Christmas Days in Warsaw 2012

December 24, 2012

Mark, Melissa and I arrived back at the Warsaw Chopin Airport on Christmas Eve, and were greeted by this wonderful sign….Wesołych Świąt….words I have come to enjoy hearing and saying.

Upon arriving home, we could see that snow had fallen while we were in Germany.  As I write this blog, almost a month later, this hardly looks like much snow at all….we have had so much more in January!  

It was a layer of snow nonetheless, and we needed to get our car out without slipping on the inclined driveway.  So we all joined in pushing the snow to the side….we were glad there was only a thin layer to move.  Speaking of moving snow, note the tool Mark is using….

….a piece of plywood affixed to a handle.  These are purpose-made and common in Poland, and they do a great job of lifting the snow off the ground and moving it around….like a snow spatula!

It's cold outside, and it's Christmas Eve…we have snow on the ground, but no new snow.  It will be a white Christmas….but we are also wishing for fresh, white snow.

I loved our Christmas Eve celebration…just the three of us and it was wonderful! 

We had a great meal and ate on the floor like last year…eating finger foods by candlelight….

….in a simulation of a shepherd's meal….not very realistic, but simple and fun!  Last Christmas Eve we blogged about learning this great tradition from a U.S. family here in Poland.

At the same time we were preparing the Christmas Eve meal, Melissa began mixing up cookie dough for tomorrow…chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies!  She is a great baker!

We spent the evening eating, reading and singing…and it was great!

Mark did a wonderful job playing a medley of Christmas songs about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ...while Melissa and I sang together.  I loved this so much!!!!

While singing "Away in the Manger" I experienced a very tender moment….singing the words made me think about my beautiful niece Natalie who had passed away one short month before, leaving behind two small children of her own.

Merry Christmas from Warsaw, Poland

December 25, 2012

Our second Christmas at Cisowa 9A…Warsaw, Poland

We are so happy to have Melissa with us this year….

….Christmas 2012 will be a great one to remember!

We are missing Jamie and Caroline but we know they are having a wonderful time in Seattle Washington with Caroline's family.

During our trip to Garmisch we purchased some delicate wooden Christmas ornaments…and enjoyed adding them to our beautiful tree just in time for Christmas.

One of the gifts Melissa received for Christmas was a red University of Utah watch….her Dad's idea!  It really is a cute watch and though she claims life-long loyalty to BYU she is learning she can also be loyal to her graduate school, the University of Utah!

I received European/Polish dessert forks! I was so happy! They are 3-pronged and less than half the size of a dinner fork.  Mark thinks they are too tiny and not very useful, but I love them and they will always remind me of Poland!

Melissa and I both received Polish pottery….we loved it! Melissa had received some small bowls previously but some were accidently broken….I love love my new Polish serving pieces!

Gifts from Jamie and Caroline….Mark received drinking glasses of the characters from the "The Christmas Story" movie and a Sherlock Holmes DVD, which we watched a few days later.  Thank you Caroline and Jamie for the beautiful Christmas towels, and my new cookbook "Our Best Bites".  Interesting….I gave this same cookbook to Caroline for Christmas this year!


We received this beautiful book from our friends Mike and Gayla…I look forward to reading from the words of Elder Jeffrey Holland. I also shared this same book with my sister Debbie for Christmas. It will be good to share our thoughts together…a mini book discussion.

While in Houston in December, my friend Pat gave me a manicure and pedicure for Christmas.  She and husband Craig gave Mark flannel pajama bottoms….the warmest and softest he has ever had.  They also gave him two large jars of peanut butter from the LDS cannery….we can get peanut butter in Poland, but a jar half the size costs $7, so these were a timely gift.

Melissa and Mark are holding Mark's stash of goodies from Melissa. Lucky us…a grocery store was still opened when we came to Warsaw on Christmas Eve ….Melissa purchased treats Mark would be sure to enjoy!

Thank you Diana and Brian for the Texas reminder…the "Merry Christmas Y'all" plate will be fun to display each year…thank you so much for thinking of us here in Poland!

We spent part of our Christmas Day making and baking Christmas sugar cookies. 

We were having guests on the 2nd Day of Christmas (December 26) and were going to be serving cookies that we love making at this time of year!

We had invited a young family from our church to join us for Christmas dinner….but on Christmas Eve they called and said they were sick. We were sorry to hear this news…so we wrapped up enough dinner for their family and took it over to them.

There were just the 3 of us for dinner….but we had a wonderful meal together!  

Grilled chicken and grilled vegetables, tossed green salad, and warm muffins…a simple Christmas meal, but so warm and delicious!

Christmas 2012….one we will always remember.

We are so happy that Melissa joined us this year!

In the evening, we enjoyed contacting family and friends…Jamie and Caroline in Seattle, and good friends in Houston. We love using our computer to make these wonderful connections. It was truly a good Christmas for us!

2nd Day of Christmas
December 26, 2012

In Poland and in other European countries the day after Christmas is a holiday also….a day for staying at home and welcoming guests.

