Happy Weekend / Start of Carnival / St. Martin's Day

Dear users, dear designers,
have a lovely weekend, everyone + a cheerful start to Carnival season. Is any one of you going to the St. Martin's / lantern parade?

Thanks, Josefa! Have a great weekend, too—to you and everyone else.

Yes—tonight we’re actually going to the lantern parade for the first time! I’ll be experiencing it all for the first time from a parent’s perspective, not as a kid :) Afterward, there’ll be muffins and grilled sausages at the preschool. I’m looking forward to it!

The rest of the weekend is still up in the air. Let’s see what the next few days bring. 

Thank you! I wish everyone a wonderful weekend, too!
The sun is still shining, and it’s still a mild 18 degrees—I’m definitely enjoying November this way!
I had quite a bit to take care of this week—lots of tedious appointments—so some things at home got put on hold; I’ll be working through them bit by bit over the next few days. For now, I’m starting at my desk—I need to clear it of the mountains of paper.
I’m also waiting for a shipment from Snaply to finish the crocheted bag, and I’m still looking for a nice pattern for a soul warmer and some matching yarn.

Unfortunately, I can’t get our grandson excited about it anymore. Before the pandemic, it was so nice to walk behind the horse carrying a lantern, gather in the park, and watch the historical reenactment.

Because of the pandemic, it’s been canceled for several years now, so it’s no longer a “tradition,” and nobody goes with me anymore. It’s actually a shame.

Have a wonderful—and hopefully sunny—weekend, everyone! 

Thank you, dear Josefa, I wish the same for you and everyone else here too.
I’ve always enjoyed going along to the lantern parade. But unfortunately, the children in my family are all too old now and aren’t interested anymore. What a shame!
We’re supposed to have a really sunny weekend here. So plenty of time for a long walk. Other than that, I haven’t planned anything yet, but I’ll definitely be doing some needlework.
Best regards 
Marina 

Hi everyone!
We had the big St. Martin’s parade on Thursday. I walked in the parade with my two little ones; my middle child went with her school class. Afterward, I “dropped off” my little girl with my middle child 😂 so they could watch the St. Martin’s bonfire and play, and I headed over to the church square with the littlest one to pick up the St. Martin’s goodie bags. We have a St. Martin’s association here that goes around collecting donations every year, and you get a voucher for each child. And then there are always veeeery generous bags filled with fruit, candy, snacks, and a big Weckmann.
My husband joined us later; we stood around with some acquaintances on the church square, and you could also drink kids’ punch and mulled wine… it was veeeery busy—much more so than before the pandemic, when many people would just quickly pick up the bags and gather their school-age kids back up after the parade.

Yesterday I went caroling with the kids; this is always “scheduled” here for a specific day (usually the day after the parade) so people know to expect it and have little treats ready for the kids.
We were out and about for about 1.5 hours; the kids sang very enthusiastically—even happily doing a second and third verse😁—and were rewarded accordingly.
We’re now going to set aside some of these candies—the ones still in their original packaging—and send them to school on Monday, because they’ll be shared there and then sent on to Romania ❤️
The kids are also bringing their lanterns back to school, where they’ll be displayed in the hallways until Christmas.

I’d also like to wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Ever since my grandchildren grew up, St. Martin’s Day has passed me by.

Love, Inge

Nina, those are such lovely traditions you have there. You really do a great job celebrating St. Martin’s—being together and sharing.

And displaying the lanterns at school, too. That way, everyone can admire them.