German Christmas Baking Round-up: Our Top 5 Recipes (GF)
Happy 1st of Advent! It's been a bit quiet on the blog over November. It was a really busy month for us - not only did we celebrate both my boys' birthdays, but my parents finally made it over from
A Visit from St Nicholas
At this time of year, there are saints galore being celebrated in German tradition: first St Martin, then St Barbara, and today on the 6th December we are celebrating St Nicholas. There are many legends surrounding St Nicholas, who lived
Branches for St Barbara’s Day
Today I wanted to tell you a bit more about one of the traditions I mentioned in my recent post on 'How to Celebrate Christmas Like a German'. At this time of year, we've just finished mourning the passing of
How to celebrate Christmas Like a German
Earlier this week, I was chatting with someone about how we celebrate Christmas in Germany, and they were surprised at how much it differed in some ways from Christmas in the UK. My lucky boys of course get to grow
How to Celebrate St Martin’s Day
In German culture, between Hallowe’en and Advent/ Christmas, we have another celebration to look forward to – the wonderful festival of St Martin, which falls on 11th November. Although it's practically unheard of in Scotland and the UK, we still
What to Pack in a ‘Schultüte’ (Vol.2)
Exactly one week to go! I can't believe it's come around so quickly and my youngest will be off to school so soon! As I've mentioned before, this milestone is celebrated big time in German tradition. We'll be having a
How to make a shark themed ‘Schultüte’
The countdown is on - there's less than ten days to go until the new school term and year starts, and one of the final tasks I still had to do was make a 'Schultüte' for my little school starter.
‘Back to School’ Bunting
We're half way through our summer holidays already here in Edinburgh and starting to think about the new term head. As mentioned before, my youngest will be starting Primary 1, something that is celebrated big style in German tradition. Three
Easter Egg Tree
It's less than a month to go until Easter, time to get decorating! In the last years we've often been away over Easter, so haven't gone to that much effort, but after our big trip in February we're having Easter
How we celebrate Christmas – twice
As a Scottish-German family, the question I probably get asked the most is whether we bring up our kids bilingually and, if so, how? I've actually written about it before, so you can read my answer to that question in
Schwebebahn Lantern Tutorial
We have the annual 'St Martin' festival coming up in Germany this week, one of the main elements of which is lantern processions around town. In the past, the kids have always made lanterns at nursery, but this year neither