The Super Secret Surprise

You may have been wondering (or not) where all the latest alphabet pictures have gone...
Well, I haven't made any new ones.  YET.

Because... I was working on a super secret surprise present for my mom for Christmas.

"Aren't you spoiling the surprise?" you ask.  Well, of course, my mom is my biggest fan and reads my blog every time I post something new.  But right now, she's on a train on her way here with my sister.  (Don't even ask why a train.  I'll just say it snowed a lot today.)

SO, since she has no internet access (I hope), I can safely share some of the artwork I made for her Christmas calendar with you.  But DON'T TELL!!

The other thing I thought would be really cool since I was pretty happy with the way the pen drawings came out was to make a black and white calendar that anyone (like you) could order and color in however they choose.

Here is the link if that sounds cool to you.  Not too cheap, but I thought it sounded like fun.  In fact, I kind of want one to color...

More posts soon with lots of Christmas Market goodness... 

It's SNOWING! SNOWING I say, SNOWING!!

It's snowing...It's snowing...It's snowing...It's snowing...It's snowing...
(picture me jumping up and down as I say this...)

This is fantastic news!  The day before Thanksgiving and we have SNOW!  Not the sticking kind, but its definitely been snowing for over three hours so far.  AND, the Striezelmarkt opens TOMORROW (awesome Thanksgiving present)!  AND its supposed to SNOW AGAIN tomorrow!
It's SO CHRISTMAS-Y!!!!!!!

I couldn't be happier.  Two years of living in Texas has deprived me of snow.  I need snow.  Snow is a definite factor in my overall happiness.  Ahhh.... snow....

proof of snow

Germany is so OLD!

In 1492 when Columbus was sailing the ocean to discover America (supposedly), Dresden was having its 58th Streizelmarkt.  Its ridiculous to think that America wasn't even a country yet (well, it was some land with native people and animals, but not the America we know now...) and across the ocean there was a country with cities and buildings and Christmas Markets!!

The market opens Thursday evening, so this was the last weekend for all the little houses to get set up and decorated.  Here are some photos of the progress:

The mall is also pretty decked out:

We walked out to the Blue Bridge (Blaues Wunder) to enjoy the cold.  They still had their outdoor biergarten open:

which was awesome because we got to watch them put up their giant christmas tree.

And now...   (drumroll)..... the first glimpse of the Christmas Market (because its the only thing open so far).... 

TaDa!

Dresden Zoo a.k.a. Playscape Heaven

Friday afternoon I went to the zoo with some kids (not just random kids I picked up off the street, though that would have been fun too...).  It was awesome (even though it reminded me how much I miss kids and teaching art :( ).

The Dresden zoo is pretty small, which is nice because you can walk around the whole thing and not miss anything.  I think the most fantastic part of the zoo is all the playscapes.  There are at least 6 of them and they're all a little different, but are all designed to blend in with the natural zoo surroundings.

Here are some lions:

And here is a play area where you can be a lion:

Here's a playscape full of ropes for climbing:

And one some with houses:

And one with logs:

Here's one with a giant giraffe!

Another extremely kid-friendly aspect of the zoo was the petting area.  Usually I'm not a fan of petting zoos... I don't see the fun in stepping in goat droppings or getting your clothes chewed on or having to use that gross anti-bacterial gel stuff they put just outside the gate.

But today was an exception.  There were BABY GOATS!!!  They must have only been a few days old because they were still really small and wobbly and nursing from their mom.  One even had a piece of umbilical cord still attached (ew!)

I was so excited about the playgrounds and the goat babies, that I only took a few other pictures of animals.  Of course, its Germany... in the winter... and we were at the zoo at 3pm, so everything turned out too dark anyway :(  Its been getting dark at 4:30 here!  Ridiculous!!  (I like it!)

Weihnachtssterne - Complete!

After my first practice Aureliosterne, I bought some fancy paper to make my real Christmas stars.
90 squares (and almost 1000 folds later), here's how they turned out!