We invited the missionaries from our congregation to have dinner with us.  Six of the eight missionaries came to our home….we loved having them, and sharing conversations and good food together. We made Hawaiian Haystacks…all with Polish ingredients.  It was a good meal.

 After dinner, Mark, Melissa and I drove over to Mark's office…we wanted to see a few of the Christmas lights in this part of town.  Here is Warsaw's central train station….Dworzec Centralny.

 

Mark's office is next to the train station….and from the conference room….

….the Palace of Culture and Science…with constantly changing colors at night…from blues and greens….

 ….to purples and pinks...

….to all purple….

….to all blue….

 ….to red and orange…and then it starts all over again.

There is no significance to the color changes….it is just a light show that happens in the evening.  It is really quite beautiful…though the Cultural Palace itself is a somewhat controversial remnant of the Stalinist period.

Another view from the office….he and his co-workers have great views of central Warsaw. 

The lighted Christmas decorations are quite pretty in downtown Warsaw.

They line many of the streets in the Centrum (central area of the city).

It has been a wonderful Christmas holiday this year….and we have been blessed to have our Melissa with us to make great connections and memories together. 

Last Days in Munich

Sunday mornings mean going to church for our family….no matter where we are…so I do my best to find a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints meetinghouse in the city we are visiting.

On this Sunday morning before Christmas Eve we traveled by S-Bahn and bus to a chapel in southern Munich. There are two locations for the 4 wards (congregations) that meet in Munich and we were going to the same one that Mark and I visited last February on our first trip to Munich…but this time we understood the transportation better and so our walk was much shorter!

After exiting the S-Bahn, we climbed some stairs, walked across a bridge and waited for the bus.  Our planning was great because we waited only a few minutes before the bus arrived.

The streets were very quiet on this early Sunday morning...

 After a short bus ride we got off and walked about 5 minutes to the Munich chapel.

This is an international congregation, and many of the members from the U.S. had returned home for Christmas….so the congregation was smaller than normal, though the small chapel was nearly full. They announced that the church service today would be shortened to one hour.

We sang Christmas songs, listened to beautiful music, and then the First Presidency Christmas devotional was replayed.  We had attended the devotional in person while visiting Melissa in Salt Lake City earlier in the month.  But I was happy when they announced it was going to be shown…I knew we could be more attentive since we were not contending with jet lag this time.

The Christmas messages and music were beautiful…I loved being in Germany so close to Christmas!

As an added treat, Melissa surprised one of her former college professors who was still serving a church mission in Munich with her husband.  Melissa enjoyed visiting with Sis. Coverston....She and her husband were so kind to us and invited us for lunch after church.  They fixed a delicious lunch and we loved the homemade broccoli soup and bread..and our visit together.

Thank you to the Coverstons for their kindness!

They drove us back to our hotel…and we changed into warmer clothes. There were still a few   daylight hours so we walked around the center of Munich again and saw some of the old and beautiful churches in this area.

This is Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church).  It is the oldest church in the area and was rebuilt after it was nearly destroyed during WWII.  It is the final resting place of former Bavarian monarchs King Ludwig II and his brother Otto.  

Mark and I had learned of the "Swan King" or "Mad King Ludwig" last February when we visited his castles….one of which, Neuschwanstein, was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland.  Ludwig II was the designer of beautiful castles but he had quite an eccentric life…and a sad ending as well.  At least his final resting place is in a beautiful church.

Munich's churches show a great contrast in style.

One of my favorite scenes in Munich….

On our walk we encountered this band on one of the street corners.  The violinist played concert-quality music, and the accordian sounds like several instruments in one.

They attracted quite a large crowd and we were all entertained for a while…but because it was cold we needed to keep moving.

Frauenkirche is in the background and to the left of the Rathaus (city hall) tower in the center of the picture. The onion-shaped domes are characteristic of Munich's skyline. I didn't realize that these two domes were part of one of Munich's well know churches.

After we made our way over to Frauenkirche we found that there are many stories about this church…an interesting one is about the "devil's footprint" inside.

One of the legends about the footprint is that the devil made a deal with the builder to help finance the church if there were no windows. The builder tricked the devil and built a small window whose view is hidden because of the large alter and columns. When the devil discovered he had been tricked and there was a window that kept him from entering the church…he stomped his foot in the foyer and went outside in a fit of anger.

The legend also says that when he rushed outside he put his "fury" into the wind which blows constantly around the church.

Walking through the pretty lit Christmas market streets….

 ….I loved the details they add to the arches, windows and buildings.

A small choir was singing on the Rathaus balcony in the picture below…they were singing Christmas songs in German and though it was cold it was a treat for us to see and hear.

We had wanted to attend a Christmas concert but were not in time to purchase tickets…this small choir singing Christmas songs in German was good enough for us….it was a new experience and we enjoyed.

We have loved our visit to Munich with Melissa…tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and we would be returning to Warsaw early in the morning….

 ….a good thing because the stores all close by 2 pm and Melissa informed me she needed to go Christmas shopping for her Dad!