As Germans only kinda do Halloween*, we didn't do any official dressing up this year. Germans more tend to celebrate (+ dress up for) Fasching (Carnival) in February (although more in the predominantly Catholic South).
In the meantime, here are some outfits Theta's been wearing:
Here we are at Theta's baby blessing** -- wearing an outfit made by my Great-grandma, so his Great-great-Grandma!
And here he is as a little autumn child
(We seem to have been channeling Frida Kahlo..although we're missing the unibrow...which leads us full circle back to our Das Baby rap video! (the original newspaper baby was gifted a unibrow :) )
And here Theta is a (skeptical :-P ) plaid caterpillar.
*Halloween and trick-or-treating feel distinctly American, but these days (many?) Germans with young kids have started going "Halloween laufen" (=Halloween walking), wearing costumes and going from door to door to get candy.
One mother asked for confirmation that it actually isn't necessary to have a gruesome costume -- because her children seem to feel that you need to be scary + gruesome for Halloween. I tried to explain that I had been a cat, a gypsy and my brother a wizard, etc....but her older daughter just cheerfully responded "I'm going to be a vampire!" :) Tja :)
** A baby blessing is something we do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's fills a similar role as infant baptism in other churches, in that it is a reason for family + friends to get together + celebrate the baby's birth. (In our church we are baptized at 8 years old at the earliest.)
A baby blessing is a special prayer where the baby's name is ceremoniously pronounced and a blessing for the baby is spoken, often by the baby's dad.
*** Ah, the complexity of relations -- not the people themselves (necessarily ;) ) but how to describe their relationship to onesself! It doesn't help that the way Germans describe more distant relations (than immediate family) is different than in English... We've looked up the methods multiple times + often still get confused! :)
For example, Theta's "2nd cousin once removed" would be referred to as his "Onkel zweiten Grades" (=uncle of the 2nd degree) -- similar but not quite the same.
There's also a fun special term, "Schwippschwager" (=...um... schwipp?-in-law) for a sibling of the marriage partner of my sibling (e.g. the sibling of my brother's wife) OR a marriage-partner of my own partner's sibling (e.g. the husband of my husband's sister ... confused yet?)
Whatever you call them, we are grateful for our family!
In the meantime, here are some outfits Theta's been wearing:
Here we are at Theta's baby blessing** -- wearing an outfit made by my Great-grandma, so his Great-great-Grandma!
 |
| Opa, Oma, Dad, Mom, Great-aunt, Great-uncle + 2nd cousin once removed*** |
 |
| with Oma + Opa! |
 |
| (hazelnuts + apples harvested locally :) ) |
*Halloween and trick-or-treating feel distinctly American, but these days (many?) Germans with young kids have started going "Halloween laufen" (=Halloween walking), wearing costumes and going from door to door to get candy.
One mother asked for confirmation that it actually isn't necessary to have a gruesome costume -- because her children seem to feel that you need to be scary + gruesome for Halloween. I tried to explain that I had been a cat, a gypsy and my brother a wizard, etc....but her older daughter just cheerfully responded "I'm going to be a vampire!" :) Tja :)
** A baby blessing is something we do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's fills a similar role as infant baptism in other churches, in that it is a reason for family + friends to get together + celebrate the baby's birth. (In our church we are baptized at 8 years old at the earliest.)
A baby blessing is a special prayer where the baby's name is ceremoniously pronounced and a blessing for the baby is spoken, often by the baby's dad.
*** Ah, the complexity of relations -- not the people themselves (necessarily ;) ) but how to describe their relationship to onesself! It doesn't help that the way Germans describe more distant relations (than immediate family) is different than in English... We've looked up the methods multiple times + often still get confused! :)
There's also a fun special term, "Schwippschwager" (=...um... schwipp?-in-law) for a sibling of the marriage partner of my sibling (e.g. the sibling of my brother's wife) OR a marriage-partner of my own partner's sibling (e.g. the husband of my husband's sister ... confused yet?)
Whatever you call them, we are grateful for our family!
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