16 years ago...

...we got married on Christmas Eve in New York City. 2 friends who were staying with us for the festive season, didn't know of our plans until that very morning, except that they had to bring something proper to wear as we were "...going somewhere special" on Christmas Eve.

So we went to the German Lutheran Church in NYC to be married by the Pastor, had drinks at The Rainbow Room with a fabulous view & cruise around Manhattan in the evening, in a yacht.

No, it wasn't a private yacht but it was a yacht with more fabulous views. On the way home, it snowed - a perfect end to a special day! Happy 16th year to us!

Our home is pretty cheery at this time. Couple of pics are from last Christmas since we do about the same thing each Christmas :

A special Advent Calendar to help the kids count down the days. Our traditional wooden hand crafted Angels from German, a collection started by my mother-in-law for us. She sent us a couple each year & I'm glad she did this!

Each Christmas, the children put up hundreds of these paper gingerbread boys & girls. Annika & Niklas made these when they were both still in kindergarten. I pre-cut these from 3 shades of brown paper & each day when they got home from kindergarten, they would "decorate" a few. If you start in June, you will get hundreds by the time it is Christmas!

On our tree, besides twig-stars, gold & red tinsel balls, we have hand-painted mini clay dolls from China, kawaii painted wooden clogs from Japan.

Beneath the tree is part of our quite-large Brio trains, a collection which started when Niklas was one. And he's 12 now.

Here & there too, are craft made by the children, like Christmas mobiles made in Kindergarten. And this Chinese Doll made from a halved-milk carton.

And some old pics of the kids when they were really young!

Have a wonderful festive time & stay warm!