After two splendid weeks in Germany, filled with plenty of good food, cakes, gifts, walks and time not only as a family but also as a couple, we are finally back in Switzerland. And while we enjoy coming back to our own flat and slowly acclimatizing to a “normal” life again, we feel incredibly grateful for the beautiful time we had.

The christmas days were spent with the family (this year it was Karsten’s turn) and the little one very much indulged the christmas spirit (so did I). She now knows how to switch on all the fairy lights inside and outside the flat – and made sure to do so every morning (or at every other time of the day when she noticed that they had been switched off). She ate her way through the delicious christmas meals and enjoyed the duck with red cabbage and dumplings as much as the venison with lingonberry sauce. And she is completely fascinated by her main christmas gift: a wooden stove with a pot, a pan and plenty of wooden vegetables to cut (to our amazement it was within one hour that she learned how to cut the vegetables. I see great potential for future help in the kitchen here!!).

On boxing day we made a trip to the Black Forest to look at the nativity scenes in the monasteries. Although the weather was cold, rainy and windy, it is always worth the effort as the nativity scenes in the Black Forest are simply beautiful and done with a lot of details (the following three pictures are a courtesy of Karsten’s dad).

For New Years Eve, we rented a flat in the Black Forest together with good friends in order to spend some relaxing days  away from the hustle. What a great way to great way to end the old year!! It even snowed on the last two days of the year (and it’s all gone again at the beginning of the new year…) which turned the Black Forest into a real winter wonderland. Definitely recommendable! Now we are deeply relaxed (though slightly sleep-deprived) and ready for a new exciting and hopefully wonderful year.

Happy New Year to all of you!!!