Winter for real

Joshua's dream has come true. We live in a place where there is real winter. I'm writing this a month later and we still have snow on the ground-the windows are iced up most mornings, and life has not come to a stand still, as it did in warm and sunny North Carolina when "fake winter" came.

One happy boy. :)

We saw a sign advertising Christmas trees for sale in a nearby village so we stopped by one day to pick one up. Once again, it was a unique and great experience. 

The owners didn't speak much english, so we stumbled along with my terrible german and after we had chosen our tree, they invited us into their home for warm drinks and homemade cookies! We definitely couldn't resist that and left with a great tree and new friends. 

And a couple days later, the three of us got in the car to begin what ended up being one of the greatest three-week periods ever...