BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

So here we go.... After not having blogged for over a year, (for main reason see previous post) I have vowed to give it another go. So even though it has taken me 21 days to start my New Years Resolution, I will not be deterred. You might ask yourself WHY? with Facebook seemingly taking over in the way of online communication, why would I be obsessed with reviving my dormant blog? My main reason is my family. With the drastic time change between the west of USA and Germany, it is fairly impossible for me to keep in constant contact with my family. Far too many important events and little everyday happenings go untold and undocumented. Reason number two is to keep some sort of documentation of our kids and our life. I enjoy blogging because I can add pictures and easily share what I have written with friends and family. Without further ado I'd like to begin with the beginning of 2011...

Per tradition, our New Year's fireworks would rival any 4th of July celebration - hands down. A little secret about my husband - that won't be a secret once I share it here - he a pyro at heart. His mom loves to tell the story of him setting the dumpster on fire at her dad's house, but that wasn't all. Now that he is an adult, he can really live out that childhood fantasy of setting things on fire.

 Here he is in action - the man of the hour.

 Everybody wanted in on the action. Tori and her friends (the Jensen girls) were somewhat content with jumbo sparklers.

 Meike, Martin, Mariella and Steffen came over to be the first to say Happy New Year and to watch the fireworks show.

 Niklas' best friend and old neighbor told his mom it wouldn't be New Years if he couldn't celebrate with Niklas, so of course Phil was here too.

Previous to our fireworks, we watched the traditional TV skit, "Dinner for One". I have to add this tidbit to this post as I have always wondered about this tradtion. I had never heard of this before coming to Germany and yet I cannot remember a New Years celebration where I haven't viewed it since living here. This is what Wikipedia gave me - I thought it was interesting:

Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German title, Der 90. Geburtstag, is a comedy sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s. German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language. This short comical play subsequently went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 1988-1995 eds.; later editions no longer have the category).
The 18 minute single take black-and-white 1963 TV recording featuring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden has become an integral component of the New Year's Eve schedule of several German television stations, Danish, and Swedish national television, a December 23 staple on Norwegian national television, and a cult television classic in Finland, Faroe Islands and Austria; on New Year's Eve 2003 alone, the sketch was broadcast 19 times (on various channels). As of 2005, the sketch has been repeated more than 230 times. It is famous in other countries as well — including German-speaking Switzerland and South Africa. It is a New Year's Eve staple in Australia on the SBS network.

I hope you're still with me. I know that was more information than you needed about something you've probably never heard of, but I like to think that some of my readers are interested in German culture - including cult culture. So if you want to read about the story line or link to the sketch, here's the link:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One