Dezember

So December has come and gone; and so alas I must move on...


Well I am not a very poetic person, so you will have to excuse my attempt at eloquent writing.







So December brought cold but very beautiful weather. I was able to have my first white Christmas, and experience real snow! Christmas here was charming and quaint, with tons of German tradition. Starting off the month most people receive "Advents Calenders." You can get some in the US, but there isn't as much variety as there is here. For those who do not know what an Advents Calender is, it is a calender numbered 1-24. And each day in December you open a new little slot or door and receive a gift of some kind. Some calenders are only chocolate, while some had little glass Angels or Haribo Gummy Bears. I saw some that had a different kind of perfume for every day, and for little boys there where Lego calenders. The calender my host family gave to me was an upstanding pole-looking thing with several small hooks. On each hook there was a little packet with different numbers. Each packet was different and the gifts I received each day were different as well. It was a cute tradition, and fun for me to experience.

The next most significant thing about Christmas in Germany was Nikolaustag (I hope I spelled that correctly). On the 6th of December the children put a pair of their shoes outside their doors before they go to sleep. Nikolaus comes at night and puts gifts (candies and such) into their shoes. If the children were bad that year, then they receive sticks and rocks. In my gift I got ski gloves and some chocolate Santas.


Christmas trees don't go up so early here as they do in the United States. I know that my family normally puts up the tree at the beginning of December, well most of the time. Here in Germany it is normal to not put the tree up until the day before Christmas Eve, or even Christmas Eve itself. And gifts that you give and receive do not go under the tree until about an hour or two before you are supposed to open them.

I saw some Christmas lights around the town, but I didn't really see many decorated houses. We in the U.S. put up those aggravating colorful lights, that are so pretty once the hassle of putting them up is finished. It was something that I would have liked to see here, but it is okay, because there were other things that made up for it. Like the Weihnachtsmarkt for example:


Some towns have it longer than others, some have it more grand, but all in all this is something that I wish the U.S. had. It is a little market set up in the middle of the town. And you can buy sweets, and specialty items. It is always adorable, and so much fun to just go through to look at everything.

Christmas Eve is when everyone opens their presents together, and Christmas Day is spent with family. On Christmas day they have a huge dinner together normally consisting of duck as the main dish, and of course some kind of potatoes. We went to church on Christmas Eve and sat through a short sermon. It was sooo cool because this was a really, really old church. (Wooden pews, stone walls, no heaters :/)

The year 2009 is winding down, and I thought I had better post this before it was too late.



~Amanda

P.S. It is Clay's birthday today (December 31st)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAY!!