I thought the hours of folding and assembling were the hardest part.  BUT with concrete walls and one outlet for our entire living room, it turned out that HANGING them was the hard part.  I think they're pretty awesome.  Motivated to make your own yet?

Wildgehedge & Bocce Ball

This Saturday the weather was supposed to be rainy... but we woke up to a cloudless day, so we decided to take advantage of it and do some outside activities.  Friday night I learned about a wild animal reserve called Wildgehedge close by in Moritzburg.  It sounded cool, so we thought we'd check it out.

Judging by the description I'd heard, I was expecting a forest where you walked around and observed wildlife hanging out in their natural environment, doing wild animal things, and possibly running up and attacking you.  It turned out to be more like a zoo.  The animals were totally unable to attack humans (probably a good thing), though we did see a few signs warning that if you stuck your hands into the enclosures, they could be bitten off.

It was a very cool wildlife experience.  There were walking trails through lots of enclosures featuring all sorts of native Saxon wildlife.  We were able to get pretty up close and personal with these deer (even though we didn't bring food for them to eat)

As we walked along past smaller animals like bunnies, guinea pigs and crows (not too exciting), we were becoming more and more anxious to see the new WOLF ENCLOSURE.  Wolves are awesome animals.  I think I like them so much because they're a lot like dogs, which are also awesome animals, but wild... and they howl.

The signs promised a new and exciting wolf enclosure if we just followed the path...

Well, the wolf enclosure was pretty awesome.  It housed 6 or 7 wolves (that we could see), but it was a little too enclosed for my liking.  I suppose if it was fenced in like the deer enclosure they'd have to put warning signs like "don't get to close or the wolves might jump over and gnaw you to death," which might not be appealing for families with small children.

Our favorite animals at the Wildgehedge were the owls (called Uhu- which is awesome for my animal alphabet book!)...

And the wild boars.
The wild boars were separated by size (and I'm assuming age), and the babies were SOOO cute.  They were making all the adorable oinking noises and if you stuck your hand near them they'd snort it and leave a mud mark on you (or according to the sign, might bite it off).

It was a blast.  Definitely on the list of fun things to do in Dresden.

When we got home, the sky was looking a bit ominous...

but we decided to walk up to Alaunpark to play some Bocce Ball.  For those of you who don't know how to play bocce ball, its an awesome, lazy, lawn game.  Here are the rules, in case you decide to take it up.
While we were there we got some softeis and I snapped this awesome photo of the bare trees:

We had a party to go to that evening and Bob was feeling in the "animal" spirit from the day's adventures, so we thought we'd make him up as one:

Also, there were going to be kids at the party and this was a good way to get them excited about having their faces painting.

Note:  I think I could have a future in professional face painting.  Its kind of fun, and its instantly gratifying when the face-paint-ee looks in the mirror and is happy with their new face.  The downside, faces look a lot less cool after a hot, sweaty party.

Paper Sterne

As part of my Christmas decorations this year I thought I would learn how to make some traditional paper stars.  Not only is it super fun, but they look really cool and are way cheaper than buying lots of decorations.

The first stars I learned how to make were fröbelsterne.  They're called ribbon stars because you make them from long, skinny strips of paper.

Click here for instructions to make your own.

After I made a few, I wanted something a little more challenging.  Here is an Aurelio-sterne:

If you want to learn a little German and try making one, check out this video!

I wish I had an art store in my house...

Today I went for a nice walk in the brisk fall weather then took the tram to my favorite art store.

Taking the tram is much better in the fall and winter than in the summer. Like everything else in Germany, trams are not air conditioned, and when the bathing policy for most is "at least once a week," let me tell you- trams and summer just aren't worth it- I'd rather walk.

But, I walked halfway and decided to save some time by taking the tram the rest of the way there.

Here is my favorite art store:

Well, actually, a tiny part of my favorite art store, the Gerstaecker.  Every time I go there, not only do I want to take everything home, and usually spend at least twice what I was planning, but I also wish my house looked just like this inside.  How cool would it be to have all this awesome art supplies as your interior decoration?  Looks cool AND is useful... But alas, unless I win the lottery, I'll just have to dream...

