From My Family to Yours: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

PJ Shopping in Livermore

Get your best PJ out and yes, go shopping coming Saturday. You will get discounts and freebies downtown Livermore for being BOLD!

10TH ANNUAL EARLIER THAN THE BIRD - November 22, 2014 -- 7am - 12pm
Downtown Livermore


Jump out of bed and grab your shopping posse to get a head start on your Holiday Shopping!

Downtown Livermore's Shops and Boutiques will be open and ready to serve you at 7am with special deals, offers and treats! Start with a hearty breakfast or end with a refueling lunch and remember... pajama attire is acceptable dining wear for the day! Free giveaway for all wearing pajamas! (Sweats are not pajamas so therefore will not be eligible for free giveaway).

Also...
Livermore Downtown Inc. is once again holding its Winter Pajama Drive for Tri-Valley Haven. Please bring and donate new pajamas for the children at the Haven. Needing Boys and Girls, Age 3 through teens. Nothing better than a pair of new warm pajamas on a cold winter night!
 

Thinking About Buying Your First Home?

25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

 This weekend in November 2014, we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

To pay respect to the man who was instrumental in tearing down this wall, my family and I visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

The below video is not meant to be a partisan political piece. I am just as disgusted by the Conservative party as I am by the Democrats for never being able to see beyond party doctrines and instead of looking out for this country, throwing dirt at the other side. My personal values are not 100% at one side of the political spectrum and I vote for whoever comes the closest to what I believe in.

This video is meant to show a piece of history that has become my own personal journey. I protested in Mutlangen, Germany against Cruise Missiles as a radical left teenager and then Ronald Reagan came along and it made sense to me what he said. I joined the Reagan revolution from afar, switched sides, just like he did. Ronald Reagan indeed was the one that started my personal American dream which let me eventually become a US citizen last year. It all began with his "Tear Down This Wall Mr. Gorbatchev!"

Growing up with this Berlin Wall in my face preventing people to go where they wanted to go, losing their lives for the dream to live free, being spy-ed on every second of their lives by the government,  and watching the wall finally to be torn down made me realize how important it is to stand up for freedom in this world and not put a safety net or a free cellphone on top of your priorities.

To visit the original piece of the Berlin Wall at the Ronald Reagan library was a moment of hope for me that good will prevail evil.It was important to me to show this wall to my granddaughter so that she will stand up for freedom when it is necessary and not get brain-washed by party officials to give it away. Nothing is worth to give your freedom away.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to President Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbatchev, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Willy Brandt, and all those who were instrumental in tearing this awful Berlin wall down by reaching out to the other side, keeping a dialogue going, and putting party doctrines aside. Reagan and Gorbatchev managed to become friends although they were political enemies. They made this world a better place by doing what is right and not doing what is best for their careers. 

I wanted to introduce my granddaughter to the last great President I have witnessed. A president who loved his country just like he loved his wife. A President who put moral values higher than the party book and a President who was leading bipartisan rather than just campaigning for his next election.

His love to his wife who was his soulmate is the same love I feel for my husband. His love for  freedom and the country who stands for freedom is what I feel in my heart. His love for horses and living the country life is what makes me happy as well.
Maybe that is why it is hard for any presidential candidate to satisfy me and convince me to vote for him/her. Ronald Reagan is the standard I expect from a great President, no matter from what party he/she comes out of. Show me that you love this country and that you have a conscience and I vote for you! 

Happy trails President Reagan, watch out for us, and one day we meet in person!

St. Martin's Lantern Parade

St. Martin was a Roman soldier who, when he saw a hungry beggar lying shivering from cold at the side of the road, cut his warm cape in two halves and handed one half to the beggar together with food.

St. Martin is not only a patron for the poor but also the patron for horses and therefore, in many  St. Martin parades, horses receive a blessing from the local priest when their owners bring them to the church.

The children walk in a parade on St. Martin's Day, with self-made or store bought lanterns and very often, a rider in St. Martin's costume with his horse is leading the parade. At the end of the parade, the children receive special St. Martin cookies or sugar pretzels as a symbol of sharing.

Those of my German expat friends who would like to participate in this custom, dear to many German children and parents, and all my American friends who want to join please be invited to participate on coming Saturday, November 8, when the South Bay Deutscher Schulvereinis holding their St. Martin parade at their school campus, the San Jose Christian School on 1300 Sheffield Avenue in Campbell.  There will be a little celebration afterwards with hot chocolate and cider.

The South Bay Deutscher Schulverein is a private weekend school which provides German language education for all ages from pre-schoolers to adults. My granddaughter attended one Kindergarten year and we all loved her getting familiar with her German roots. We will continue to keep in touch although the distance to Gilroy makes it hard to attend regularly. See you all at the parade!

Here is their information and a German St. Martin Song to practice with your kids:

St. Martin's Lantern Parade

Please mark your calendar and join us for our annual St. Martin's Fest and Lantern Parade on Saturday November 8th, 2014 at 6pm. Duration of the celebration is approx. 2 hours.

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne und meine Laterne mit mir.

Dort oben leuchten die Sterne und unten leuchten wir.

Mein Licht ist aus, wir gehen nach Haus

Rabimmel, rabammel, rabumm.