Christmas

The past week has been pretty awesome. Everyone is off from work and school, so we've all been getting to spend some quality time together. Less stressed and more relaxed, which is always a welcomed feeling!

We celebrated Christmas on the 24th. We went to church, and then shortly after we got home, the Christkind came and delivered the Christmas tree and decorations and of course, the presents!! It was so sweet to see the girls so excited. Kristina kept asking me, "Sarah, do you know what today is??!?!" I said, "December 24th?"
"No, CHRISTMAS!!!"
Hahaha, of course!
Before opening any present though, we gathered around the piano to sing some traditional German Christmas songs. It was so cute, both Elena and Kristina took turns accompanying us on the piano; both played beautifully. Then they were allowed to go after the presents!! Ah, such fun to be a child and such joy to watch excited and happy little girls! After gifts, we had salmon for supper before heading over to Oma and Opa's for more singing, gifts, and sweet yummy things!! I must say, the Austrians bake some delicious Christmas cakes and cookies. I must bring so many recipes home with me!!! Oh my, it was such a nice time. I really enjoyed all the singing in German, especially because "Stille Nacht" reminded me of my madrigal days, which were some of the best! Another special thing that I saw, which I never have before, were real candles on a real tree!! I didn't think people actually did that! It looked gorgeous though; I think I'll have to try that at some point. One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to sit in the living room with all the lights off except the tree lights. It is so peaceful and such a great place to ponder the real reason for all the celebrating, gifts, yummy food, and all the rest. Once I got back to our house, I skyped with Kelsey for a bit, which was lovely. Her and her mom were both in the kitchen preparing things that I am sure tasted amazing, so I was just propped up on the counter top. Ha. It was great and I felt like I was actually there, except I couldn't smell the seafood stew that was cooking. I went to sleep watching "Elf" since I hadn't watched it yet this season.

On the 25th, I started "Elf" again since I'd fallen asleep on it the night before and watched it whilst getting ready for the day. We went to Oma and Opa's for lunch and stayed until the early evening. I had my first cooked goose and all the fixings, as is the traditional Austrian Christmas meal. It was quite tasty  No, it does not taste like chicken, for those who are wondering. It is a darker meat and so has a taste closer to that  roast beef. Then afterwards there were more of those delicious little cakes not to mention a large chocolate cake and whipped cream. Wow. It really was such a lovely day spent with all the family; I had such a nice and relaxed time. Once back at our house, we had a quick light supper and then it was off to my room for my skype fest. First the short "conference" call with my parents and brother's family in AZ. Then they had to go, so it was just me and my parents. Then it was my sister. Then it was Jessi. Then I tried my Aunt and grandparents, but they didn't answer. Then I had to call a friend back here in Austria. Ahh! So many modes of communication!! No, but it was honestly so great. Obviously I missed everyone back home and wished I could have spent the day with them too, but I wouldn't have traded my Christmas here for anything. I can't live in two places; it's high time I start reminding myself of that more often than I have been.

The nest day consisted of a wee tummy ache and staying in bed pretty much all day. But I caught up on some superhero movies, reading, and Pinterest. I was with some YAG friends the next day. I went to the theater with my family the next day. We saw a movie about two sisters who are half human and half vampire. It was actually pretty good, plus I understood it, which was evidenced by my laughter in the appropriate parts. Then the next day we were with some of Andreas's family. We walked around this old castle grounds which were really pretty, especially the pavilion.

And here are some photos. Sorry the photos have been pretty scarce on the last few posts...

Lights in Vienna

Karls Kirche Christkindl Markt

"Also for you, Jesus was born"

This pillars are absolutely stunning...photos do not do them justice

Christmas at Schonbrunn

Christmas in Hollabrunn

A nice walk to an old place and pavillion

The lovely Elena

The always curious and busy Kristina

Quite enthralled with the ice

My two sweet Austrian girls!!

Horses!

I really have an obsession with clock towers and clock on steeples.

