Christmas Time

Right before Christmas I had a "Breathe Right" titanium nose implant inserted and some remodelling of the internal nasal passages, which was fun. My nose passages were too narrow and also deviated, so I was getting 50% airflow. Which was a particular problem when i had a cold.

Now I can breathe like never before!

I looked a real fright for a couple of weeks. The below picture was the day of the op, before the bright red and purple bruising set in (black and red eyes, swollen shut and bruising down to the mouth). Flynn was actually scared to come near me on the second day. 

I had two nights in hospital and then a few more days feeling rough, so Blake took a week off work to look after the kids.

After the first week the constant bleeding and swelling abated and I could sleep again. Then I went back to have stitches removed and the silicon thing that was holding the new septum in place. The stitches weren't fun but the removing of the silicon thing was such a painful and hideous procedure that afterwards I fainted. I might not have had the op had I known how unpleasant it would all be, but now that I have, I am really glad.

So then after all that, we started getting into the swing of Christmas! And that always means a visit to the Christmas markets, which are so beautiful and Christmassy.

I always look forward to a cup of mulled wine (Gluhwein) to help warm up - as it's inevitably freezing at the time. This year was as freezing as ever, and we had a disastrous trip there with the kids who spent the whole time crying about the cold and whining because there were not rides for them to go on. That trip was fairly quickly aborted and I went another time with a friend.

Each year the Gluhwein cups are different and you can either keep it or return the cup for a deposit return.

The buskers come out at Christmas too and this group was really good.

Hey, Santa's doing some last minute shopping too!

The markets are in two places so we headed from the one in Barfusseplatz, up to the one by the Cathedral.

Oh look, Santa's been!

The kids loved their presents, thanks to all of you who sent them!

We had a Christmas lunch at our friends' place - Jen and Jamie, and their son Jonah, who is Flynn's age. We were three families and it was lots of fun. On the kids' table there wasn't much eating going on, but plenty of hilarity. At the adults table, we were just pretty glad not to be sitting with the kids!

We all brought various dishes and it was a veritable feast!