We had a great holiday so far. Though, because of the weather we had to change plans. We wanted to do Christmas in Arnold, Xmas Eve at the Michaels” cabin (by Bluelake Springs), Xmas Day at our cabin (at Lakemont Pines). The Michaels, Doris, our daughter and Charlie, her husband, and Christa, charlie’s mother, were all up in the Michaels’ “Bear House,” up at Bear Valley. yes, you guessed it, they own two houses/cabins/castles! Now–the weatherman predicted a monster blizzard and there is no kidding with him! That storm would come in on Xmas Eve. We had excpected relatives to come up to Arnold to celebrate with us. they called from the Bay Area, “How is the weather?” I knew they had no chains or 4-wheel drive, just a little car. when they learned about that predicted storm, they decided not to come. “Well,” I said to Leo, “why don’t we go up then to Bear Valley? It must be beautiful there, especially in a snow storm.” “Okay,” said my husband, “let’s go.” But then we discovered that our water heater didn’t work. So, we had to wait for the next morning, which was the 24th, for the repairman to come, which he did. He fixed the heater and we took off. It was the most beautiful Christmas we ever had, in the Michaels’ cozy cabin, surrounded by snow-covered trees, and snow falling steadily. That there were several brown-outs and even a black-out, didn’t matter. We had a strong generator and many candles. Even our grandson, Denali, who works as a ski patrol at Bear, was with us. What more did we want, It was–awsome! Total Happiness!

Soon it’s Xmas, followed by New Years Eve (celebrated at home, very sedately, probably in bed by 10 o’clock). Remember, I’m not so young anymore. But then: What’ll I do in the brand-new year? I’ll start with a brand-new class to teach: Advanced German class. Those are my students who know how to speak the language, but they want to use it. So, we’ll sit together and talk. First, we will tell the group how we spent the holidays, and then each one of us will choose a topic and we all talk about it. I might read them a story and they will ask questions. My beginning German class will start on January 8. We might have some new students in that class. I always tell them that they will learn at least a few questions and answers every time they attend class. Basic stuff like colors, numbers, weather, home, etc. It’s also time to think about planning for a new book. My fourth book, a novel about a castle in Austria, is finished now and I’m waiting to hold it in my hand. That’s always exciting. I already saw the book on internet and they tell me it’s in the mail, but so far, it hasn’t come. So, I’ll see you all in 2009, another great year.

ClubBART, Today is Tuesday, December 16. Pretty close to Christmas. Yesterday was a busy in-home day: I baked 12 sheets of my specialty cookies: imitation bread and butter. The dough consists of butter, eggs, and sugar, spiced with vanilla and almond extract, a little salt, flour (sieved with baking powder, and grated chocolate chips and walnuts. All of this (quantities pretty much by memory) are needed together, rolled out into sausages, and cut with a sharp knife, then baked about 15 minutes, cooled off, and spread with “fake butter.” This is made from powdered sugar, a little yellow food color and some milk. Again, quantity by feeling. I used to color my butter with egg yolks, but that’s too much cholesterol. Then, still sweatting from baking, I finished my Xmas cards and actually put them into our neighborhood mailbox.

Today is a busy day out-of-the-home. I’ll drive to BART, leave my car on the parking lot and take the train to San Francisco. There I’ll take Bus #! clear up Sacramento Ave to Van Ness, walk to Clay street and spend a few hours with my favorite club: California Club of California. This club exists for almost one hundered years, and, though most of the original members are dead now, consists of about eighty happy older ladies. I, at 87, am about average. We eat dinner together and sing Xmas songs.

I take the bus and BART back to my car, go home and will be picked up at 4:15 by a good friend from yet another club, Womens’ National Book Association, also being around about a century, but consisting of much younger members–where I am really one of the “old” one–and again go back to the BART parking lot, this time not alone. Now she leaves her car there and we take the train up to the Marsh Theatre on 1062 Valencia Street where she performs her solo performance of “Florence’s Story.” I’ll let you know tomorrow how it went, unless I fall asleep during the show due to exhaustion.