Farming stuff...made me feel at home

Work

Drawing Tinker Bell and her other fairy friends.
Trying to draw Ariel, but, "She's the hardest!" Flounder isn't too hard though.
Teaching how to braid, the fishtail and the 4-strand so far.
Practicing the braids on Barbie's and my hair.
Cooking the basics: soup, fish sticks, rice, noodles, peas, corn, and the favorite: SPAGHETTI!!!
Baking: chocolate chip cookies (so far).
Helping with and checking over homework (we can add to 10 now!!).
Reading in German.
Reading in English.
Watching children's TV programming in German (and understanding most of it!).
Playing in the snow followed by some hot chocolate and, "Woah! There's a marshmallow floating on top! Why?" "Why not!?!?" "Can we have more marshmallows?" "Okay, but only one."
Piano lessons at Music School and being known to a cute little boy as "the English lady" while his mom has he and his sister practice their English with me. They are sweet :)
Being a knitting teacher and trying to make sure 23 stitches stays at 23, but when it gets up to about 35 not making a big deal out of it.
Making paper snowflakes.
Making collages from magazines.
Listening to German read aloud to me and correcting pronunciation mistakes.
Dressing up as witches, but not just any witches- REAL witches from Rold Dahl's The Witches, which I am reading to them.
Bath time: minimal splashing, practicing holding your breath, "experiments" and other cool stuff.
Telling stories -- made up on my own or abridged versions of movies (Thank you, Liz, for this idea!).
Practicing piano -- me having to learn a bit of piano myself so that I can be of any significant help, which is pretty cool.
Correcting their mistakes in English.
They correct my mistakes in German.
Playing train with my many used OBB tickets.
Marbles and magnets.
Thinking up our very own monsters to then draw prototypes of and to then later (we haven't done it yet) make real-life puppets of.
Rhyming (in English and German).
Legos.
Playing restaurant- best soup and ice cream cone I ever had!
Serenading each other, therefore teaching them what a serenade is.
Playing Tooth Fairy.
Singing silly songs.
Singing not as silly songs.
Reading about dinosaurs.
Friday is clean up day. "Oh noo!!! Why is it Friday?!" "Well, because yesterday was Thursday and tomorrow is Saturday, that's why." "Huh?" Haha.

Laughing, smiling, hugging.
Diverting attention to avoid arguments, cheering up, holding hands whilst walking.
Paying attention, thinking of new ideas, being creative.
Letting little girls be little girls.

Learning.

Many Thanks and Much Returned and Affirmed

My apologies, for I have been a bit slow on the up-keep these days. A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Like, a lot a lot.

It took a few days after I got back from Dundee to remember why I like it here; I also had to remind myself that I was starting to really feel comfortable and at home here. So that was something I didn't necessarily anticipate having to deal with. The Saturday after I was back, November 17th, the YAG had a worship night that I was really looking forward to. I (thought) had remembered the address of the place from the Facebook event page, but I didn't know which U-bahn stop to get off on. I knew the general area, so I thought I'd just make an adventure out of it and use my (usually) decent sense of direction to get me the rest of the way there. I saw the street name out the window of an U-bahn stop, so I just hopped off there. Long story short: I thought the address was 15 Wagramer Strasse but it was 175, how I failed to see the 7 in the middle of the 1 and the 5 I will never know. I literally walked a good half an hour in the wrong direction from the stop. Fortunately I wasn't in a stubborn I-can-do-this-myself mood so I called a friend and he directed me how to get there, after he told me the correct address. Also, I happened to be standing fairly close to another U-bahn stop, so I just hopped on and went back the right way. That's one thing Vienna has down- the public transport system. Really and truly, it's great.

I finally got there, but looking back, I know God had wanted me to have those 30 or so minutes to myself just walking around and being by myself in the city and kind of breaking me down a bit. It also made me realize how handy smart phones really are; that would have been an occasion where it would have been really helpful because there were detailed directions from the U-bahn as to how to get to the venue. Cool.
The worship night was a fabulous time of praise and fellowship. It was small, intimate, and forced me to focus on God and all He has done for me and what He's been teaching and showing me about so many things. We sang and prayed and listened to the first eight chapters of Romans, which was probably one of my favorite parts. So challenging and such a good message to hear often.

