There's a tradition here (of at least 40 years), of watching a short british comedy sketch called "Dinner for One". It's played directly in English (ie not dubbed into German, as the majority of English language shows are), and it seems that every TV station plays it at least once during the evening, but each at a different time. That means everyone has a chance to watch it, no matter what their plans for the evening! Nathan forced Jo and Jo's parents to watch it "to take part in the German tradition". We weren't very impressed, and have trouble working out exactly why this tradition exists!
In Germany, anyone is allowed to use fireworks on New Years Eve. It's the one day of the year when you do not need a licence to buy and let off fireworks. All the shops were filled with cheap fireworks, and it seems that every man and his dog bought some. We didn't for two reasons - we couldn't be bothered, since it would have been too much effort with Owen, and when he was younger Nathan had a near miss with a firework that skimmed his face, dangerously close to his eyes. Despite not taking direct part, we were treated to a free viewing of fireworks at midnight, that lasted for well over half an hour. The sheer number of fireworks that were used meant that simply looking out the window (we do NOT have a great view of the city) was enough to rival front row seats at the Sydney fireworks... OK, that's an exagerration, but it was not too shabby. Unfortunately, photos of fireworks don't come out very well, but here's one anyway.
At midnight, all you could hear was explosion after explosion and for as far as the eye could see, there were fireworks everywhere. It seemed absolutely crazy! Some were in our street, the next street, from balconies across the road, every building for the next 10 blocks in every direction....you get the idea.
We haven't had any close up shots of Owen recently, so here's a few. First is one showing him getting close to outgrowing his bassinet.
And here's one of Owen in the bath.
Here's Owen in some home made booties and mutze (beanie). The colours were very thoughtfully chosen by Jenny to match Nathan's NRL team - the Tigers!.
In the few days before Silvester, there was even more snow. Here's Jo's dad having some fun.
And here's a BIG snow man. We didn't make this one - we don't have the skill and experience of native born Germans!
Some kids tobogganing down one of the few hills in Leipzig.
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