18 Months!

So Christmas was really good and we did a lot of fun things leading up to it.  Here are some small gifts I made for a few of my friends and my homeroom teacher.

 Rachel and me having a blast at a youth fireside where we watched The Polar Express

 ...And Maurice

 Then we got to go see our friend Angela Brower in the opera Hänsel und Gretel.  it was SOO good.  She played Hänsel and she was amazing.

 Our good friends the Wilsons were there too and we ended up sitting next to them.

 One night a lot of the American youth got together and played basketball and had hot chocolate and that was super fun.  I'll miss this crazy girl when she leaves this summer.

 On Christmas eve I helped make our traditional Tea-ring and it turned out nicely.

 On Christmas day we had a fun time as a family opening presents and then we went to Englischer Gardens and walked around, because it wasn't too cold.  There were tons of people there.  We sat on a bench and I took some artsy pictures.

 That night we got to Skype Tanner and I don't have a picture, but it was really good.  It felt so good to be reunited as a family and just get a boost from being together even if it was just for 45 minutes.  Tanner is doing so well.

The next day we headed to Linz, Austria and Sister Kohler wanted to stop and take pictures by these hay bales.  That day was also our 18 month mark here in Germany.  I can't believe it's halfway over already!

 We saw a cool church there...

 And did a freezing and foggy sculpture walk along the river.

 We also went to this nasty, weird museum called the Tooth Museum.  There was no one there and it had all these old dentist office set ups and nasty tools and old teeth.  It was so gross.  When my parents started watching videos I couldn't handle it so I just left and waited outside.

 "The Toothbreaker" (Ew)

 A case of old teeth

 A mannequin that kept scaring me

 Then we got some pastries and a large cup of hot chocolate.  So good.

 After Linz we headed to Vienna and road a tram up the mountain and did other various things, along with eating Chinese take out in our hotel room.

 We came back just in time for New Year's Eve where some of the youth had a little gathering.  Afterwards the whole city was exploding with fireworks.  Driving home was crazy with all of these explosions, smoke, and fog in the air, it was almost impossible to see.  It was like driving through a war zone!  The Germans love Sylvester!

 Then last night we got to go to the opera AGAIN to go see The Magic Flute.  It was long, but very well done and enjoyable.