Mensch argere dich nicht

Well it just wouldn't be Christmas if there weren't any games.  Now while in the past we have cranked up the Wii and battled it out over karts, tanks, bowling and golf.  This year, however, we decided to go old school and fish out the board games.

German Christmas Market

Is that a big tree?

First day back home and we made our way over to the Minden Weihnachtsmarkt.  Amongst all the usual highstreet stores and under the gorgeous  Landhaus still buildings were row upon row of gorgeous little huts.  After visiting both the London and Oxford Christmas markets it was nice to go to a 'proper' markt.

Banksy eat your heart out

Giant 'life size' advent house

Ich hab dich lieb

Gebrannte mandeln any chance?

What a doll

Gluhwein shack

Last Day - got my mojo back

After five months today is my last day at the RC school.  It hasn't always been easy, the children were quite a handful.

 But after weeks of training they are finally a settled class.  It is such a shame to be leaving, but I case easy in the knowledge that they will be in good hands.

  The new class teacher is lovely and very similar to me in many ways.

The school were very welcoming and appreciative of me.  As I was finding it difficult to imagine being a teacher any more I am happy to say the school has most Definitely given me my mojo back.

I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me.  But I am very excited about being a teacher again.

Baby Nat's Christening

As we pulled into the car park of a lovely red brick church in Little Aston, I felt a wee bit nervous, as I always do. I love meeting up with friends, but sometimes it can feel strange to meet up after such a long time at a formal gathering.

This gathering was the christening of

Mrs M's, (the first) nee Miss C, son and a gorgeous little happy chap he is too.  These occasions while happy and full of love, can be quite a minefield of "it'll be your turn soon!"  And "so when will it be your turn?"  Luckily this wasn't the case on Sunday.

The only other couple that I knew, Mr and Mrs J, were very up to speed with all the comings and goings of our life.  And our mission to become parents.  It was so lovely catching up on gossip from my London School.

G.O was a bit concerned that it would be a long service, as all four of us had squeezed into what was obviously a pew made for three.  I reassured him that it's was a CofE service which would probably only last twenty minutes or so, compared to a cathic service which last about an hour.  

If I have learnt one thing these last few months, it's that the Catholics like to take their time and do everything with the proper amount of reverence.

I was right, we sang a couple of hymns (good old fashioned school carols) heard a reading and said a few prayers,  then it was the moment we had all Bern waiting for and......  nothing happened.  Happy baby = no drama.

The reception was held at a local sports club, there was a finger buffet, lots of balloons, bubbles, babies and Santa.  Before we headed home we were given our favours, personalised Christmas baubles'

He turned blonde with grief

You never know what you will see when you pop into Oxford

A devil, a knight and Father Christmas put on a little play in the pub, all in the name of charity.

They put on a little skit which involved Santa killing the devil and knocking the knight on his bottom.  

Which is when someone dressed like a doctor came rushing in to revive him.  All while the other customers sat and had their meals/drinks.

Only in Oxford!  To which G.On replied "it's like this every night!"

CHRISTMAS BUCKET LIST 2014

This is my Christmas 2014 Bucket list

1.      Visit Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 

2.     Bake and decorate Christmas biscuits 

3.     Watch Christmas movies with popcorn, snuggled under a blanket

4.     Kiss under the mistletoe

5.     Have dinner by candle light

6.     Have French toast for breakfast

7.     Go for a walk around the village and look at everybody's Christmas lights

8.     Have a decadent hot chocolate

9.     Go and watch a carol service

10.   Decorate the tree

11.    Donate food to the local food bank

12.   Make a gingerbread house

13.   Go to the Ballet

14.   Send Christmas cards

15.   Go ice skating

16.   Write a letter to Father Christmas

17.   Read the night before Christmas

18.   Eat a candy cane

19.   Make reindeer food

20.  Take a family photo with everyone in Christmas jumpers

21.   Visit the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

22.  Drink Gluhwein

23.  Visit the Waddeson Christmas Market

24.  Sit by a real fire and toast marshmallows

I met the love of my life 7 years ago today

We look good together - our first ever photo as a potential couple

Seven years ago, give or take a day or two. I went to Oxford for the day with my brother and my friends.  It was to be an all day drinking session that would change my life, for the better.  

We started in the Red Lion, where I sat on the sofa with no support and promptly sank to the ground.