The next day at church was the first time I'd lead worship there, and I was really looking forward to it. Music ministry is something that I have a real passion for and I'm so grateful for the experience I was able to get leading worship during my college years (that's weird to say...since I only graduated 5 months ago... wow). Anyway, I was prepared and ready to have a great service and for the Lord to do his will through it all. And that is just what He did! Personally, I felt relaxed and comfortable up front and not nervous at all, which I was ecstatic about. I had several people say to me afterwards that I did a great job leading and the song selection was perfect. Praise Jesus!! After that service, and the weekend in general, I started to really see some of the ways God has planned to use me in these 10 months in Austria. There is no better feeling then the affirmation you get from brothers and sisters in Christ who recognize that you are in the right place doing the right things, all for His kingdom. And it is for this that I am truly thankful and in awe of the greatness of God.

That following week was Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday after Christmas. I knew may family's plans back home, and I also knew it had the potential to be a hard day for me over here. I love everything about Thanksgiving: Waking up to the smell of turkey and other wonderful things, going for a run to feel a bit better about all the food I'll intake, Detroit game starts, eat at half-time, catch the last quarter and a half of the game whilst looking at all the Black Friday ads/falling asleep, Dallas game starts, eat dessert, possibly watch movie, eat again. Ahh... it's all fabulous! Anyway, it was a busy Thursday here at the house, but we did celebrate it, which was great! Later in the evening, while tracking the Detroit game online, I skyped with my best from from home, which was awesome, but it sort of made me feel even more homesick. (I tell ya, that really is the worst thing about skype: it makes you miss that person even more!! Oh well. I wouldn't trade it for the world!) Then even later, I watched "Eat Pray Love" because she's in Italy at Thanksgiving and celebrates it with all her new friends, so I thought that was highly appropriate. I also had some Oeros and Peanut butter. Two days later on Saturday, a wonderfully sweet and compassionate American couple from church hosted some of the YAG to their house for a Thanksgiving feast. Naturally I had secured one of the precious 15 spots for this evening! Precious is actually an appropriate adjective for this occasion. Delicious  relaxing, familiar, satisfying, joyful, and phenomenally fun work as well. We even had a retelling of the first Thanksgiving! See, now that's precious. There were a few other Americans in attendance, but most were from other countries. Some of those had already experienced a real American Thanksgiving. Some hadn't though, and it was for them that I was really excited! It was such a lovely evening, and I really did feel relaxed and like I was with family. This couple has three grown daughters who are all missionaries all over the world. They thought instead of celebrating the holiday by themselves, they'd rather have a house full of young adults and laughter and smiling faces and satisfied tummies! And I am so thankful for that because it was perfect.

I went home with one of my friends who is also working here as an au pair. She's from Canada and is just lovely! We stayed up late talking, and in the morning we had tea (because anything more would have put us over the edge- we were still that full!) and talked some more. It's always really nice and comforting talking to other au pairs because they just get it and understand. The girl who was working for her family before her was also part of the YAG, so her and I are like "the replacements," haha. It's kind of cool though :) In the afternoon we went into the city and headed straight for the Christkindlmarkts (Christmas markets). I'm not sure exactly how many there are in Vienna, but there are surely well over twenty. We went to four, so I think that's pretty good for one afternoon. We did a lot of scouting for things that would pack and ship easily. There were lots of times when we'd both agree that something was really pretty, but then we'd just look at each other and one of us would say, "Yeah, but too bad... that won't ship well." We were also trying to be savvy and do some comparison shopping as well because, well...hello, we're not trying to get completely ripped off here! They were all really nice though not to mention smelled delicious!

So many pretty Christmas things!! 

Scented wood balls that last 1 yr! They smelled really  good!

The nativity scene/story painted on the wall

Happy Christmas!

So many of the trees were decorated like this!

I'm really grateful that we're now in the Christmas season. I think I really need it. I need to be reminded that there are bigger and more important things in the world than me and my feelings and my life. There is a God who created everything and came as a baby to be the King of kings and Lord of lords and the Savior of the whole world. I feel like I was starting to get even more selfish and self focused, and I'm glad this season has started to turn my mind and my heart around in a more positive direction. Prayers on this matter would be appreciated if you are so inclined!!

Well, until the next time, I wish you all lots of merriment and good cheer :)

~Sarah