christmas Eve night!)

Opening my watch :)

Now I'd been battling off sickness/a cold for a week by the time Christmas morning rolled around, but after opening gifts, I went downhill fast. I passed out on the couch, all stuffed up and with an upset tummy. So my sweet husband cooked Christmas dinner all on his own, and it was incredible. We had brown sugar-glazed ham, green beans with bacon, and broccoli cheese casserole. And a little leftover toffee. :) As soon as I came out of my coma, we ate, and it was DELICIOUS! Check out the final product:

It was a great end to our first married Christmas together. And then start of dozens more to come! 

Here's hoping everyone back home had just as wonderful as Christmas as we did. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas 2011!

Love,

Jason & Kate

We just want to take a moment on this day of great celebration, to wish all of our family and friends all over this world the merriest Christmas of all! We live because He was born and died for us. The most precious gift of all!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...our household goods will never get here! Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. Unfortunately, they aren't due for a couple more weeks...but I had high hopes someone would see 25 boxes and 4 pieces of furniture and say, "You know what? We should expedite this shipment for a girl who would truly appreciate her belongings before her birthday/Christmas/New Year's!" But I always see the good in people...and usually I overrate it. Okay, I'm kidding again. But really, I did hope that maybe somehow all our stuff would arrive early. But it hasn't and so here I sit, literally on a couch not even big enough for me, just trying to be extra thankful that I have a roof over my head and alkaseltzer in my glass :). Seems like I always come down with something just in time for a big event or holiday. Why break tradition now??

What I am extremely thankful for is that we got 2 more boxes in the mail today! And they are boxes that JB & I mailed before I even came over here. If the old man at the Cedar Bluff post office ever tries to cut you a deal by sending something "parcel post", kindly decline unless you have a month until you need it. (I sent all of my jackets in one box thinking, "Oh, these will get there so fast and I won't have to waste space in my luggage!" Again...I should probably cut my positivity down a little.) But nonetheless, they made it! And just in time for me to finish decorating the apartment as much as I can. Our tree is now officially complete, and I may never take it down. I crammed every last ornament on there possible! I really do love it though, and I'm sure Jason will too as soon as he wakes up from his nap :).

I wanted to post a few pics of the apartment for you all to see. And mostly because a lot of you reading this contributed to our decoration collection! And we are definitely grateful for that.

Christmas tree - furnished by my childhood crafts, Hobby Lobby '50% all Christmas decor' sales, and my mom who is the most amazing ornament creator/deal spotter of all time.

What was she gonna do? Let us have our first Christmas without stockings? Santa came a little early by way of Julie Mills :)

It's kind of like playing Where's Waldo? Maybe I should find a new spot for these! 2 of 3 courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Knaack, 2 of the sweetest people in this entire world.

I know what you're thinking. "Is that a chimney hat with Santa's legs coming out of the top AND an official ADPi Christmas Alphie?" And YES! You'd be correct. Also, you might be thinking this is a potential fire hazard, but so far, no problems.

Some of our beautiful Christmas cards!

I made this my freshman year of college, no joke. And it still looks pretty good!

On our dining room table - courtesy of Grandma Penny, too!

Thank you, Miss Amanda Fortner for these ADORABLE towels!!! 

And a precious engagement gift from Miss Cate Catani last December! So happy to have this in our kitchen :)

And lastly, this adorable hanging also from JB!

See? I wasn't kidding. We have the greatest/most thoughtful friends and family of all time! At the end of the day, I don't really care what is in our apartment. I am here with the one I love, and the ones who love us are always sending kind emails/cards/gifts our way. We have more than we ever deserved.

Wedding photos!!!!!!

Jason and I are SO excited to share a preview of our wedding day with you!

http://clients.julierobertsphoto.com/stewart2011/

We are overjoyed at the amazing work of Julie and her team! Book her now. For any event you might even think you will ever have. Seriously.

We can't wait to see the rest!!

Quarter of a Century

Well, it's official. I am now closer to the age of 30 than I am 20. When did this happen? I remember my 17th birthday like it was yesterday - junior year of high school, taking finals, having lunch with my best friends who left balloons on my car that had been written all over in the dawg lot at Bearden. Fast-forward 8 years later, and here I am living in Germany with the man I love. It doesn't seem real. Time is absolutely flying, but life is good, and we are BLESSED.

I can check off something pretty cool from my bucket list after this weekend - snowboard in the Alps. Jason and I left on a bus full of our friends at 2am Saturday morning to head to Ischgl, Austria. 7 hours later we arrived and began the day. Unfortunately, I think I had a touch of food poisoning, because much of my day was spent inside trying to keep down pretzels and water...but nonetheless, it was amazing! Luckily, my tummy problems came in waves, and I was able to get out once with Jason to snowboard fall down the mountain. Now, it wasn't my first time on the snowboard, but I could have fooled you. I was terrible. It's been 10 years since I did it, but I was sure I'd pick it right back up. I couldn't even stand at first! After a few minutes, things started looking up but by the time I finally got down, it was time to meet the rest of our group back down in the village for some apres ski fun. Here are a few pics from what I swear was Mt. Everest. We just kept going up and up and up...and I never even went higher than a third of the way to the top!

