Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you are all well. I wanted to do up Christmas cards this year, but sadly I wasn't on the ball. I still have my nieces and nephews Christmas presents sitting under my tree waiting to be posted. :( I had so many ideas of things to do this year for Christmas, but school became insane the past six weeks or so and all those ideas had to be put aside in order to survive the chaos.

This is our second year of celebrating Christmas in Germany. Last year, I cried every day of December, right up until the 24th. Yes, you read that correctly; 24 DAYS of tears! My husband definitely deserves some sort of sainthood for being so loving and supportive to me during that time. This year I am pleased to say I have cried considerably less. :)

I was actually feeling pretty good about my homesickness this year. In fact, Paul had a few days that he was pretty down about being so far away from family, and I actually kept it together and was able to be a support to him. However, I think I may have gotten a bit too cocky and ended up shedding some tears on the last day of classes before Christmas holidays. While the situation that initially made me cry was super frustrating, I don't think I would have cried in normal circumstances. However, it had been an incredibly stressful week, with 4 assignments needing to get done, and then so many people were talking about going home for Christmas, and it all just became too much to handle. I hate that I cried in front of people. But alas, I am prone to tears and as much as I try not to be, sometimes my emotions get the better of me.

 I am super excited for next year because my baby sister will be here in Germany, and we will get to do Christmas together. :)  She is going to be attending a bible school in Germany for nine months and I just can't hardly wait to have a sister so nearby again. Well, she will still be a seven-hour drive away, but still so much closer than in Canada!  I am already starting to plan and scheme all the things we will do next year. :)

When we moved into our new apartment complex in March, there were only a few other people living here. Now, almost all the units have been moved into, and we have been enjoying getting to know our neighbours. Kaya (our pup), has found a BFF named Argos. These two dogs are crazy about each other and love fetching balls together - every day if possible.

One of the biggest challenges this year was transferring into the university here. Due to German regulations, I had to fight really hard to convince the university that I was capable of the course work, since I didn't have all the necessary qualifications to gain admittance through the regular application process. After many months and three professors at the university vouching for me, I was finally accepted and I am enjoying the majority of my courses.

School is keeping both Paul and I very busy! I definitely miss the days of  having a job, and only working eight hours a day. The steady income was also very nice! ;) All the hard work and long days will pay off though and I am very grateful that we are able to be on this adventure.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season and can spend time with the ones you love whether they are near or far away.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours. <3

Pic: Our tree Dec. 23, 2015