Lillian's and Ryan's Baptism

Lillian Elizabeth von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff and Thomas Ryan Huneke were baptized on December 28th. I was so happy that I could be there for it!

Lilly and all of her great grandparents. What a lucky little girl!

Lilly with both sets of proud grandparents

Ryan with his parents and godparents

Lilly with her parents and godmothers

Babies, Parents, and Godparents


Everyone enjoying lunch after Lilly's and Ryan's baptism


Grandma wanted a picture of her and her new great-grandbabies to send to her friends Ben and Elfie in Florida. Lee John tried to help by keeping hold of Adian's shirt, but Adian wanted nothing to do with the picture taking.

After the baptism celebration was over, I headed back to the airport for the next leg of my Christmas trip, Houston!

Christmas in Minnesota

It had only been 5 weeks since I was last home in MN and Lillian has changed so much already! I got to spend a lot of time with her while Mom and Kim worked out in the shop.

After babysitting duties were fulfilled, it was on to Christmas tree cutting duties. My uncle Hermann and I went out to the woods to find the 3 vKB 2009 Christmas trees. We climbed the hill with knee deep snow to get to the trees we were looking for. We managed to find 3 great trees near the edge of the woods so we didn't have to drag the trees through too much brush.

Omi's house was our first stop. Hermann helped me set up the tree and get the tables in place. I was then in charge of tree decorating, table setting and decorating, and other random Christmas chores Omi and Gretel found for me to do.

That night, we had family friends, The Strauss's, over for dinner and tree decorating at Mom's and Papa's house. As always, we all enjoyed sharing stories from life's happenings since we had last seen each other at Christmas the last year.

Christmas Eve is finally here!

Doesn't the table look great!

After dinner and of course the pudding :) it was time to light the candles on the tree. I stumbled through the German reading of the Christmas Story this year. Thank goodness I have another year to improve, or just hand it off to someone else again.

Lilly is happily eating with Omi.

Last but not least, family pictures in front of the tree and...

the cousin picture with Omi on the couch.

Christmas morning is time for sweetrolls and the dogs being allowed in the house. Charger is usually quite eager to open his gifts.

Karl and Lilly with Kim's Christmas present, "Top Milk Producer" award from Land 'o Lakes. Karl's sense of humor at its best.

Christmas Day activities continued in Bellechester with the Majerus family. Grandma is getting some time with little Ryan while she catches up with Mike and Amanda.

We do a White Elephant Gift Exchange each year with the Majerus family. The rules on who gets to pick their gift first always change and this year

After everyone's afternoon naps, we were all at Mom's and Papa's to celebrate the December birthdays, light the candles on the tree, and of course to eat again.

The birthday boy got crowns this year.

After Christmas I got to meet up with some of my other favorite Minnesota people. Allison Schnese and I shut down Panera Bread one night in the cities and the next night a few friends from high school and I found a possible location for the next class reunion!

Now that Christmas is over, it is on to the next family celebration... baptisms.

Christmas in Chicago

Our 4th Annual Christmas Party in Chicago!
Every year since we all graduated from St. Norbert, we have been getting together in Chicago for Christmas. This year had quite a few changes; some of the girls made 2 trips, we stayed in a hotel instead of piling into one of our apartments, men were invited!

I managed to arrive before the big snow storm hit Chicago and had a great first night out for sushi with Lindsay, Thuong, and Nora. Lindsay and I hopped through slushy puddles the next morning to go to work where I got to catch up with a few others in the office. Later that night, we discovered Gnarly Head (a great wine!) over dinner with Aaron & Molly, Brieanna & Brent, and the rest of our rotating visitors.

Four of my best friends from St. Norbert, their husbands/fiancees/boyfriends, me, and Michael on a stick were all set to go explore the city! Thanks to inspiration from Katie and the artistic skills of Jenny and Alissa, we carried on a vKB family tradition of putting someone's face on a stick when they could not be somewhere in person. Michael was at home in Houston helping out his mom who had recently had surgery on her foot. We missed him, but all agreed that Michael on a stick may have liked the cold, snowy weather more than he would have. Next time, we will make sure it is summer!

One tradition that very wisely did not change was our Starbucks trip as soon as Lindsay got into town! My first peppermint mocha of the season.

The whole gang ice skating at Millennium Park

Lindsay asking me to be in her wedding. Everyone else enjoyed listening to all of the other people staring in shock as they assumed Lindsay was proposing some other kind of deal to me.

My Chicago girls, Lindsay and Thuong, joined us for the ice skating spectacular! I am so glad I got to share Christmas with you two.

We had lunch at the German Christmas market in the loop. Just like the markets in Germany, gluewein, sausages, and all!

Lindsay and her bridesmaids taking our traditional picture in front of the enormous Christmas tree that is constructed each year.

On our way home we walked through the Lincoln Park Zoo to see all of the lights. So pretty!

That evening we dined on Chicago's finest food, the Art of Pizza. Yummm... Instead of our typical dancing adventures in the Chicago bars, we went to Dave and Busters this year. Alissa tried to prove her skill at horse racing, but we quickly discovered it was due to her cheating. :)

Since the weather had been particularly ugly this weekend, getting Brieanna's car out of her parking spot was not a lot of fun. We finally managed to push her out and made it to brunch at one of my favorite places in the city.

