We came upon this neatly laid out greeting – all made from natural material (pine twigs) – to remind us of the holiday spirit.

Frohes Fest (Happy Holidays)

With our visitors from France and Franconia, we undertook the ever-so-German Sunday stroll through the forest. We encountered many others like us, some heading back from the Forellengut (trout farm and restaurant nearby), some on cross country skies, while others were just out for the frische Luft (fresh air).

We were out for the frische Luft and maybe a Schnaps to warm us up, but most places were booked solid and we had made no reservations.

Forest walk Oberursel/Oberstedten

We did stumble home, even without the help of Schnaps, as the paths were not cleared and walking got a bit tiring after two hours.

With this post, I want to wish all my readers a Guten Beschluss! (Happy closure!) or Einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr! (A good slide into the New Year!)

If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the world.

- Heinrich Heine -

Frankenstein’s Island: England and the English in the Writings of Heinrich Heine (Cambridge Studies in German) from Amazon.de

The other evening, my husband and I went out for our Friday night date. This time we headed to Zum Schwanen in Oberursel.

On the way there, I took this photo showing the road to St. Ursula church, with the pub on the left side (see the only neon sign) and being very close to the church. Well, pubs and churches do go well together.

Oberursel in winter

Germany at its best, or so my husband says. I would not know it – I take my surroundings for granted, on most days.

“Christmas Pack 1″ is a collection of 13 transcripts, each in their own PDF file. The pack is a ZIP file containing the 13 PDFs and is available from the AllThingsGerman Download Store.

The transcripts in this pack are:

• Weihnachtsmarkt
• Nikolaustag
• Lebkuchen
• Glühwein
• Nußknacker
• Heiligabend
• Dominosteine
• Weihnachtspyramide
• Spekulatius
• Das Christkind
• Schwibbogen
• Räucherkerzen
• Der Weihnachtsmann

To find out more, visit the AllThingsGerman Download Store.

Earlier this afternoon, we left for the Oberursel forest to buy a Christmas tree. Well, they were all sold out, just like snow shovels are right now.

We have lent ours out so many times  and then one of the borrowers calls to ask if he could lend it to one of his friends… A snow shovel is the hottest commodity on the market right now. My husband was able to get the very last one from TOOM Baumarkt (home improvement center) back in early November. I had just told him about this post on a Korean website, which had stated Germany should get ready for the worst winter in 1000 years.

We passed the school on our way to the forest .

Frankfurt International School in Oberursel

Oberursel forest

Where did I park my car again?

More of this white stuff is expected through the night. Wonder if the Kuwaitis would be interested in buying some for their indoor ski slope..? We have enough to share.