Advent wreath - modern

Advent wreaths are a big thing here in Germany. Everyone has one. You can pick ones with fresh leaves up at every supermarket and florist. Wreaths without fresh leaves can be found at any store that sells knick knacks. Or you can be creative and make your own. I love making my own, especially with fresh evergreens, but never seem to get round to it these days. I have all the stuff you need to make one :(

From 2015! When I had more time :)

By the time I think of buying one I can't find a decent one. That's because I think to buy one a couple of days before the first advent. So today being Thursday and the first advent being on Sunday there is no hope of getting a good one.

Here is my solution. And I hope it is useful to all you busy mums out there.

What you need:

4 candles
A tray to hold all 4 candles
Shiny STUFF!

So the biggest problem here is getting the candles. But I have become wise with that and buy a whole stack after Christmas at IKEA. I think the ones I put out today were bought two years ago!

What is there to say. Arrange your candles and decorate! The shiny stuff I use is mainly decorations that were bought for the tree. And the tree ain't going up for another 2.5 weeks!!

Happy Advent!

Advent

And so the year is slowly coming to an end and the days here are getting shorter and shorter. Not to mention that it is getting COLD. As I always say, "I come from the tropics, I don't like this weather", but there are some advantages to the cold, grey weather in Germany and one of those is the ability to celebrate advent.

In Germany advent goes on for at least 4 weeks and starts 4 Sunday's before Christmas. The first thing that you have to do is get yourself an "adventskranz" (advents wreath). This year I made one using some of the evergreen that our landlord chopped down a few days before the first advent.

Then once December the first comes around you have to have an "Adventskalendar" (advents calender). Easier said than done. When I first got to Germany I thought that this was a great idea and so I made one for my daughters. Now every year I have to come up with 24 (times 2) gifts to put in the calendar. Which reminds me that after tomorrow their calendar is empty so I'd better get on with it! If only they would agree to a shop bought Adventskalendar, so much cheaper and less work!

An angel washing peg to hold up the presents

On the 6th of December St Nikolaus arrives leaving the children chocolates, sweets and presents. Hmmm more presents? Yes! I've gotten mine used to getting just sweets. Every year they get a large chocolate Santa put in their stocking. Okay, it's supposed to be put in a boot, but then what am I going to do with the stockings that I embroidered when we were in the USA!

Chocolate Santa's

Well Nikolaus has come and gone and we still have to buy the kids presents for Christmas. It's a stressful time for the present buyer i.e. me! But I get my kick out of it because Advent means that I can bake to my hearts content and distribute it to all and sundry.

The first advent we were supposed to celebrate at a friends but they fell sick :( That meant I was left with a huge cheesecake and only 4 people to eat it. So I decided, what the heck, lets just have it for dinner together with some lime cookies, macaroons and pancakes. Here is our spread:

Table with advent calendar in the background

Vanilla Chocolate Cheesecake

Lime Meltaways

Macaroons

Snowflake Pancakes

The second advent came around and my girls decided they wanted to make biscuits. My youngest received some cookie cutters and a recipe for performing with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra. So these just had to be used. I decided to try the recipe out and it turned out to be perfect. I've been looking for the perfect recipe to use with cookie cutters for years and now I've found it. I'll share it with you some time soon.

But then I had some pastry left so I tried out a new cake. It's a very German type of cake and I topped it with frozen blueberries, the only berries I had at hand. It turned out delicious and I'm going to try making it with caramelized apples next. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them.

So that's all I wanted to do today, share some of our yummy advent Sunday tea's. I hope you all have a very warm and bright Adventzeit and that those of you celebrating Christmas have a wonderful time.