O Tannenbaum

Oh, the excitement!

We have a Christmas tree.

By mid-November, Freiburg was dressed for Christmas.  Holiday goodies have been in stores since early October, but we hadn’t seen any Christmas trees for sale. We assumed they would sell them at the Christmas market. They don’t.  Vinnie was positive everyone hiked into the forest and just cut one down.

One morning last week on the walk to the twins’ kindergarten, I saw a banner in the plaza beside a church: Christbäume. The trees would be sold there on December 11 from 9-6.

It rained--sometimes poured--for most of the day on December 11. Not ideal conditions for hauling a tree without a vehicle. Thankfully, the tree man tweaked his hours a bit, and we got ours the next day on a cold but rain-free afternoon.

It was so fun.

Errol called it our most successful family outing to date. I laughed because the three littles and I met Thom and Errol there, and the whole thing took about fifteen minutes.

The Americans who lived in this flat last year left lights, ornaments, and a tree stand in the basement. This doesn’t exonerate them from all of our internet issues in the fall, but it was appreciated.

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