Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#12

I have truly enjoyed this holiday break, spending time with family and friends.  It is a bit bitter sweet since this will be our last Christmas in France, but it certainly was relaxing and fun.  We were able to take a vacation visiting Christmas markets in Freiburg, Munich and Fussen, Germany and Riquewihr,France.  Along the way we visited with friends, toured a concentration camp and toured two castles.  We were in search of snow and found it, if only for two days.  Talk about full circle.  We took a similar trip our first Christmas here in 2008.  Christmas in Germany is the absolute best, between the food, the snow, the charming villages and the warm people, it was a great place to start off our Christmas vacation!

So without future ado, here are the Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011!

#12  Christmas Cookie Swap
The 3rd annual event was the biggest yet and had the bonus of holiday games.  It is always great fun for us ladies to come together and share cookies and cocktails and just start the season off with a little cheer.  The actual baking of the cookies is a bit stressful since it is still difficult to find some of the ingredients that we are used to in our home countries to make some of our favorite recipes like cream of tartar or peppermint oil.  But we just got creative as usual and improvised.  One made cupcakes, another truffles, and the smartest of us all traded a batch of cookies with the resident expat baker for a nail party for his daughter!  Every cookie was not perfect or the most beautiful, but they were delicious and we had a wonderful time playing charades and pictionary of holiday movies and songs.