Day 1948. I had asked the kids to let me sleep this morning. And I was amazed that they actually did. They got up early, and as Tammy and Emmy both sleep on either side of me, I woke up, but then I fell back asleep and when I woke up, it was 11:30 am. I couldn't believe how quiet it was. Randy had given them breakfast and then taken them down, and none of the kids came back into our bedroom to wake me up. That's so rare, or rather, that never happens!
I got up and went to the kitchen to get lunch ready, which was just leftovers from our festive meal yesterday that had taken me many hours to cook.
They all came upstairs and we sat down to eat, still with the nice Christmas tablecloth, and Tammy and Emmy using adult plates as well as their new silverware with their names on. Tammy and Sammy have eaten little yesterday and today, but Emmy ate well.
After lunch we all rested a little, then we got ready to leave the house and left at 2:15 pm. We hadn't been at any Christmas market all advent, and it's a must-do in Vienna. Tammy and Emmy had gone to a little Christmas market with kindergarten one time. Now we finally had time to go, with nothing else going on. And tomorrow is the last day the main market is open, so it's a good thing we went today.
We got on the subway and rode it one stop beyond where the subway used to end these past few years, so that we were already closer to Town Hall Square. However, it was still a big construction site on street level, and so we had to walk a detour to finally get to the Christmas market. We entered it on the back end, by Town Hall, and started walking in the direction of where I knew the Christmas train was. On the way we stopped by a candy stand. Tammy got a candied apple, and Emmy glazed almonds. They both shared with their brother. Then we walked by a life-sized nativity set and took a picture.
We got to the Christmas train, and Tammy and Emmy wanted to ride the reindeer in the front of the train. I still knew from last year that Randy was not allowed to get in with Sammy, so Sammy couldn't ride. Tammy and Emmy stood right in the front waiting for the previous ride to end, so they could get on the reindeer, and they did. I saw some moving animals nearby that were making music and recommended Randy go there with Sammy, so that he doesn't have to watch his siblings ride, when he couldn't. He wanted to go on the train too.
After stopping by the moving and music-playing animals, we reached the little hut where they were doing crafts with kids. Randy was cold, and Tammy wanted to do crafts, so we went inside. Emmy was happy, when he saw the board games. Tammy sat down to draw on a white candle, and Sammy joined her, but Emmy didn't care to do that. So we went to the board game shelf, picked one out and then waited for a table to become available. Then we sat down to play the game. Soon Tammy joined us. At first I was winning and Tammy was last, but then she won the whole game. Emmy was so upset that he started crying. He just can't lose.
Before we left the hut, we went to the photo corner where Randy took our picture. Then we took more pictures outside, as it was so pretty. We continued walking in the direction of the ferris wheel that Emmy wanted to ride. We bought tickets, and Emmy, Tammy and I got on. Tammy didn't like being so high up, and it's not my thing either, but we went around five times and got used to it. Emmy had the time of his life, laughing a lot and enjoying every minute of the ride. We had a great view up there.
Back on the ground, we started walking in the direction of the big caroussel so Sammy could finally ride something as well. They let us go straight to the front of the line, which was nice, as Sammy can't do lines. Randy was gonna go on the caroussel with him, but he wanted me to go with him, so I did. We got on a horse that was going up and down, and he was very happy. Emmy wanted to sit in a spinning cup, and Tammy wanted to go upstairs, where we chose a horse to sit on. Then the caroussel started going round and round, and Randy took the pictures.
After we got off, we walked another round as I was looking for a specific stand, then we made our way to the entrance of the market to use it as an exit. We bought some chestnuts, took a picture at the entrance, then crossed the street to get on the tram. However, it was not running because of the Christmas market. And so we walked the one stop to where the subway was and got on it to go home. By 5:10 pm we were back home.
Everyone sat down to relax, and at 6 pm I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner. They ate, then went into the bathtub, then got ready for bed. No more advent calendars tonight! And so we continued reading our book that we read before bed. Then I prayed for them, and they went to bed. I got myself something to eat, then I started working on the pictures.
