And to all a good night (Part One...)

Hey there!

Sorry for the long hiatus! I didn't have internet for the last few weeks of tour, and once I got home I was quite busy with preparations (more explanations will follow!)

So, I'm finally back!

I'll try to catch you up on all that's been going on in as short a time as possible. I hope all of you had wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations - we certainly did!

I didn't get to come home on Thanksgiving day, but I did get to come home the weekend before, so we celebrated then!

Because of the short amount of time I was home and Sidonie's schedule, we decided to go for a non-traditional Vietnamese buffet instead of the usual Thanksgiving fare!

We also spent some time walking around the Weihnachtsmarkt here in Essen - very beautiful! They had a canopy of white christmas lights hung over the market, so everything was bathed in a beautiful glow! Lots of fun was had!

Next, we got an early Christmas present with the birth of my niece Harper the first week of December!

Jared and Megan with new baby Harper!

Isn't she adorable? :D I can hardly wait to hold her!

The following weekend, as my tour was playing in Hamburg I got to attend the wedding of a good friend of ours: Anja! Anja and Tommi got married on the 12th of December at our church in HH! Here are just a few pics from the happy event!

Our friends Janin and Sven came from Berlin for the wedding, so I got to see them as well!

Pastor Corrin, Tommi, and Thore watch her walk up the aisle! (Thore is Anja's brother and the Pastor's translator from English to German - Pastor Corrin is Lebanese and preaches in English as it is better than her German, but Anja doesn't speak English well, so they had the ceremony in two languages like our church services!)

Our friends Nicole and Malte had a new baby girl since last we were in HH. This is Malte with baby Romy!

Anja and Tommi: the happy couple!

Look at how much bigger David is from last time you saw a picture of him!! He was dancing up a storm on the dance floor!

I got to spend some time with Tim and Bettina as well as the now much more talkative and grown-up Lili!

Tim and Bettina dancing at the wedding.

Lili showing me her fingers (she knows lots of body parts now, and is happy to point them out as many times as you ask!)

After our time in HH, we went up to Lübeck for a week. We had quite a bit of snow and enjoyed seeing the cool Weihnachtsmärkte there! Lots of fun!

There was one Weihnachtsmarkt that was almost entire made of animated puppets representing fairy tale characters.

Here is Cinderella!

Another Weihnachtsmarkt was an "old fashioned Christmas Market" comprised of craftsmen and women selling their hand-made products (which were beautiful, but not within my price range!!!)

A Blacksmith making unique jewelry.

Two guys making wooden spoons. They had all shapes and sizes for sale. As you can see by their dog's posture, it was VERY cold that day!

There was also a BEAUTIFUL cathedral that I was able to visit.

Inside the Cathedral was a long table set up with olive wood carvings from Bethlehem. I got a set of four ornaments representing Joseph and Mary's travel to the stable, the arrival of the Savior, the Shepherds paying the Christ child a visit, and the Wise Men visiting the son of man!

We didn't have a tree this year, but I can't wait to hang them on our tree next year!

Why didn't we have a tree, you ask...Well, that brings us to the second reason I've not written yet: we spent the week of Christmas in LONDON!!! It was AWESOME! We had a wonderful time seeing friends, seeing some great theatre, and most of all, celebrating the arrival of the Savior of the World on Christmas Day!

Some pics of the London sights:

When we got to London, there was a good bit of snow (by London standards!)

We had FREE accommodation for the nights we couldn't stay with friends, thanks to one of Sidonie's colleagues. We stayed in the hospitality suite of a monastery in the Borough of Enfield.

We got to see Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof! It was absolutely amazing! All four of the principals were brilliant!

Since we saw a matinee and it was UTTERLY FREEZING outside, the principals didn't come out between shows, but we got a picture for Sidonie with Phylicia anyway!

"On the steps of the palace!!!" (sort of!)

Buckingham Palace in the background!

Does anyone have the time?

Look! It's Big Ben!

Westminster Abby - looks more like a gigantic cathedral, trust me!

More of the Abby!

We got to see Sister Act with it's very first cast (this is the world premier of the musical!) It's coming to Hamburg next year in German! ;)

Sidonie with the lead: Patina Miller.

We looked around Herrods: a department store for the very wealthy - in our opinion!

We also got to see Billy Elliot - great show as well!

Here we are with some of the cast of Avenue Q after seeing the show - hilarious!

This gal played the female lead and was FIERCE!!! (imagine Tyra's finger wagging!)

We visited several street markets.

In one of them, we found a VEGAN RAW FOOD STAND!

Needless to say, we ate there and it was FABULOUS! (Unfortunately they won't have a regular restaurant until February - we'll have to check that out next time we're there! ;)

I don't know why it's doing this underliny thing - I can't get it to stop, and I can't be bothered to waste too much time on it! Hope it's not too annoying!

There was a REALLY COOL, and very tiny store that had a lot of handmade Christmas ornaments - we could only take photos from outside.

Can you hear me now?

St. Paul's Cathedral (Where Charles and Diana got married.)

What am I standing in front of? That's right SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE THEATRE!!! Amazing all the things we were able to see.

More of The Globe.

From Southbank you can see the London Eye (the huge Ferris Wheel), Big Ben, and The House of Parliament at the same time!

OK, so there are many more London pictures to share, but no time or space at the moment - this is FAR too long already. I'll have to post a second blog with more London pictures soon. Stay tuned!

After our awesome trip to London, we got home and celebrated the new year with some of our friends from church here in Essen! What a wonderful whirlwind of an end to 2009! Looking forward to all that God brings in 2010!

Love and hugs to you all, and HAPPY NEW YEAR/FROHE NEUES JAHR!