Old Family Pictures / Alte Familienbilder

I am not the first person in my family who immigrated to the US. My greatgrandfather Ludwig Seckler and his wife Christine had 18 children together. Too many mouths to feed or too many girls to marry off and doweries to pay for. So in 1910 three of my grandfather's sisters where put on a boat in Hamburg and shipped off to America. America - the land of opportunity!

Recently a cousin contacted me through facebook and sent me some pictures of my great aunts. I never got to meet them, but I am ever so grateful that my cousin contacted me, and we can do some catching up...

My immigration story began in 1991 when I met my husband. It is so much fun to take that trip down memory lane and wonder about the problems my great aunts ran into. I am sure they missed family and German food just as much as I do 100 years later. =)

Treasure from the Thriftstore or My Best Chrismas Present

I got this really cool set of books from my husband for Christmas. He had wrapped up two books from the Life Time books series titled "The Art of Sewing". He said he didn't want to wrap all of them. Too much work, you know. But he had hidden "a few more" under his desk in our basement.

All in all I found 13 from the set. It took a couple of days to pry out the information of where he found them: At the local thriftstore. Does your spouse shop for your Christmas presents at Salvation Army? If not you may want to give him a hint. LOL

I love the set! Though I did not get the complete set and at first glance the book content doesn't appear organized and thourough enough to the German reader, I found the books quite entertaining. The series was published in the early 7os. Totally retro! Even if you don't care about sewing but love James Bond movies, you would enjoy this set. Psychadelic pictures of clothing will dazzle you, and every outfit James and his mistresses ever wore in the 70s movies are pictured in the books.

I am not sure about the quality of the sewing tips. The writing appeared to be a bit on the superficial side at first glance. But who cares? Each hardcover volume is beautifully bound in a different fabric. From fine silk to chunky corduroy. My husband loved the thick bright red corduroy one. I am kind of partial towards the pink butterfly book with the title "The Personal Touch".

Unfortunately my set was not quite complete. An internet search for a complete list of titles showed that there are 17 volumes in all in this series. I found that I am missing smashing titles such as

"Exotic Style"

"Novel Materials"

"Boutique Attire"

and "The Master Index" to the series.

Luckily I was able to find and order the missing books. I can't wait to see them in person.

The Best Christmas Present / Das Beste Weihnachtsgeschenk

Reading the title of this post you may have expected to find pictures of children opening boxes and wading through piles of wrapping paper. I am afraid, Santa did not bring the best gift this year. It came from Nature!

The gift the children enjoyed most this year came from above but it was not a toy. It came a day before Christmas. It came in big fluffy white heaps. It was not set down by the warm fireplace in the house. Nope it landed in the backyard, and it was oh so ccccold. Brrr. You guessed it: We got lots of snow. A beautiful White Christmas this year.

While his sister went sledding my son decided to build a snow cave in the backyard. It provided hours and hours of fun. So much so that the children forgot all about Christmas for a while...The right size and weight of snow shovels and having right kind of tools for snow cave building became a crucial matter. Santa, do the elves make snow shovels at the Northpole?

Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

German Dolls wishes Happy Holidays to all customers, friends, team mates from the Natural Kids team. Thanks for all the support you have given me throughout 2009!

Happy New Year!

Sincerely, Ulla

A few more Nutcracker pictures...

After 3 performances the cast was quite exhausted. I heard one little parrot say to her mother:" Mommy can we do this every night?" Something about that stage...I am glad we survived another year of late night practices and performances. We'll safe our energy and do it all over again - next year!
Our cast had 140 performers in it. Except for the sugar plum fairy and the cavalier they were all local kids. I feel so blessed that the Colorado Dance Theatre ( local non-profit organization) gives children the opportunity to do this each year. Unfortunately with the economy being so bad we had a much smaller audience this year. But as they say: "The show must go on!"

Pictures of Angels...

Each year I say it: No more Nutcracker. I will not do this again next year. The long late night practices, fighting with the costume and make-up, buns that just won't stay put...The next day the tears and the crying. Children that are too tired to go to school. But then I look at the cute pictures, the smiles and their excitement being on stage again. We'll probably do it again next year...

Here are some pictures from last night's dress rehearsal without make-up. Today we'll have the dress rehearsal with make-up. On Friday it is show time!

Winterimpressionen aus Colorado

Es schneit! Es schneit! Jetzt schon zum dritten mal. Zwischen Bestellungen bin ich nur noch am Schnee schaufeln. Hier sind ein paar Bilder vom ersten grossen Schnee hier. Die Bilder zeigen den Blick auf die Strasse vor unserem Haus.

Weisse Weihnacht - kein Problem in Colorado!