I am a happy person, not that I was born so, or alaways feel so. there are days when I’d like to crawl into a mouse hole and stay there. But that’s very seldom and I aalways get out of it. One night I was coming home from work and had the radio on. Some professor from Harvard, Daniel Gilbert, talked about his university course on “Happiness” and recommended the book he had written on the topic. I got interested and bought the book the next day. The concept of Happiness according to Professor Gilbert was quite different from my own concept. Therefore I decided to write my own book on Happiness, not based on studies with groups of students, but from my own view point as an older person. I belive that there is a big difference between flashes of good feeling (pleasure) and inner happiness that in constant. I obtaianed other books written about happiness. The bookshelves at stores and libraries are full of them. Most of them mean feelings of pleasure and comfort that do not last. I just read a blog by someone who expresses exactly what I am trying to say. That person (sorry, I don’t have that person’s comment in front of me) quoted a saying by Helen Keller (blind and deaf) who expresses her feeling about inner contentment. I also quote Helen Keller in my book. she was a remarkable person. I am reading now a book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love. She also has found inner contentment, the main part of inner happiness. It takes work and determination to achieve this kind of happiness. Please visit my website, www.mschmidtbooks.com. Mathilde.

Yesterday was a clear day. You could see forever. My friend Cece and I left Castro Valley at 9:30, picked up our good friend Christa in Belmont, and drove to Halfmoon Bay. The drive was gorgeous. Only two days ago this entire area had been shrouded in fog. Not today. Blue sky and sunshine. We decided to have lunch at the Ritz Carlton. Both my friends knew this fancy place–I didn’t. Huge, impressive, almost oppressive. We found our way to the back entrance and walked along the golf course, down the stairs to the beach and watched the waves heaving and breaking. Above us gulls screaching. We ambled back to the colossal hotel, found the dining room and sat down at a window place in the conservatory. What a view of the bay! Since we are light eaters, we shared appetizer, entree and dessert, but endulged in a bottle of wine and our personal pot of delicious coffee.

It’s December now and time is ticking fast. Christmas will be here in no time. One big event in 2009 will be our new great grandchild. Jason and Genevieve got married in April of 2008 and their child will arrive in March. That baby will start a brand-new generation. Leo and I came to this country in the early 1950s and now, half a century later we have created a family of sixteen, expecting the seventeenth member. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, but I let you know as soon as we know.

We went to our cabin at the lake this Thanksgiving. Our favorite guests came on Wednesday and stayed until Saturday. My nephew Hans, his wife Anne, and their two little boys, Pascal, five, and Jesse, 3. Furtunately I did not have to cook since Susie, another relative, had invited all of us. The weather was perfect; we had a great time.

We have a cabin in the mountains where we meet with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. My husband leo and I go up on Wednesday, prepare everything and enjoy. up there with our loved ones. While the turkey is in the oven, we go for a nice walk, the come back and sit by the fire. Dinner with twelve people is great. In the evening we paly games and talk.

I started writing in 1985 and published my first book in 2006. I had lived for over thirty years in Germany, twelve of these years under the Hitler regime. I called my book “My Life on Two Continents.” At first I only wrote for my family and friends, but later decided to publish it. The book came out in 2006 with iUniverse. It was very exciting to hold the book in my hands. Not everything had gone smoothly. I had to learn to use a computer and to work with a publisher far away. No agent, no one to talk to or ask questions. Everything had to be done electronically. And I wasn’t so young anymore. But in the end I had my book. Marketing the book was another thing and I haven’t learned to do that yet.

In my long life I always followed my wants. After the war I wanted to go to the University, though I was already twenty-four and was much older than most of the other students. I went for six years to Hamburg University, graduated and was ready for student teaching. That was the reqiurement to become a teacher, the same as it is in this country. But before getting involved in that, I decided to visit my sister in America. She had married in 1933, had married a German engineer who had studied in the States and had specialized in hydraulics, had built up a profitable business in Ohio, and now lived in Dayton. She was my idol and I wanted to follow her. The couple had four children. My father, a senator in the government of my hometown, Bremen, secured me a place on the little freighter going to New York, and I landed on American soil in August of 1952.