Now I realize I am from the South, but I have never seen so much snow in my LIFE! Sometimes I could barely walk through it. And it snowed all day. The visibility wasn't great, but the sun did come out for a few minutes and help a little. Now for proof that we were actually there:

me & Jason

Jason, Jeff, Mike & Jay

Jason H., me, my Jason

I guess these ski trips have been pretty notorious for their partying in the past...and this trip was no different. But Jason and took it easy and ordered pizza while everyone else danced on the bar, ha. It was so fun though. I just wish I would have been feeling a little better! The village was so beautiful all lit up and covered in snow. Here's a picture from the bar we hung out at, looking back up the mountain:

After a whirlwind 10 hours in Ischgl, it was time to get back on the bus for the drive home. We had champagne at midnight for my birthday, while a lot of partying boys sang Happy Birthday to me. It was priceless, as you may have guessed. We weren't exhausted at all, I promise! See...25 has never looked so good.

We finally got back to Bamberg around 2:30 Sunday morning, where Stacey, my sweet friend who is married to Jae, who was also on this trip, greeted me getting off the bus with a birthday muffin! It was so sweet. She was up in the middle of the night to pick up her husband, remembered it was my birthday, brought a muffin, and did I mention she is also about 7 months pregnant?! She's a stud.

I don't think I have ever slept so wonderfully in my life as I did Saturday night/Sunday morning. I was absolutely 100% pooped. But just a few hours later, it was time to get up again and head to breakfast. We tried to go to arguably Jason's favorite restaurant in Bamberg, Cafe Esspress, but our friends who beat us there called to say there were no tables. So we tried somewhere Jason and I hadn't been - der Beck - which turned out to be amazing! We got all this food for less than 6 euros...crazy!

I know what you're thinking. "Kate, it was your birthday. You really should have ordered something good...calories don't count on hoildays!" Now just keep in mind I'd barely eaten the day before, so I was really trying to make up for it, okay!? It was delicious. Our friends Chase, his wife Emily (who just got to Germany Friday!) and Ryan, and his wife Summer, joined us for breakfast, and it was a great time too. Afterwards, Chase got a pic of Jason and in front of the Christmas tree that is right behind our apartment. We were still a little tired. :)

With full bellies, we went back to the apartment and put Home Alone in while we tried to nap. I don't think either one of us ever fell asleep, but it was really nice to just relax for a couple hours! Then we went to post to meet up with Jae & Stacey to see Arthur Christmas. Let me just say this, weirdest Christmas movie ever! I had no idea what it was about, but it was just...odd. I liked it, it just wasn't what I was expecting. If you've seen it, I want to know your opinion! After the movie, Jason and I figured we didn't get enough for breakfast, and we should probably go eat a big dinner at a place called Bolero's. I had some kind of chicken in mango curry sauce and Jay had the steak. SO GOOD. After stuffing ourselves once again, we headed back to the apartment. Jason baked red velvet cupcakes, which naturally I ate 2 of and then passed out for the night.

I have to admit, 24 was a very good year. But I have a feeling 25 might even be better...

p.s. thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I love you all, and every single one of them meant so much to me. :)

Licensed to drive!

Well, I did it. I finally took my German driver's test this week...and passed! You may not think this is a big deal, but to me, it really is. You don't know how many horror stories I heard about this test! People failing, having to memorize 160-something German traffic signs, mastering a totally different system of right-of-ways, etc. etc. Needless to say, I was a little worried. I mean, it's not like I've taken a test in the last 2 1/2 years anyways!

A rousing 2-hour class began at 8am, with our very German teacher asking how many out of 25 or so were taking this for the first time. How many would you guess, 80-90%? Me too. Nope! There were about 4 of us who were taking it for the first time. Everyone else had failed at least once before. Now when your teacher tells you it took one man 2 years to pass the test, you start wondering what the heck you are doing there. Just give up. Ride the bus for the rest of your life. Don't even try. But then I quickly realized the cumulative IQ in the room was possibly less than the average of 1 person. Too harsh? You should have been there...I mean there were people that missed 25% of the test on their SECOND and THIRD tries. Did I mention it is the same test every time?? (Jason also informed me later that a lot of soldiers will fail on purpose so they get out of driving government vehicles.) Crazy to me!

100 questions. You can miss 15. I only missed 2. It was a great success. Although, I kind of want to know what I missed! I mean, this means there are at least 2 things I will think I'm doing right when driving here, that I am absolutely doing wrong. Another very German man who graded the tests (right in front of you and everyone else - that's how I know how everyone else did) called me the teacher's pet. Come on. I just really only wanted to take this once.

So are you ready to see my totally embarrassing German driver's license?

Well I hate to disappoint you! It's just a temporary piece of paper. No awkward picture to laugh at.