We then bimbled along Cornmarket on the way discovered little pub called the crown between McD's and Moss Bros.  It was a squeeze but we all manged to fit in.  It's not the smallest pub in Oxford but it is most definitely cosy.

It's was in the next pub, a sausage specialist pub called The Chequers, the I realised that, I had arranged for GO to meet us and not only had I given him the wrong number, my battery was flat.

Starting to look worse for wear

In a panic, because I quite liked this guy, I gave him my brothers number and arranged for him to meet us.  The rest as they say is history.

Meditation as an art

We visited the Global Retreat Centre for a session on the art of Meditiation.  I have included a copy of my session notes.

Talk to enable the restoration of balance and focus in life. 

Thought is not a problem when improving yourself, it is a creative energy that needs to be understood.  We want to change three things about thought;

1) the quality of thought is all about environmental influences, we need to elevate thought beyond the physical experiences. 

2) the speed of thought, if we burnout out we can't function and we always need to have a break. 

3) the direction of our thoughts, they tend to go out if our bodies in words and we need to direct our thoughts inwards.

Your name is that who you are? 

There is more to me than this body, I am not just a human, I am a human being and before that I was a spirit being.

"We live in a world of human doings and we can't always live in the moment!"

We need to tap into the energy of being! The soul and the spirit carries that energy.

We need to be honest on our journey of becoming a human being, we need to stay honest to the questions in our life.  Humility is being sincerely and genuinely open to learning.

Meditation as an artform?

Lots of pressure from the outside can turn off our inner voices, we need to seek out good company it always helps to nourish our inner voices. Silence is a harmonious energy, it is not the absence of noise or sound.  Harmonious sounds invite us in.

I have a body I am not the body.

I have a name it is the name of the body.

I, the being, has a name it is eternal.

The body perishes, yet I the spirit lives on.

I have a form, I have a name it is different from the body.

Soul, spirit, self!

I am made up of the energy of love joy and peace. We need to keep our energies up to connect us with the fresh new energies of self.

Fill me from within rather than externally in materialistic ways.

Room in the mind- a tool to aid meditation

The mind is the room, go into the room, it is full of memories

Organise the room, keep the precious memories, those that are important to you and discard those that hurt or cause harm.

As you tidy the room you notice a door at the back of the room.

Open the door going in to the room it is clean, fresh, and all white.

Step into the room, there is a white rug in the room and in the centre there is a table on the table is a candle. The rays touch all four corners of the room. 

If thoughts begin to pop up, make sure you have closed the door.

Become one with the candle allow it to become an energy that is light and free.

The self is a beautiful being of pure light it is in the body but it is not the body.

Things to think about

The I is forever

The spirit is me

In my mind is the devil and Angel are battling which will win the one that I feed.

Be separate from anything inside me that is not part of the true divining being.

Do we have the same colour blood, tears, smile, that is in the brotherhood no matter our external differences the soul is always the same.

Peace is the original religion of the soul, 

peace is who we really are, meditation helps you to break through the pollution and get you to the pure water self at the bottom of the pond.  The energy of our anger doesn't fit, it doesn't suit us we need to get back to the original divinity.

Meditation is not an art, this is a surgery value the energy of thought.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I have made a conscious effort this year to make sure that G.O and I make the most of the time we have together.  So with that in mind we decided to recreate our first official date.

I rushed home from school, we hopped onto the coach and we headed into London.  In the past we have made a day of it, doing the whole tourist thing.  This time we were just going to Hyde Park.

The very first time we went to the winter wonderland there were about seven stalls selling crafts and candles and things.  There were  couple off food stalls, but it was mainly a big fair.  It was together disappointing, as a German in England I love anything that brings a taste of home.

Last year was the first year since we have been together that G.O and I didn't visit, Christmas in fact as a whole wad a bit of a bust last year.

This year with my "savour every moment" hat on, I was excited to see what had changed.  I have to admit that it is now a mammoth Christmas experience.  Alongside the fairground element that is still there and apparently very much wanted by the public, heathens, you can now find food from all over Europe.  We had pork from the hog brothers and convert cake from Hungary.  Both delicious and very naughty.

There are traditional German beer-tents all over the site, full to buying with drunken city boys and girls, living it up for the weekend before they go home to their families.

It was such a nice evening, although the queue for the ladies was ridiculous, in the end I used the loo on the coach.