This was the extent of our New Year's Eve celebration...Just us, Grandpa Larsen, and a couple of noisemakers. Oh, and by the way, these pictures were taken counting down to 6:45 so we could put the kids to bed! It's midnight somewhere in the world...at least 15 minutes to midnight somewhere in the world.
The day after Christmas we drove to Prague to see the city in the Winter and so Heather's dad could see it. The weather was great, so it wasn't nearly as cold as it probably should have been. I would have liked to have seen the Charles Bridge covered in snow, but I guess it is better to trade that for an easy drive and relatively mild climate while strolling through the Old Town.
rubbing the saint's head, many of the people passing by were touching the saint's dog (you can see it in the picture at the far left). Not sure what supposed benefit comes from that, although I am sure that the folklore has evolved over time.
Summer, where we started at the castle and ended at the Clock Tower. So it was more uphill this time (although not as many stairs like in the summer), making it a slightly slower trek. We passed through the gates of the castle and eventually found our way to the main square within the castle walls where the gothic Saint Vitus Cathedral resides. Last summer the lines to get in were way too long to justify entering, but this time we were able to go right in. Although spectacular and eery as most of these gothic European cathedrals are, it is the same eery/spectacular you feel visiting St. Stephens in Vienna or the Cologne 
Cathedral (although to digress, that 
one is the most spectacular of all!), so I am glad we didn't spend the time last Summer waiting in line for entrance.
At this point it was beginning to get dark, so we retraced our steps back to the Old Town Square where the Christkindlmarkt of Prague was still open. For me, this was the best market we visited in regards to the ambiance. Between the church in the background, lit up from the light of a large, beautifully decorated Christmas tree, and the theater set up in the middle of the market, the atmosphere was thrilling. We walked around for a while before picking up some pizzas that we took back to our hotel for dinner.
lights up around the city, and the Christmas Elf coming to our house everyday to remind the girls to be good helps us remember what a wonderful time of year this is. We also enjoy the many nativity scenes (around the house and around the Christkindlmarkts) reminding us of the real reason we celebrate. In Hungary they don't put up the Christmas tree until a day or two before Christmas but we boycotted this Hungarian tradition and Heather had the house decorated by beginning of December. Our house is perfect for Christmas decorations because the living room and family room are painted a deep red and the dining room a deep green. Perfect for Christmas, not so perfect the rest of the year, so we'll take advantage of this during the 4-6 weeks out of the year that we can.
After church yesterday (a one hour Christmas program) we delivered a few gifts to some friends before returning home to finish cooking Christmas Eve dinner. We traditionally have Beef Wellington, which was a little simpler this year because we decided to purchase the puff pastry vs. making it from scratch (last year Heather spent a week rolling that out over and over again...not worth the effort). Heather's dad arrived from New York around 5:30, (sooo great to have him)surprisingly without any delays or lost luggage (surprising because he flew through London). After a nice dinner we continued our tradition of reading Luke 2, which Katie sat through very well...Ashley not so much. Katie then began a rendition of the Christmas story utilizing her Fisher Price Little People Nativity Scene until Ashley swept in, stole the angel, and ended what started out to be a promising narration. We also continued the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, which, still unnoticed by Katie and 
Ashley, always seems to be pajamas. This year Julia and William sent them matching Christmas pajamas. At that point we were all tired, but since Heather's dad had brought most of our gifts that we ordered back in the U.S., we had most of the wrapping still to do, so we put the girls to bed and worked until past midnight.
ecause it is Christmas. Unfortunately for us, this is still around 6:30 every morning, so not much benefit derived here (although I guess it could be even earlier on Christmas morning once they figure it out!). We walked them down to the family room where Katie got tremendously excited and, as usual, Ashley just mimicked her, not quite understanding what all the excitement was about but dancing around like Katie evenstill. But once she sat down and saw all of the presents from Santa, Mom and Dad, their grandparents and Aunts/Uncles, both of them understood what was going on...presents! Katie and Ashley got way too much stuff (and for the fourth consecutive Christmas we pulled back a number of presents for the next event, since we had obviously overestimated their stash). Katie got a new bike from Santa and Ashley got the Dora the Exporer Casa and a number of Dora paraphenalia and furniture. We then proceeded to a breakfast of Eggs Benedict and caramel pecan rolls. We go to Prague tomorrow, so the rest 
of the day is for relaxing and doing nothing.