Thanks for a great Christmas in Chicago girls! Looking forward to next year!

Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremburg

Christmas Market #3 in Nuremberg


Nuremberg is one of the most well known Christmas markets in the world. I was not about to let the rest of the eager Christmas shoppers beat me there! I got on an early train from Munich to beat the crowds. I thought I would sight see a bit, get some breakfast and coffee, and scope out the vendors as they started to open.

Once I made my way inside the large wall that surrounds the town center, it was completely silent. Cafes, including the 3 Starbucks in the small town, were not going to open until noon. No people on the street. Apparently everyone was still sleeping.

I made my way to the other end of the town at the top of the hill to see the castle. The Nuremberg Castle is one of the most important imperial palaces dating from the Middle Ages: from 1050 to 1571 all the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire stayed in it at various times during their reign.



Since it was still too early for the market to be open, I found a few churches to go inside. A children's choir was practicing before mass in this church.

I finally spotted a few other people walking through the city on another bridge.

Shopping time! I had already walked through the market once and scoped out the things I wanted to buy. I found lots of great ornaments, decorations, and delicious food on my next pass through.

I got most of my shopping done in the morning so I could avoid the masses of people that flooded the streets by the afternoon. I hung out in a coffee shop while I read a photography book and practiced using different settings on my camera.

Edge of the Market during the day. There is a gold ring on the fence surrounding this tower that people lined up for later in the day to touch for good luck.

Similar view at night with everything is illuminated at the market.

More lights strung along the edge of the market.

On my last trip through the market, I stopped to listen to a band performing in front of the church.

Frohe Weihnachten! You are supposed to by your sweetheart one of the cookies and have them wear it around their neck all day. I think cookies are for eating.

Looking back at the Christkindlesmarkt on my way to the train station.


One of the lookout towers along the wall that surrounds Nuremberg.

Christmas shopping is officially done! I showed Maggie all of my treasures that I found for myself and for others. I turned up my Mariah Carey Christmas CD and decorated my apartment and packed the gifts into my suitcase. Less than one week and I would be off to the US to celebrate Christmas with friends and family.

Weihnachtszeit in Munich

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Being in Germany during Christmas time has been so much fun. There are little Christmas markets set up all over Munich. There was a market set up near our office so we often had lunch at one of the vendors there.

German Christmas Cookies!

I baked German Christmas cookies with 3 of the girls from work, Susi, Cathrina, and Maggie. My favorite thing about cooking here is that you measure everything by weighing it instead of pouring it into measuring cups.

A little glüwein always makes baking more fun.

The finished product! Some definitely turned out better than others, but we had a great time baking together.

One of the entrances to the Christmas market on Marienplatz

Marienplatz in December = Tourist Trap

Marienplatz was really pretty with all of the decorations and lights, but the vendors here had very poor quality, overpriced items. Overall, the markets in Munich were really pretty, but I liked the vendors a lot more in Dresden and Nuremberg.

Lights leading to more Christmas markets in Munich.

One of my favorite spots to view Marienplatz from.

Weihnachtsmarkt in Dresden

Dresden is now one of my favorite cities in Germany. Maggie, Kathrin (coworker from Frankfurt), and I went to Dresden for the opening weekend of the Christmas markets.

Dresden was completely destroyed in WWII. Impressively, by 2015 the entire city will be rebuilt with almost all buildings in their original state. I was so impressed with the beautiful architecture in the city and it was so hard to believe that all of the buildings are so new.

The Frauenkirche (today it is a Lutheran church, but the name comes from its origin as a Catholic church) was just finished a few years ago. The church's exterior is sprinkled with black stones. These stones are the original stones from before the church was bombed. They are placed in the exact location that they originally existed. Incredible.

We waited in line for about an hour to get inside the church and there were hundreds of people behind us that waited for a few more hours to get a glimpse of the newly finished interior of the Frauenkirche.

One of many funny stories about the King... This was the King's walkway from the Church to one of his living quarters. He used to sneak out of church to go see his mistresses during mass!


The entire length of the building was painted with the parade of soldiers, knights, and their King.



The King convinced the people that this palace was a prison. While hundreds of his mistresses that lived here may have considered it a prison, it was in fact another one of the buildings where he kept women for himself.

I was standing in front of the Opera House looking back at the church and the city. Such an impressive skyline...

Lamps lighting the path to the Opera House in the evening.

Dresden Opera House

It has been rebuilt 3 times due to flood, fire, and bombings.

One of the rooms inside the Opera House. Although many of the rooms and hallways are now built with fake gold, imitation wood, and plaster, the interior is still very elaborate.

The stage inside the Dresden Opera House.

My first German Christmas market! It got really crowded with people by the middle of the day, but it was a great experience and I would love to go back next year.

Illuminated Pyramid

More importantly thought, we had delicious fresh baked bread stuffed with cheese and meat right next to this.

There were Smokers everywhere! It was really fun shopping for Christmas decorations here because so many of the decorations reminded me of what we have at home.

Male and Female Crosswalks

I enjoyed tracking down both the boy and girl stoplights in Dresden. I had never seen them before and found them quite amusing. Beware of oncoming traffic when trying to photograph the red ones!

Red Girl = STOP!

Only men have to stop... ok, so maybe everyone.

Green man is on the move!

Cute Green Girl on the go in her pigtails.