We opened more of the boys’ Christmas presents this afternoon, from Santa. The poor boys haven’t had a proper Christmas yet. Last year we just got home from the hospital and were too tired to do anything. And this year we were too tired from moving/unpacking/getting set up. At least they’re not aware of it yet. Next year, I promise to be better! At least I hope we don’t move or do something big again! Luckily, Michael has more energy than I do, so he went out and bought them a few things and wrapped them up. They got a push/ride hippo cart, a clown guy that has a rounded bottom so he never falls over, in addition to the piano/xylophone from last night. Michael even wrapped up one of their old toys so that they had one additional present. Poor babies, aren’t we awful? We went out for a long walk, we walked to Odeonsplatz, where we went into the beautiful yellow church that had elaborate interior wall scluptures. They also had a “living” nativity scene, that was about 10 ft x 5 ft. It had a giant rock as it’s base and they put all kinds of houses around it, and it had people with moving arms and stuff like that. It was pretty cool. The churches had all these gated off areas on the sides, which seemed like little private praying areas? I don’t know what it’s for. If any of you catholics out there can enlighten me about this, please do. I also saw the confession booth, but there wasn’t anyone in there. They had these things where you could buy a candle and put it on the stand, I really wanted to buy two of them, one for my cousin Lynn, who is going through radiation and chemo, valiantly battling her germ-cell cancer, and one for Michael’s dad who is doing his best to keep his throat cancer at bay. As luck would have it, we didn’t have any money… So we bowed our heads in a little prayer instead. Sorry, Lynn and Tom!!! After that, we walked to Marienplatz, where it was empty. It really made the city beautiful, the streets empty, everyone is not rushing around buying Christmas gifts, an old dusting of snow in shady spots here and there. we walked back home, seeing parts of Lehel that we haven’t seen before, there are some cool stores around where we live, probably too expensive for me though. For dinner, we went to the famous Hofbraeuhaus (beer hall). There were tons of people having Christmas dinner there. Not exactly a family place, but there were lots of people with kids. We went to the back, where it was the least smoky and set the boys up in their booster seats. We sat next to a huge asian tour group (Korean?) and noticed that they all ordered the same meal - entree, drink, and dessert. It was kind of odd. Like someone told them, “this meal is the best”, so they all ordered it and ate it. I had a steak (their version of a steak) and Michael had goose (at least he thinks it was goose). The strange thing about German meat is that I’ve only seen fowl w/bones in it. There are no steaks or pork with any bones. But it’s not like we’re combing the shops at the Rindermarkt, so I’m sure it exists somewhere. The meal was ok, the dessert was pretty good (apfelstrudel) and we were stuffed coming home. At least we were able to walk it off. On the way home, it snowed! A white christmas! Can’t ask for anything more! I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!!!