We took a quick Friday day trip to Vienna with Heather's Aunt Jaki to see the city and, particularly, the Christkindlmarkt that is open in front of the Rathaus (Town Hall). Katie was in school, so we just had Ashley with us, which we thought would make it easier on us. We checked the weather on the internet and saw that it was supposed to be 43 degrees and sunny, so we anticipated it to be a pretty convenient day to make the trip. Unfortunately, the closer we got to Vienna the more we realized that the overcast clouds were not going away and the temperature was not improving to 
anything warmer than 30 degrees. It started out OK, but not much time passed before we realized it was cold! Fortunately Heather was smart enough to have packed enough warm clothes for all of us that it wasn't miserable until Ashley finally broke down and decided SHE was cold. We did our best to make her comfortable. I put my gloves on her feet and my coat around her. It was deja vu to Nuremberg, except this time it was Ashley instead of Katie. She still complained, so I took her into the Burgtheater, which is across the street from the Rathaus, and we waited for Heather and Aunt Jaki to finish their shopping. We were fortunate that Heather ran into some friends from Budapest because Heather didn't know I was taking Ashley into the theater to keep warm and I had both cell phones. So they might still be strolling around Vienna searching for us had they not ran into a friend from which to borrow a 
phone. Overall, the Vienna Christkindlmarkt is not nearly as interesting as the German ones that we have visited. The wares are not as exquisite or as localized as the ones in Germany, and the prices are significantly higher. From afar it looks the same (the booths, the decorations and the location in front of the Town Hall), but as you examine it more closely it become obvious that the German counterparts are a step (or two) above the Austrian (and I'm not just saying that because I am still bitter about the Austrian speeding ticket I got a few 
weeks ago).
Budapest. She eventually saw all of the princesses, although she burst into tears when the lights came up and the zamboni appeared, since she thought it was over and Cinderella had not arrived yet! "Where's Cinderella? I didn't see Cinderella!" Fortunately, it was just the intermission and 
Cinderella arrived shortly into the second act. Between staying up late on a school night and having a tub of "princess popcorn", we believe she had a good time. By the time the taxi arrived back at the house after the event, she was sound asleep.
the oldest (been going on over 400 years when 14 roads brought traders into the walled city) and most famous Christkindlmarkt in Germany, set along the cobblestone streets of the Hauptmarktplatz. It certainly is the most crowded that I have ever been to. After finally finding a place to park, we got everyone dressed as warmly as we thought possible, which was not enough, since as soon as we got 100 feet from the car Katie began to complain about how cold she was, while Ashley, conversely, refused to wear her hat and mittens no matter how hard we tried. Finally I decided it was not worth the effort, although I know each and every German that walked by us thought what terrible parents we 
were, for not having her flooded in warmth. At any rate, despite the complaining from Katie (I finally put her in the stroller, took off my coat, and wrapped it around her, which provided enough heat to silence her for a while) and the whining from Ashley, we managed to enjoy about an hour of perusing the different booths of Christmas themed decorations. We also enjoyed a lot of food, including the traditional candied almonds, bratwursts, chocolate covered apples, bananas, and strawberries, and finally fresh waffles with powdered sugar. We added to the girls collection of Christmas ornaments, as well as a German Nutcracker (we collect one at each Christmas market we go to). We 
listened to a Christmas brass orchestra set up in front of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) for as long as the girls would allow us to, and then we proceeded back to the car for the trip to Regensburg.
w of the city, we are told. Unfortunately once we got to 
the city we immediately went to the Regensburg Christkindlmarkt and did not make it to the bridge until after dark. So, this, we can not validate. However, we do admit that the Christkindlmarkt in Regensburg, although smaller than Nuremberg's, is just as fun. And this time Ashley fell asleep in the stroller so we were able to enjoy it in relative peace. Both these cities will be fun to go back to in the Spring, as the minimum daylight and temperature made it a little difficult to completely enjoy. However, the Christkindlmarkts certainly made up for anything we feel like we may have missed otherwise.
celebrate it one day early, especially considering she didn't really care. We are not sure if she completely understands the event, but she does know how to sing "Happy Birthday" (she learned it at Heather's birthday, I believe), so she happily sings along as we presented her birthday cake and presents. Since the only thing she is really into right now is Dora, she received plenty of Dora paraphernalia, including the Dora tree house, a Diego doll, and a Baby Jaguar figure, among other things. Dora is really the only thing she will sit down and watch, Ashley's version of Katie's "Toy Story". Heather baked her a Brownie Ice Cream cake for desert, which, of course, she enjoyed.
Heather flew home to New York to surprise her dad for his 70th surprise birthday party. It was a quick trip, as she flew in Friday afternoon and flew out Sunday night, arriving back to Budapest Monday morning. But it was good to see her dad and to spend time with her family for the holiday, albeit the day after Thanksgiving. She was also able to do some shopping and stock up on some of the necessities (Oreos) that we were starting to run out of. I stayed home with the girls and we didn't go out except for church on Sunday. So the girls just stayed in their pajamas all day Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday.
