2009 has come and gone

Ok, I was planning on a "year in review" type blog here today, but realize that is what this blog has been all about from its inception - following our life here in Bonn on a regular basis. So, I will just give a short synopsis of our last few months since I left off in November. A blogging slacker is what I have become, but I now aim to remedy that.

On the 28th of November (what would have been my dad's 75 birthday) we had an American style Thanksgiving celebration at our house, complete with Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing and cranberry sauce. We shared our meal with new friends, and topped it off with a homemade walnut pie (no pecans to be found so far). It was so nice to celebrate my favorite holiday far from home.

I have always loved Thanksgiving because I get to see the entire clan of relatives on my dad's side whom I adore, and whom I see far too infrequently. I missed them a lot this year. Thanksgiving is also dear to me because it really is a time to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for, big and small, and celebrate, without material gifts, with those we love. And I have a lot to be thankful for.

Throughout the months of November and December I continued to diligently keep up with my German lessons 3 times a week. Though progress is slow, I am determined to broaden my world here and understand what is going on around me. I had to miss several lessons as both my kids came down with what we suspected to be the H1N1 virus, and I was grateful that I did not even have to think twice about staying home with them or how to manage that. I know that we are very fortunate for that.

The kids both continued to attend their Scout meetings; Noah is very proud of his Boy Bcout achievements and looks great in his uniform! Louise has some very nice friends in her troop, and we ended the year with caroling at a retirement home. It was very sweet to see the girls to do their best to sing carols both in English and German.

We wound up the year with an almost white Christmas. It snowed just before and after so the kids said it could count. We celebrated Christmas with Olof's sister Sara and her family who made the long drive from Sweden. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and are so thankful we found a house that could house visitors so well.

Noah turned 10 on the 29th and we had an engineering sort of birthday here with a few of his friends. Building catapults to send candy flying and shooting rockets in the freezing backyard were a hit.

Finally we ended the year in Sweden. We drove the 900 or so kilometers (yes I think in kilometers now, but am not too quick on calculating to miles so bear with me) to ring in the new year in Halmstad. It was a great time for all of us, though I think the highlight was when Uncle Martin, who "has great ideas but not so smart" (according to Noah) set the snowman on fire and it burned for hours (thats how cold it was folks)!

We headed back to Bonn only to hit a snowstorm of proportions even Olof was amazed at, and it took us almost 15 hours to get home. Louise questioned what I meant when I said we were going home, so it is still growing on us that we live here.

We have been in Bonn for 6 months now and I think we are feeling pretty settled. There are things we miss for sure, mostly friends and mexican food, but we have gained a huge cultural windfall and closeness to Olof's family instead.

I am not sure if I can promise to be a better blogger in 2010. I have been corrupted by Facebook and think often in one-line status updates, but every once in a while I might be able to fill in with some more substance on our life here.

If you really want to know what is going on with the Byströms in Bonn however, I suggest that you come visit!