X-mas 'hustle'

So, where were we? Oh yes, working at Praktiker in Germany for three days. That was funny. My mum and dad know all those people as they have done this all the time! On Monday in Mönchengladbach, on Tuesday in Essen and on Wednesday..I don't remember. We slept at the house of my friend Elisabeth, so we saw one another back real soon! On Monday I was so sick that I didn't eat anything of the nice food the Germans always serve when we work there. On Tuesday we had to eat chips outside at the take-away stand because there wasn't enough food for the whole group. But that was fun, too. Something else than only counting all different kinds of little screws all day, right!?
On Tuesdaynight Elisabeth and her husband René went to get Elisabeth's brother Bernhard from the airport in Germany. He lives in Austria and came to Holland to spend Christmas with his family. Both he and his sister went with us the next day to work as well. On the way to the last Praktiker Bernhard showed us pictures of their youthtrip to Paris. I worked together with Elisabeth, or at least in her neighborhood, all day long. That was cosey. The meal (Spätzle mit Soße) was delicious and I took twice. At the end I helped my mum with the sweets at the cash-desks and when that was almost done I bought some Christmaspresents from the store, because the Praktiker itself was still open. That was fun. My mum wanted a little Santa Claus, she had counted hundreds of them before! And I bought some calendars and candles, too. It was a lovely journey back, first with Elisabeth and Bernhard and then with my parents. We listened to Charlotte Church's CD Entchantment with the song 'I wish I was in Carickfergus'! My favourite.
On Thursday we went to clean the Gamma, some streets from us, my mum and I and then I went to have my eyes checked for new lenses. On the way home I bought some fabric for my sister's little play with the little girls. Black fabric for a black fish with long tentacles.. I talked to a couple of kids in the playground of their school, who called me 'stupid mum'. I was flattered but told them that I had no kids. 'But I am a teacher and I have been to Amerika'. That impressed them a little. They asked if they ate people in Amerika!
At home my mum and I worked on the black fish and after the meal (very funny because my sister's friend Janneke was with us) we started sewing my 'castle suit' in fleece.
On Friday we wanted to follow Janneke and Nienke, who had gone shopping the day before. So now my mum and I went 'shopping', buying cheese for the Christmas eve dinner and snow chains for the car, new roadmaps from Germany and I bought myself a journey guide for Great Britain. We had lots of fun together when my mum started looking at the ski-clothes.. One of my photo albums was ready and it came out wonderful. Back home we started the sewing machine again to finish the 'castle suit' in dark and light brown.
On Saturday we started with the Christmas decorating. We only had time to set up the figures and manger and make a little Christmastree out of the firtree branches I had taken out of the woods with Elisabeth. It didn't take so much time but it looked very nice. For the rest we put some candles in the livingroom.
On Sunday afternoon we went to the location in Houten, the hired place where we were going to have the Christmasfeast this year, to rehearse our Christmas Carol play together. It was fun, because the ones who played the mainpart didn't know their whole part yet! And they had to laugh as soon as they looked at one another. The children did very well and they were so adorable! We left at 6 oçlock so we were in time for the Christmasdinner, the cheesemeal! It was so relaxed and tasty. My brother Bastiaan and his wife Judith were there and Nienke's friend Janneke, Nienke, my mum and dad and I. (And a weddingpicture of Martijn and Wilma because they are in Norway in the A-team now). Nienke and Janneke had bought several presents for all of us: some 'beauty-products', Christmascards, DVDs and I got my own travelguide of England and the Irish movie 'Evelyn'. My parents had a big present for all of us: a little christmasvillage with lights and music and a couple scating 'on ice' (a little mirror). We ended the day with our Christmas tradition: watching 'White Christmas' with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera Ellen and Rosemary Clooney.
The church Christmasfeast on Monday was very nice. A fresh, young couple did the catering this time, Marieke and Roderic Scheepens and they really did their utmost! The big play went fine, although not everything went according to the script. But the audience didn't know that, so we just had a lot of fun and it was a pity that no one could record it because the light was too bad. Elisabeth and Bernhard played some nice music for us on the piano and the flute. Sister Van Oord did a puppetshow about the Christmas story and sister Kruyswijk read Tolstoi's 'Father Panov'for us with colorslides. Irene Achterberg played the guitar while her little brothers sang to it. That was so cute. There were presents for the children and three little boys got their first Bible!
Today, the second day of Christmas, we had a nice and quiet day at home. We watched Jane Eyre and my mum did some washing to prepare for the coming holidays in Norway. Tomorrow we will pack and travel and we hope to be on Brunstad until the 6th of January. Hopefully I will see some of the English friends at the New Years conference, so I can make arrangements for my time there. And Lord willing we can go skiing (langlauf, so just 'walking' on skis) in the mountains. Janneke, my sister's friend from school will join us. After we have returned, I will pack my things for Germany and be gone until February the 5th. I don't know whether I will have another opportunity to write while we are in Norway and I'm not sure if I will have access to the internet in Germany at all, so I will say goodbye to all of you now and wish you all a very blessed start of the new year. My heart is pounding when I think of the fact that Jesus stood up early on the third day and I hope He will be coming soon. There is still a lot to do in my life and around us but He has given us the power to work while it is day, so let's use the time right. I love Him and trust Him to put all things in the right place, now, to begin with us and then everything! Lots of love from your sister in Christ, Claudia (and I'll write again whenever I'll have the possibility).