Christmas Markets and Thanksgiving

Hi again! Now that my brother has updated his blog and sent folks here to see our Thanksgiving feast and Christmas market photos, I am feeling pushed to get this up and going again. The photos have been downloaded for months....just no writing. Here goes......

Ed and Shelly came up for Thanksgiving weekend. It was a treat for us to have family here our first holiday season, to be sure. Even better was to have the McAvoy/Ballard Gator spirit team watching UF tromp up on FSU again.

The day before Thanksgiving, we hit the Valkenburg, Netherlands market. This was my very first Christmas market and I wasn't sure what to expect. I found this market to have more crafty, flea market type stuff, but did find the long-looked for clog slippers for Sean's friend, Molly. The neatest thing about this market (or markets) is that they are in the caves used by the locals and troops duing WWII. Many of the soldiers there wrote their names, birthdates and hometowns next to their silhouette in charcoal. It is quite moving to think that many of these men (boys, really), never returned home.

The entrance to one of the Cave markets in Valkenberg, NL. There is a fee to enter these markets, but it is the same as the entrance fee to the caves when it is not Christmas.

Inside one of the caves. Most nooks and crannys were decorated for Christmas. There were even bars and cafes set up inside the caves. I found them very smoky in those areas. I heard from a friend who has been here awhile that it is best to visit the caves when the markets are there because they are lit so much better...then you can see all the charcoal drawings lit by the Christmas lights.

Outside the other cave market. One of the caves is called the Velvet Cave...I belive it is this one, but am not totally sure.

Thanksgiving Day, we headed out to the Aachen, Germany Market's opening day. This market was everything I heard it was and more. It was a veritable feast for the eyes and the stomach! I have to confess we pretty much ate our way from one end to the other. We lucked out and didn't have many crowds. I took Chris and the boys later in the season and it was a mob scene.

So, back to the food...roasted chesnuts, pommes, popcorn, potato pancakes, crepes, brats, gluehwine, pizza....you name it, it was there. Apprently, Aachen is also famous Europe-wide for their special gingerbread, 'Printen.' We were able to sample some and brought lots home...supposedly to share with the McAvoys' at Christmas, but it didn't last that long!

Ummmm...crepes. These were awesome!

Making crepes....

The beautifully decorated Printen shop window. This was also a cafe. Inside was a chocolate fountain....just looking at it made our mouths water.

The Aachen Cathedral is in the background. This is the very Cathedral where Charlamagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. The Cathedral gets a little lost with the market taking up free space on all sides, but it is worth a visit inside.

A gargoyle on the side of the Cathedral.

Ending the day with brats....no cooking dinner tonight!

We postponed Thanksgiving dinner until Saturday since NATO does not recognize the American Thanksgiving holiday and Chris had to work on Thanksgiving Day. We invited our landlords, Peter and Anamie Seulen and our neighbor and her kids for dinner. Peter and Anamie are German and are familiar with the idea of a big bird for dinner, but they couldn't get over how much food we had and how much we could fit in our American sized oven. During our dinner conversation and trying to explain Thanksgiving to them, we realized that they have a day of thanks here, too, but I am not sure when exactly it is celebrated. It cooincides with the end of the harvest, so probably sometime near Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to share our traditions with our landlords. They are great people and are so good to us and the kids.

Not much food is on the table yet, but this is how it looked before eating. I made a turkey of course, heart stopping potatoes, stuffing, green beans and 3 pies; 2 pumpkin and one chocolate pecan, as per Sean's request. Next year, we'll have 2 chocolate pecan and 1 pumpkin, as everyone agreed that they liked the chocolate the best. The kids ate at a smaller table in the dining room....Sean was bummed that he was relegated to the kids' table.

Chris preparing to carve the turkey. He's a pro.

Finally, what we all have been waiting for....Florida Football. Unfortunately, this is a bad shot w/ the FSU player on the screen. Will is wearing his jersey for good luck.