Mutti said tonight, "They don't have Christmas Eve in America, do they?" WHAT?!
Of course they do, but not like here. Today is THE celebration. The church bells ring. Folks go to church services. There's a family meal. And most important for the children - the presents. Sometimes, a house visit from Santa. But more on that later.
Since Mutti has been a bit on the weak side lately, we planned our celebration for their house. We prepared all that we could at home and took it all there to put together. But not just dinner - first Claudia and Christoph served coffee and cake to Mutti, Claudia's mother and her husband and us. Lord knows, we haven't had enough cake and cookies lately.
Afterwards Claudia modeled the neck warmer she'd just finished knitting. It looks GREAT, but we wonder how warm it will be since it was knit on such large needles. She'll have to find out later because it isn't really cold right now. Really.
There was a welcome break between coffee and dinner since Christoph had to go play Santa. Lots of parents here (of very small kids) often hire a "Santa" to come deliver the presents IN PERSON. Wow. Christoph did it for years for his godson, and now occasionally for friends. He's got a great costume but honestly, Christoph is so tall and big, I'd be a bit intimidated by him if I were a 4 year old!
And you don't just ring the door bell and your hand bell (forget dropping down a chimney if you're a real Santa!) and leave the gifts. You have to have a conversation with the kid and talk about the naughty and nice! So Santa gets a letter beforehand with notes.
Oh Paula, you have been very nice to your friends, but sometimes you don't really share your toys like you should. And you did really well in reading at school this year, but you still get up too early on Saturday and don't let Mama and Papa sleep in! Besides, you keep sneaking into their bed at night and don't stay in your own bed. Didn't we talk about this last year??
I think I'd be glad not to be getting switches and coal!
Dinner was tasty - pumpkin soup, lambs' leaf salad, Argentine filet, mushroom sauce, baked potatoes with Werner's famous green dressing, and to end, lemon curd pie with whipped cream. It was all delicious.
On a final note, though, never forget this is Germany. So there's beer. Christmas beer. Who'da thunk it? Seems we used to leave beer now and again for Santa when Michelle and Lee were little. Who needs milk at every stop along the present-dellivery way?
Have a Merry, Merry.
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