Week 2 in Germany

Starting Ashwednesday our week was seriously filled with preparations for the baptism and all the guests that would arrive. My Aunt Gudrun has rented this old warehouse not far from her boutique and remodeled it for her fashion shows and business customers. It is a large elongated room with lots of windows, filled with antiques from my cousin Cornelia's grandmother. It is a beautiful room and absolutely perfect for this kind of party. We ordered a lunch buffet from one of the butchers shops in Oggersheim which is now owned by a female butcher master. She and her staff did a great job preparing the meal. We were responsible for deserts, coffee and cake for the afternoon, as well as drinks and the dishes that we needed. Gudrun organized the tables and chairs and managed the decorations. Everything ended up being perfect. It was nice to be in a private room, especially with the children, so they could run around, without disturbing waiters and other customers. While all these preparations were under way, I found time to visit my friend Virginia and her 15 months old daughter Felicitas, in a small village outside of Darmstadt. Our friend Jutta joined us as well. We spend a lovely afternoon talking about past and present times and walking across the fields in the snow that started to fall - Little did we know how much more was going to come. On Friday morning I woke up to the sound of the neighbor Frau Glaser showeling snow. It had snowed 4 inches over night on the 3rd of March! I could not believe it. This was the day my friends and in-laws were supposed to arrive. Marlene was excited and played all morning in the snow. She helped Omi to clean the sidewalk (a difficult task,since it came down at an inch per hour). Around 11 am Paula, Karla and Einar arrived. I was very glad that they made it. It is not only hard to find Oggersheim coming from the airport, but constant snowfall does not exactly help. They were tired from the long trip, but happy to have finally arrived. Unfortunately Paula's luggage took a detour and did not get delivered until the following Wednesday. Ben and Marlene were supposed to arrive in Frankfurt at 2.30 pm, but in tracking their flight we new early, on it was to be delayed for many hours. They ended up not arriving at all, because for the first time in it's existence the Frankfurt airport was closed due to snow. More than 500 flights were cancelled. Their flight, already in the air, was diverted to Strasbourg, were they decided to get out, because flying back to Paris did not make sense. They ended up spending the night in Strasbourg. My uncle Helmut picked them up the next morning and brought them to Oggersheim. Saturday was spent setting up the party room. Jason was lucky to arrive late Saturday afternoon, so by the time we made it back from the airport, everything was done. Sunday was a beautiful sunshine day. The Baptism went well. Marlene agreed publicly to be baptized in church, but complained that water was running down her neck. Amelia loving all kinds of water had a big smile on her face when Frieder poured the water over her head. The party was great, as the pictures show. I think everyone had a great time.