Our little family in the great big state of Texas

November 12th Jacob's kindergarten had their St. Martin's Parade in town, it was a lot of fun. The children had been working on their lanterns for weeks, and they were all very nice. I really liked Jacob's lantern this year, it looked great lit up in the dark. I am always amazed and a bit scared each year during the parade, as each lantern has a tall candle inside it to illuminate it. It is quite the relief when they blow out their candles before going in the church!

You might remember Jacob doing this last year, I posted about it then too.

This year it was quite cold and rainy, although the showers held off during the actual parade and program. They started at the kindergarten, and then made their way along the main street, ending at the church courtyard. The local marching band led the way, along with a "St. Martin" riding a horse. After a short program outside the church, we went in for the brief church service. Let me add here that the interior of the church is as cold, if not colder, than the outdoors. It was not as crowded as last year, so we were able to get seats on the pews and get our feet up off the cold stone floor. That was definitely a plus! After the church service we were able to purchase bratwurst, lebkuchen and gluhwein as a fundraiser for the school. It was really nice and of course Jacob had a great time. He saw some other friends of ours that happened to be eating at a local restaurant, they came out to watch the parade. He stopped to say a quick "hi" to them then announced "Gotta go guys, I have to keep up with the Germans!" They were laughing like crazy about that, and still do when they retell the story. He can be quite the character!