Getting into the holiday spirit!

"Santa! Santa! Santa!" exclaimed Megan. As Megan and I were headed toward the Marionette Theater in Winterthur, we heard a jingle-jangle and the next thing we knew, Santa was gliding by in a horse drawn carriage! This is our first Santa sighting, short of the chocolate covered versions sitting in the stores. Sorry the picture is blurry - it's hard when there's so much in motion.

The Marionette show was fun - though was more of a story telling than I had hoped. I tried to to discreetly whisper the story to Megan as we went but it was difficult. The story was "Ein Abend Es War Kalt (One Night it was Cold)" and was about an Eskimo in Greenland, who went out side to investigate a noise on the 29th of February and found something sparkling in the cold. It wasn't hot to the touch, so he took it inside his igloo. The Eskimo wanted to keep the shining bauble - he tried to feed it, but it wouldn't eat. He tried to give it something to drink, but it wouldn't drink. Each night, he has a dream (total of 3) that he didn't understand. Finally, his dreams made sense (they were dreams of star parents looking for their child) and he decided to put the star back in the sky. But how? He couldn't throw it high enough; his bow couldn't shoot it high enough. He made it a nest in the snow and a bird swooped down and picked it up. As the bird flew away into the night sky, a new star appeared.

Sunday, we joined a couple hundred townspeope enjoying a free family concert by the Orchestrasymphonie St. Gallen at the Winterthur Stadthaus. Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" was the theme of the presentation (an abbreviated version). Throughout the concert, the story was narrated, which I found difficult to understand given the voice amplification and the slight echo. Sophia did well, for the most part. Megan seemed to really enjoy the music and watching everything in action on the stage. Here's our view from the balcony - the kids loved being able to stand up and look over the rail.

That's about all for this post. The weather has warmed up a bit, a nice reprieve from the freezing - though a bit of rain has set in. Not at all unlike Seattle. =)