Now if I can just get out and actually drive! I keep telling everyone, though...it's baby steps. :)

Weekend Warriors

We continued our week of "firsts" by having our first houseguest this weekend! Kevin, Jason's good friend from back in Oklahoma, drove down about 3 1/2 hours to spend Friday and Saturday nights with us. Just back from deployment, he had been to Bamberg one other time, but this was his first time staying in our apartment. All my cleaning and rearranging was worthwhile. :)

We had a tacky Christmas sweater party at our friends' house, the Galletta's, Friday night to go to...so we met Kevin on post when he got in and drove a few towns over with 2 dishes of buffalo chicken dip in stow! Here's a pic of the beautiful flowers Kevin brought me since he couldn't make it to the wedding:

Now I said it was a tacky sweater party, but Goodwill does not exist in Germany, and my mom doesn't live here to let me borrow one of her vintage 1994 sweaters, so I immediately went to plan B - giftwrapping myself! It seemed like a good idea the week of, and then I got really nervous right before we walked in to be the only one not in a sweater. My fears were quickly squashed when we walked in and 90% of the outfits were homemade (and fabulous). Needless to say, the gift bag was a hit. I mean, how could you not love a "special delivery", "from the north pole"?

It was a really great time. Jason, not quite ready to wear a legitimate Hallmark gift bag in public, opted for the more classy route, sporting a genuine Gatlinburg Festival of Lights sweatshirt. He owns this, and has worn it previously. In public.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Love, the Stewarts

Please consider this picture of us your Christmas card. I'm so sad I didn't get the time/drive to buy and mail Christmas cards this year...but why mail out a generic card when you can see this gem over and over again every holiday season???

Here is one more pic of some of the girls at the party:

(Beth, Nora, Stacey, Stacey's baby, Laura, yours truly)

What is more fun than wearing a gift bag to a party, you ask? Sitting in a gift bag at a party! Shout out to Jae for cutting slits in the bottom so I didn't have to sit with my arms up in the air all night.

Saturday, after a Call of Duty marathon, I finally convinced the boys to take a walk around Bamberg. It was a rare and BEAUTIFUL, sunny day here! You really have to take advantage of those. First we hit up the Dome, an amazing church up on the hill straight up from our house that was built in the 1500s. We were able to walk right in. I felt like I was in France or Italy. Truly breathtaking. Here are a few pics:

The organ was playing while we were inside...I was in love. I cannot believe this place is literally a 10 minute walk from our apartment! I can't wait to take Mom & Dad here in just a few weeks. Next stop on Jason Stewarts' professional tour of Bamberg was the other big cathedral, St. Michael's. You walk in a random green door on a really plain-looking street, walk up what felt like one million flights of stone steps, and there you are! On top of Bamberg. You can pretty much see the whole city from there. It reminded me of Biltmore for some reason. The little cafe at the top was just adorable, too. I want to take a book up there one day and just spend the afternoon. Another place I can't wait for my family to see.

Kevin & Jason looking down on our little town :)

the cafe!

There it is. Another fairytale scene just a few minutes down the road.

After me saying, "Oh my gosh. This is SO beautiful!" about 100 times, it was time to head back down to Langestrasse, where we live. Did I mention the sun rises after 8:00am here and sets by 4:30pm? Not ideal, but you get used to it. I snapped a few pictures of pretty buildings on our way back. I only got in the way of about 50 people while I kept stopping every few feet to take pictures. Such a rookie. SUCH a tourist. It was worth it.

...and finally back downtown! (sidenote: if you are ever in need of a Bamberg magnet, my husband has a "magnet guy" he can totally hook you up with not far from here.) That last picture is taken on our street. They do Christmas decorating right. Then we hit the Christmas markets for some gluhwein and bratwursts. You can buy pretty much anything at the Christmas markets - candles, ornaments, hats, scarves, wood carvings, food, you name it. The pictures are a little dark, but you get the idea:

Then it was back to 'ole Langestrasse 9 to get ready for the Colonel's Christmas party back on post. We had easily a 45 minute debate between multiple parties on dress code for this shindig. Someone told Jason "dress casual"...but does that mean dress, yet casual? or dress casually? If it meant dress casually, I was about to roll in in my Moline Maroons sweat pants and whatever t-shirt of Jason's was closeby. Thankfully after getting the opinions of some other wives, I decided on a casual dress and boots. Somehow Jason and I didn't get a picture together, but here is one of my sweet friend Nora and I (she dates Jason's BFF here) with our margaritas (which were totally necessary):

After stuffing my face with mozzarella sticks and artichoke dip (again, extremely worried about losing weight), we were off to watch the Army/Navy game at a friend's house on post. Despite Jason's good luck hat, Army lost.

After Sunday morning brunch with Mike and Nora, and mimosas back at the apartment (and a little more call of Duty), it was time for Kevin to head back. We had such a great weekend with him! He is such a gentleman, and I can't wait until Jason and I can go and visit him. We are now accepting more weekend guests! I will even make you pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse. How could anyone turn that down?