Hello!
I
hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
This
year I celebrated Christmas the traditional German way with my boyfriend and
his family. It was an entirely new Christmas experience. In the US my family
and I usually have a large dinner on the 24th, open stockings and presents on
the morning of the 25th, have brunch and then later have another big
dinner. Our dinner on the 24th is usually anything from cheese fondue to
homemade wonton soup and eggrolls, but we always have ham on the 25th. Here in
Germany the normal traditions would be to have sauerkraut and bratwursts on the
24th, however Peter's family has their own tradition just like many other
families in the US and Germany.
On the 24th they get all
dressed up in tuxes (or a smoking as they call it) and nice dresses. After the
family members and other guests have arrived they begin the evening with a glass
of champagne and a toast to good health, great company and delicious food. Then
they have a large dinner of meat fondue with all types of sauces to dip the
meat in and a large variety of salads, wines and breads.
After dinner they go into
the living room to open presents and enjoy the glowing light from the real candles
that are on the large Christmas tree. When everyone is done opening presents they
end the evening with tiramisu.
The two things I found to be most different about out Christmases were the time and day when we open presents and the fact that they had really candles on their Christmas tree. I love the look of a tree with real candles on it and what is even more wonderful is the relaxing and romantic atmosphere it gives off.
It was a wonderful
experience and I had an amazing time getting to know the family more and
learning about their holiday traditions.
Here are two pictures from our dinner on the 25th. They traditionally eat goose or duck. This year we had duck with knodel (a kind of dumplings), gravy, blaukraut (red sweet cabbage), and roasted chestnuts. It was delicious!
All in all I had a great
time, and even though I was missing my family I really felt at home at the
Bilderling’s house for Christmas.
Until next time!
-Sasha-
No comments:
Post a Comment