I've been counting down the days all week, and today was finally the day we drove into Leeds City Center for the visiting German Christmas market! I love the Christmas market so much. The stalls all come from Frankfurt, and as soon as we step inside the market every year, it's like a little taste of Germany or Austria. One of my very favorite parts of living in Vienna was going to the amazing Christmas markets at Schönbrunn Palace and the Rathaus. Those were huge markets; this is, sadly, a tiny one by comparison; but oh, I love it anyway. We drank hot Gluehwein (well, I drank more than Patrick this year, since he was the designated driver!), ate fried potatoes (Patrick) and freshly-made crepes filled with applesauce (me), and wandered around all the stalls, ogling Christmas ornaments, blown glass, funky little clay creatures, and everything else. The air today was bitingly cold, but the sky was bright blue overhead, and the Gluehwein and crepe filled me with warmth. As usual, we did a lot of our Christmas shopping there and, more importantly, just had a really good time.

I finally finished the fight scene in my story - whew!!!!! - and am much relieved, although still nowhere near the end of the story, which is turning into my first novella. In a few minutes, I'm going to make a hot chocolate. Tonight we're going to put up our Christmas tree, dragging out the ornaments we stored in our closets 11 months ago.

I really love this time of year.