Guten Rutsch, Hogmanay, Happy New Year!

When we were in Germany last week I was reminded of their unique way of wishing a happy new year: "Guten Rutsch (ins neue Jahr)." Rutsch is the German word for slide, and it was fun to hear people going around saying "Guten Rutsch" all the time--"good slide."

And since we're in love with Scotland, their New Years celebration is also worth mentioning. Their word for it, Hogmanay, actually refers to the last day of the year (today!), and the traditional New Years song "Auld Lang Syne" originated as a Scottish poem. The Scottish have even added an extra national holiday to extend the party through January 2.

What ever way you celebrate it, we wish you all a Happy New Year!!

Oh deer

We have pygmy deer in our part of England--lots of them. This one was in our yard after last weekend's snowfall, and it was super-cute. When I see them from the corner of my eye I sometimes think they're dogs because of their size. This one was fun to watch as it wandered around in the snow.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a safe, happy holiday!

O du fröhliche

We just returned from the German Christmas markets, and we had a very festive time. We visited the original Christmas market, the Christkindles-markt in Nuremberg, several markets in Munich (above), plus markets in Ingolstadt, Augsburg and Memmingen.

We're always amazed at the variety of

items on sale. Our favorites are the stalls that sell accessories for nativity sets. We wonder how people know they're at a point in their lives when

they need to add to their nativity set a bale of hay, a few chickens or a lady baking bread.

In spite of the fun, festive atmosphere it was miserably cold. Only in Alaska have we felt that degree of cold--where the nasal hairs freeze when we breathe. When we got home tonight to a cold, snowy England it actually felt warm by comparison!

I love the next 2 photos of the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, one in the daytime and the same shot at night. The photos are from above the stalls (you can see their striped tops).

Happy Hanukkah

Having just been in Israel we've learned a lot about Jewish culture and customs. We realize we probably don't have Jewish readers, but there's no reason we can't wish you a Happy Hanukkah. Here's to the festival of lights!

(The above photo is our Jerusalem tour guide Raphy next to the menorah built according to Torah instructions for the Old Testament tabernacle. This is the menorah the Jews believe will be used in the future temple in Jerusalem when the Messiah comes. It's solid gold and worth millions of dollars.)

Preface to trip posts

We just returned from a 10-day trip to Israel, Egypt and Jordan, and it was awesome! We hope to share as much of it as we can through several blog posts, and hopefully it doesn't get boring. We took 1,193 photos and had the time of our lives! We traveled with Jacob's coworker Shawn and his wife Kim, and they were super-fun to be with (there will be photos with them on the trip posts too).

I'll just preface the posts by saying that among the places we visited were some with deep religious significance to us. When we talk about them here, we don't intend to give a Sunday school lesson or to detail the personal feelings we have about these locations--it's not something we feel should be broadcast. We also can't cover everything here and hope you enjoy the brief summaries and photos.

Dead Sea and Massada

Our first day in Israel was spent touring Masada and taking a dip in the Dead Sea. Massada is an interesting place, a former palace and fortification overlooking the Dead Sea. In about 74 AD a group of Jewish Zealots expelled from Jerusalem carried out a mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans. Masada is on top of a high rock plateau so we took a cable car to the top. Here we are next to the oldest working synagogue in Israel. (left) It's on top of the Masada plateau and therefore only accessible via the cable car. Apparently people still have bar mitzvahs there.

In the photo below you can sort of see the Dead Sea in the background while we were at Masada.

The Dead Sea was amazing! We had heard of the buoyancy properties but didn't think it would be too remarkable--we were wrong! Jacob said it best--not only can you float easily, it's impossible NOT to float. It made for a difficult time trying to wash all the mud off--we couldn't keep our shoulders underwater long enough! (Below: Jacob floating, whether he wanted to or not. Right: my feet.)

Apparently the water and the mud have curative properties. So we covered ourselves in the mud, and had a great time doing it. Who knows if it was salubrious--it was definitely fun!

During our trip to and from the Dead Sea the tour guide pointed out one of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Apparently the entrance to the cave had been covered up, so it wasn't until an actual search for the Scrolls was done that they were discovered.