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December 25th, 2023 – Christmas Day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Round two. We celebrated the American Christmas this morning and exchanged gifts. As always there were a lot of clothes, some shoes, and books. Arno and Margo were both extremely thoughtful with their gifts and we’ve all been surprised. We finished the day with a nice dinner as we usually do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Time-honed traditions tend to bring back memories. We have always celebrated Christmas twice at our house given that we run a half German and half American outfit. Everyone will get their German presents on Christmas Eve, or Heiligabend, and the American ones on Christmas Day as is the respective local tradition. I am pretty sure that the kids thought they’d get more presents this way when they were younger. Now it is just reason to have two outstanding dinners in a row. Austin typically joins us for the occasion as well and it was fun to see him, as always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fun project and quite possibly a weird sensation for Arno as he gets older. We still have a box full of Arno’s kid shoes and I’ve been wanting to photograph them for a while now. The idea is to document his maturing process a little bit through something that he carried with him where ever he went. So many experiences have been had and memories were made in these shoes. We set up the studio today to capture them. They will be framed for the dining room now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I spent a few days in Germany to see my Mom and visit old friends. Arno got out of his school for Christmas as well and we flew home together. It was great to see the place where he now lives and meet some of his friends. Before heading back we visited Hamburg for business meetings and to explore the city a bit. Our first stop was the venerable Cafe Paris, where we just barely got a table (the maitre d’hotel really checked us out before making a favorable decision) and, of course, the Kunsthalle nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Margo and I are holding down the fortress at the moment while Meredith and Arno are in Germany to get him situated at the new school. We decided to visit Fort Worth this morning for an early lunch and the current Robert Motherwell exhibition. It was truly phenomenal and well worth the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was our last weekend before Arno moves to Germany to attend an incredible boarding school on the island of Spiekeroog in the North Sea. We were all happy and sad, nostalgic and excited, and quite possibly a bit through the wind. This has been a long time coming and we have all started to process his move in our own ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n We took some time this afternoon for a quick run to the park. Arno and I had been dying to go for a photo shoot for weeks, but work somehow always got in the way. Well, this was our chance and we had a ton of fun. Arno took one of my older cameras, which was also good practice for his year abroad and I went with the Monochrome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is always fun to go to Susanne and Henk’s house. They are excellent cooks and always gracious hosts. We have also been friends for most of our lives so that catching up is great fun. I brought my Mom to see their newly built home on the next morning as well. It is located right next to a forest, has a stunning, very modern architecture and fantastic interior design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I received an invite to try out Amazon’s new home robot Astro as a beta version and quickly jumped on it. It’s not every day that you get to try new home technology before it goes on sale to the public. Expectations were running high and we were all excited when it finally showed up at our door. The unit looks great and was easy enough to set up. Everyone had to make poses in front of the cameras so that Astro could recognize us later. We quickly found that the applications are very limited though. I could not get useful information while cooking, news were severely limited and video streaming off the table. Astro ultimately only stayed for a few days and will have surely found a new home by now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDecember 24th, 2023 – Heilig Abend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDecember 23rd, 2023 – Arno’s Shoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDecember 21th, 2023 – Germany<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAugust 20th, 2023 – Motherwell<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAugust 12th, 2023 – Last Weekend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJuly 23rd, 2023 – Walk in the Park<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJuly 1st, 2023 – Dinner with Henk and Susanne<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMay 17th, 2023 – Meeting Astro<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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