First official Lantern Walk

What can I say. Just special. Really special. The day nanny put such an effort in making this a memorable event for the little ones - 4 of her daykids with their parents. Philipp and his mother were with us too. It was the first "official event" we showed up together as parents. Philipp had never seen the nanny or the place before. He was quite amazed to see everything. Before we went for the walk she put on a little hand puppet play in the playroom - all in the dark only lit up with candles. You could see the kids were irritated by being in that well-known room at night time and with all of the parents. They were quite excited - although they had no clue what this was all about of course. The daynanny had made one lantern for each of the kids. So special. Then she asked us to be completely quiet for the walk and only join in the singing. I had quite some trouble shutting up in the beginning. But once we left the house, I think I got better at it. I even think I was the only one who had actually practiced the songs. So there. It looked like 4 little dwarfs making their way through a little dark path. I was so proud to see my little girl being one of them and doing such a good job in holding the lantern (with a real candle!) herself. When we got back they offered tea and cookies in the house (and I got to chat again! yeah!). I didn't want to ruin the moment, so I didn't really dare to take pictures. And I know, you won't believe me, but Lenara did have fun - she just hated the flashlight in all the pictures we took together (and I hate that we have so few pictures together, one of the disadvantages of being a single Mom).

And last but not least: Some historical input (from Wikipedia) on St. Martin's day and the traditions around the world.