Lots of Visitors!

We've had a blast with lots of family visitors over the last week or so. We watched movies, visited Christmas markets, cooked up a storm, opened gifts, and even sneaked a few minutes to enjoy a warm treat from Starbucks. What a huge blessing to spend Christmas with family, even when we live so far away. We hope you had a Merry Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas!

We've been talking about the Christmas carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen lately. It seems strange that often we sing these carols and ignore the true meaning of the words. This particular carol holds such great news!

God rest ye merry ___________ (insert your name)
Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ the Savior was born on Christmas Day

to save us all from Satan's power while we were gone astray

O Tidings of comfort and joy!

Tidings of comfort and joy to you from the Franks in Vienna!

Food Subs Dot Com

Ever need a substitute for something that your cookbook does not list. Like...what can you substitute for eggs when baking?
Fear not! The Cook's Thesaurus is a fantastic website I stumbled upon today and HAD to share.

Bubba and Gammy are here!

Bubba and Gammy Frank arrived last night from Southern California! Yahoo! Cole is now ready for Christmas with his Santa hat, and tonight he discovered the gifts under our tree. 'We were kinda hoping he'd wait for that discovery until they were all opened. No such luck. After pretending to drink from one of our new Starbucks mugs from Aunt Debbie, Cole tore...well, almost...into Gammy's present. I managed to salvage it so she'll still be surprised on Christmas morning. Whew!
We also had a bath tonight, which is always BIG fun. We slather Cole with soap and watch him splash. He has learned to pull the drain plug, too. He can't resist the silver chain. It's pretty cute.
Keith, I used slather again just for you :).

A Hoover in the house

Yesterday, all 3 of us went to some of our neighbors' apartments to give them some Christmas cookies (see our earlier post for a visual of the cookies). Anyhow, we went to one nieghbor that we're pretty sure is Jewish. He was really nice and even wished us Merry Christmas.
Then we went to another nieghbor who invited us right in and told us she was making Christmas cookies as well. We had hardly spoken more than a sentence or two with her before. Well, she instantly busted out with amazingly good English - we never knew she could do that! So we just obliged and continued in English. Anyhow, she had us sit down at her table and opened up probably 7 containers of different kinds of traditional Austrian cookies. They aren't nearly as sweet as American kinds.

We were thinking we'd give Cole a cookie, but before we even could pick one up, he did himself. Then he put it right in his mouth and ate the whole thing up! It was so funny and the lady loved it. We got to know a few things about our neighbor - she plays the viola and does workshops with other musicians. As we were talking, Cole snatched another cookie (they were very small). A few times, he dropped pieces and crumbs on the floor like a normal baby. We apologized and tried to pick up the pieces, but she quickly responded, "Don't worry, there's a Hoover in the house!"
Anne and I pretty much died laughing, but it was covered up because all 3 of us were continually laughing at Cole. I mean, where did our neighbor learn some phrase like that???? I guess it was some old advertisement that she picked up on way back when she learned English.

HI. LARIOUS.

Cookies!

Chris and I decorated Christmas cookies tonight! Great fun decorating, MORE fun eating!

Christmas Market Time

Tonight we took Cole downtown to see the Christmas lights and to a Christmas market at the city hall, or in German, the Rathaus. He liked seeing the lights and the people, but it was a chilly evening! The Christmas markets are a special thing in Austria. From mid-November until Christmas Eve, local merchants put up wooden stalls and sell their handmade wares in outdoor public areas all over the city. Ornaments, jewelry, and wooden toys are among the Christmas market goodies. You can also enjoy unique food like langos, an elephant ear type bread slathered with butter and garlic, various sorts of pretzels, and lebkuchen (gingerbread). Austrians really enjoy visiting with friends and family over a hot mug of punsch or gluhwein. No matter the temperature, you'll always find folks bundled up, drinking, and laughing at tall wooden tables. It's a really fun experience!

The Week's Highlights

1. Cole threw up on the U Bahn the other day. He smiled afterwards. Yuck.

2. Chris went back to work today after a whole week of being sick at home in bed. He's feeling much better now, thankfully!

3. I learned that I have a convection oven last week. Since then, I've baked sugar cut-out cookies, a butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and some honey baked chicken using the convection setting. Who knew? It's AMAZING, and it cooks so fast.

4. Cole is crawling...Cole style. See video below.

5. Only 18 more days until CHRISTMAS! Yahoo!

The Lord's Prayer in Review

So today was the last chapel of the semester about the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6. I taught the kids a learning trick...putting things in your own words. It helps when you need to remember the WHY about something, not just WHAT it is. For the real version, read Matthew 6. For my version, read on...

God, you are in heaven, and you hear us
You are GREAT! I can praise you!
I want to be part of your kingdom, and
I want what YOU want for my life like you direct things in heaven.
Give me what I need for today, and help me to
remember that you've forgiven me so I can
forgive others too. Help me make good choices when I'm
tempted to sin against you, and protect me from anything
that may hurt my mind, body, or heart.
Amen.

Library Visit

Our librarian took this photo of Cole at our school library one day a few weeks ago.

crawling & carrington

Cole and I played together in the bathroom on Sundayd, and here's some footage to show you crawling...Cole style.


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Cole has not been liking his booster seat so much lately, so to help the process, Chris showed him some photos of friends and family. He likes Carrington's picture the best!


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

more pictures!

Cole and I had some fun in the bathroom this afternoon. Cole was entranced by the washing machine, so while he watched, I hid his rubber duckie in the laundry tub. When the washing machine novelty wore off, he crawled (well, shimmied on his tummy and knees) in and got it, and then we figured out that Cole is the perfect size to sit in his laundry tub. Fun!
Chris has been pretty sick this weekend, and still is as I type, so Cole and I have been fending for ourselves pretty much. Chris's mom, Nancy, and her friend Eileen who have been visiting this past week, left yesterday, too. We were sad to see them go. It was a fun visit!

gammie, fruit peels, pictures, and washing machines