And for my little girl we were trying to think of something that she loves right now in her 2nd grade life. She loves the rainbow fairy books and I got the idea to put her body on the image of the valentine book. I erased some of the writing on the book and added her name to it. I used Curly Coryphaeus from dafont.com for her name. It matched the books font pretty well

This was one of the most special things we could have done as a family. My husband took me on a carriage ride 10 years ago after he asked me to marry him.  10 years later it was so sentimental to bring our kids on a carriage ride in December (when we were married) with us. Special family moment for all of us. The kids loved hearing us tell them about the night Brody proposed to me.

Did you know the Christmas tree started in Germany. The tradition in Germany with cintar clause, Father Christmas and St. Nick is something I need to read up on. This cute Father Christmas tried to explain it all to me, but the kids got a little bored. He was so amazing looking. Loved that we got to talk to him for quite sometime. And check out that beautiful bag, jingle bells and cane he held. He was kind and let me take a quick picture of it.

Look at these buildings! I truly felt like we were in Germany at Christmas time. My husband who lived there for 2 years thought it was all so authentic. The way the city sits in a valley with snow covered mountains was beautiful.

Oh and we ran into the nutcracker, a fairy and an elf I think.

It was fun to be with Brody so he could tell us what everything meant since he can read German from living there. Auh, so picturesque. Just looking back at these makes me so thankful for the special moments we shared there as a family.

Every weekend in December they do a lighting ceremony. Amazing! Beautiful carolers, a ceremony of sorts with the star of bethlehem and then all the Christmas lights in the city turn on at the same time. The giant tree was like Rocketfeller!

My favorite place we went was the nutcracker museum. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids to find certain nutcrackers. That made it fun for all of us.

Alliyah pulled her scarf around me for this pic. Such a cute idea cutie pie.

The authentic German restaurant we went to. Accordian Christmas music and all the food my husband remembers from Germany. Schnitzel, sausage, red cabbage (red sauerkraut like stuff).

A little glimpse at how lit up the town was. 

The Bakeria. Bakerai. I don’t remember what it is called in German, but we all loved our pastries and goodies before we left to go home!

On our way we passed a lot of rolling hills that looked like Germany. This was beautiful. Tons and tons of windmills collecting energy. Hundreds. We got out and stretched our legs at the lookout point.

More nutcracker pics. Okay check out the missionary holding the bible and book of mormon!!  And my son posed in front of the super hero and star wars nutcrackers that were pure AWESOME! He know wants his own nutcrackers to collect. 

Going on a scavenger hunt for certain nutcrackers made it really interesting for my kids. Even the 3 year old loved that.  A giant game of “I Spy”