Kicking off the holiday season!

So by now we are well into the holiday season... but I thought I'd just share a few photos of how we got the season started.

We may have been in Morocco on Thanksgiving Day, but that doesn't mean we weren't going to celebrate it!  The day after we got back to Frankfurt, we had a belated Thanksgiving celebration with some of our friends.  My biggest fear about Thanksgiving is that I will somehow destroy the turkey.  Therefore, in recent years, we have started a new tradition... Daniel fries a turkey!  Frying a turkey is actually much quicker than cooking it the normal way... and it tastes just as good.  I think we will be frying our Thanksgiving turkey for many years to come.  This Thanksgiving, Daniel and the other guys fried up two turkeys for our feast... while all of the gals made the other fixings.  Our friends, Matt and Heather O., hosted the gathering, and the meal was delicious.  As you can see, we enjoyed Thanksgiving, even if it was a few days late!

At the beginning of December, all Naval Academy graduates look forward to another tradition... the Army-Navy football game!  While it may not be one of the "normal" holiday traditions, we look forward to the game every year, especially since in recent years, Navy has quite the streak going.  Daniel's boss is also a Navy grad, so he decided to host an Army-Navy party, and of course, we attended... and we wore our Navy gear too!  It was a great time... and a great win.  Navy 34, Army 0 ... Go Navy!  Here is a picture of the grads and also one with the families.  

Here in Germany, Christmas is huge!  Several Christmas traditions originated in Deutschland, including advent, the Christmas tree, and the nutcracker.  In addition to these Christmas customs, an integral part of celebrating the holiday here is that every single town and city hosts a Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt).  The day after the Army-Navy game, Daniel and I decided to check out the Frankfurt Christmas Market... below are some of the shots I took while we were downtown. 

While all the lights and decorations were beautiful, it was packed!  At some points, it was difficult to walk due to the throngs of people, but we still enjoyed the shopping and food for a little while.  We are also hoping to visit a couple more Christmas markets in some of the nearby small towns... they definitely help kindle the festive spirit!  

We hope you are all enjoying this holiday season and looking forward to the fast approaching 2009.  Just in case I don't post again, we want to wish you "Frohe Weihnachten und guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!" (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!)  God bless!