Life lately

Well this pandemic isn't going away anytime soon unfortunately so we certainly haven't been doing as much as I would like but we still had a few fun events recently. Mini was invited to a friend's birthday party. It was one of her little pals from daycare who was turning five. Hubby wasn't sure about whether it was a good idea since it would be indoors but I spoke to the parents and they were vaccinated and had only invited us and one other family who were also vaccinated. The kids aren't vaccinated as they are too young but they are in the same daycare group anyway.

The party was fun. Mini had a great time playing with her two friends and of course she love the yummy treats and cake! It was nice for me to chat to the adults and we all ate lunch together. Naturally the topic of the pandemic came up. Sadly, their neighbour had recently passed from Covid sadly. He was only forty-five and healthy with no precondtions, however he was unvaccinated. Germany has quite a low vacine rate unfortunately, compared to other countries. Ireland has one of the best Covid vacine uptake rates with over 90% of adults fully vaxed!

Apart from that party, we have minaly been avoiding indoor events to keep Mini safe as the Covid incidence rate is really high in our area at the moment. However we try to bring her out for bike rides and to the playground with her friends several times a week if possible and recently we took her kite flying for the first time.

December 6th is known as Nokolaustag. This is a tradition that was new to me as we don't have it in Ireland. The evening before Nikolaustag the children are meant to clean their boots and leave them out and Nikolaus comes around and fills them with little treats/presents. Technically it's only meant for kids but as you can see from the picture, I left my boots out too and I received a vegan choclate Santa Claus.

I would have loved to have visited the Christmas markets with Mini this year but the rules for visiting them are only vaccinated adults who had been freshly tested which was a bit awkward and hubby doesn't want me bringing her on public transport to get there. I walked past by myself one morning and took a few pictures. However they have since been closed completely.

I have flights booked to Ireland for a short trip just by myself in a few weeks time. It would be two years since I've been there last. However, I'm not sure if I will end up needing to postpone the trip because of this new Omnicron variant. I don't want to risk having to quarentine in Ireland and not being able to come back to Germany! So right now I am just waiting to see how things play out and what the current travel restrictions will be before deciding.

I hope you are all having a nice Christmas season!