On the way home from the art store I stopped to check on the progress of the Striezelmarkt construction.  There were at least twice as many little houses, AND the Christmas tree was up!

My favorite thing at the Striezelmarkt (so far) is the entrance sign, which is like a giant schwibbogen.  I can't wait to see everything lit up!

More Holiday Fun

This weekend there was another... Festival!  You guessed it!  Since Germans don't have Thanksgiving as a "marker" for the start of the Christmas season, November 1st began all the Christmas preparation.  (I guess in the States they start pretty early too...)  Right outside our apartment are the beginnings of the Striezelmarkt, an annual Christmas Market.  The whole thing (Weihnachtsmarkt) runs from the Neustadt past our apartment all the way to the main train station.  I couldn't believe it when they started constructing some of the houses the other day.  But, being that its the 576th year of Christmas Market and that its such a big deal here, I guess I could see it taking a month to set up (it opens Nov. 26th).

To kick of the holiday season, a nearby town (Pulsnitz) celebrated with a Pfefferkuchenmarkt (or Gingerbread Festival).  Again, the weather was cold and rainy, but nothing was going to stop me from going to a festival that celebrates my favorite holiday food!

It was a lot of shopping and a lot of Gingerbread.  Here I am standing in line at one of the best Gingerbread Bakeries where I bought gingerbread, of course.

The gingerbread festival had the usual festival stands (bratwurst, wooden crafts, socks, etc.) but there were also a lot of exciting "Gingerbread-y" items to try like Pfefferkuchen Bratwurst and Pfefferkuchen Glühwein (I'll do a whole post sometime about glühwein, but just know that it is the best Christmas drink ever!)

The coolest part about the Pfefferkuchenmarkt were a bakery showroom where we got to see some of the Gingerbread being made and the museum where we learned all about making Gingerbread (in German, of course)

Some Gingerbread "cutters"

Gingerbread in the oven

Gingerbread "resting"

 

Gingerbread Spices

Some Alpine horn players

The making of Gingerbread is fascinating.  It used to be 1/2 flour (with spices) and half honey.   Now they use sugar, but there are never any eggs or milk in the dough.

There are 10 different spices in Gingerbread.  

When the dough is made, every day each family bakery saves a piece of dough from the gingerbread batch in a box (under lock and key).  The next day, that little bit is mixed into the new batch of gingerbread, so really, each piece of gingerbread has molecules of 125 year old dough in it (yum!).

Another interesting fact is that the dough must rest for three months!  During that time some bacteria (sort of like yeast) form and cause the dough to rise a bit in the oven.  

German gingerbread is definitely very different than the gingerbread I'm used to, but it's fantastic!  I almost had to be rolled home I ate so much!! 

Christmas Decorations in Germany

On Saturday we ventured to Langenwolmsdorf, a tiny town about 45 minutes outside Dresden to visit a Kunsthandwerkerhaus (a long word that pretty much means artist workshop/showroom).  It was a really cool place with 6 or 7 buildings all for Christmas decorations!  Unfortunately, it was very cold and rainy, so I couldn't get a lot of good pictures.  Also, the coolest parts were inside and there was no photography allowed :(.  This is the outside of one of the shops.

German Christmas decorations are the Christamassiest decorations anywhere (in my opinion).  There are a lot of paper stars (which I am learning to make), and a ton of wooden decorations.  At the workshop, we were able to see how some of the wooden decorations were made.  We also saw more Christmas decorations in one place than we'd ever seen before!  My favorite type of decoration is called a "schwebbogen."  It is a thin wooden carving that is in the shape of an arc.  Usually there are two layers with lights in between.  Here is a picture.  We bought ourselves a "pyramide," which, contrary to the way it sounds, doesn't really look much like a pyramid.  I guess it's sort of triangular...  Its more like a wooden carving with windmill blades at the top- you light candles under the blades and they spin because of the heat.  Its probably easier just to look at it!

We also had a fantastic snack of hot chocolate and apple strudel while we were there... a perfect snack for a cool rainy day!