Sometimes Germany feels much the same as the US, but holidays are definitely not one of those times. Deciding to forego the expensive trip home for Christmas, I knew things would be different. In special thanks to technology and my fierce independence, I have never been truly homesick. In fact, my first summer as a 9 year old at my month-long overnight summer camp, my mom called the directors to check on me because I never wrote letters home. Christmas is my favorite time of year; I knew if homesickness would ever strike, it'd come with being away over the holidays.
As my Karlsruhe friends headed to Wherever, World for their holiday time, I was left in Karlsruhe with work at the pub and my one other friend sticking around, Lauren. Luckily, for the 23-25th, one of my first friends in Germany, Simon, invited us to join his family for their festivities. Germans actually celebrate on the 24th instead of the 25th. The Christkind (not Santa) comes around 6 o'clock in the evening and gifts are opened immediately following. Since we were actually the youngest present at this holiday celebration, we did not actually do Christkind thing. We simply had a grand dinner and opened gifts following the meal. For dinner, we enjoyed Raclette. Raclette is a traditional holiday meal in Germany, France, and Switzerland. It provides a fun, community dining experience by placing a warm grill in the middle of the table with trays to melt raclette cheese beneath (at least, this is how the home version is done, there are alternative methods). We threw shrimp, pork, chicken, and a variety of vegetables atop the grill. My favorite part was loading up my cheese tray with onions and thai red chilies. No German dinner is complete without wine, beer, and schnapps, so of course we indulged there, too.
The real sadness it on the 25th. Lauren and I arrived back in Karlsruhe and I began talking with everyone at home. I missed the big Christmas morning breakfast and watching everyone tear through the mass of gifts under the tree. I missed heading to my other family's for an evening of drinking and eating too much and excessively quoting National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I missed sitting around a fire pit in the backyard. I threw myself a bit of a pity party, but come the 26th, things were back to normal. Well, almost, I still have to wait at least another week for my crew to return back. For now, I am enjoying the time with myself, the blogosphere, and Netflix streaming "Parks and Recreation".
Pictures from the 24th in Eisenbach, Obernburg, Germany
Daniel and Simon played clarinet and trumpet as children, so each Christmas they dust off their instruments for a bit of a Christmas production.
Lauren and I even got to open gifts. Simon gave us Nike sweat suits to match his for all the lounging around we did over the holidays.
I couldn't leave without trying out the trumpet, too.
Wherever you are, I hope you had the happiest of holidays!
Have you ever spent Christmas away from home?
21 comments
well despite being away from home it looks like you had an absolutely wonderful christmas!
ReplyDeleteFiercely independent is right, and that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteRecall your 1st day of pre-k, you would have been around 4, I suppose. We arrive, and before I could unload the gear from the automobile, you are are your way up the steps of the school conducting introductions.
Pretty much the same thing with 1st grade of elementary school. You didn't want me to hang around or to speak with Ms. Press.
From all appearances, you had a wonderful celebration, as did I. Please extend my appreciation to Simon for hosting you and to Lauren for being a good friend. I am comforted knowing you are included, loved and happy.
Keep on lighting the world. You are a star.
Proud of, and for, you.
Love and miss you.
Always,
Daddio
Um, that GIF is amazing. Why did I never think of that? I might have to steal the idea for my Christmas post! haha
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a nice big Christmas feast and I hope you aren't feeling too lonely now. Christmas away can be hard. At least now it's over! Hope you have nice plans for New Years!
The big celebration in my family is on Christmas Eve too… and we don't have a lick of German in us! It is my favourite day of the holidays.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of your friends putting on a little concert - that's amazing. And those tracksuits are so cute!
What a musical family! :) I remember having raclette one year in Paris when I visited my family. It was delicious! Who doesn't like oozing cheese?
ReplyDeleteI love raclette. My Christmas in Switzerland was spent eating a lot of it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited you experienced your very first German Christmas! That raclette feast looked amazing! I hope you didn't miss home too bad! And by the way, I love your red sweater!
ReplyDeleteI can feel you! I'm also away from home right now, and I miss spending holiday season with my family! But I think it's so nice to have a little taste of German Christmas Dinner! We had Christmas Dinner on campus but it's definitely not authentic!
ReplyDeleteHi Alex, I indeed have spent one Christmas abroad and thus not at home with my favourite bunch of people... And it was. Sad. I indeed was very homesick, and I will always spend Christmas - at least part of it - with my family - if possible. When I shall be with my significant other for next Christmas I might be celebrating Christmas eve with him, but will always insist to see my family on Christmas day. I know one cannot plan everything inside out, but my away from home christmas two years ago was utterly unpleasant... Hope you had a good time though, as experiencing Christmas in another country also has its charms :-) Have a very good start to the new year!! Love, Svenja
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a fabulous Christmas anyway. I LOVE raclette!
ReplyDeleteI've spent Christmas in Germany a few times and I still find the opening gifts on the 24th thing strange! Also, Jan's family has the Weihnachtsmann instead of the Christkind... it's mostly Catholics who get their gifts from the Christkind.
Merry Christmas!! It's the same deal here in Sweden with the celebrating on the 24th thing. However, none of it mattered at all to me this year because I spent the 24th stranded in Charles de Gaulle airport and then the 25th recovering and pleading with Air France to find and return my checked bag. Thankfully we had a chill / lazy day planned anyhow (plus, all my presents for my husband were in that lost bag) so we just dragged our Christmas out over the course of the week.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm loving the matching sweatsuits. At first, I thought they were matching footy pajamas though, which would have been only slightly more awesome. haha!
Footies definitely > all other outfits. But hey, dragging out Christmas over a week sounds pretty dang good to me!
ReplyDeleteFunny you say this, because I talked to people at the pub last night and mentioned that Christkind is normally for Catholics and they were like nooo everyone in Germany does Christkind.
ReplyDeleteThank you, sweet Svenja! I will definitely do my best to be home in the future, but glad I survived and enjoyed myself for the most part. Happy new year, Svenja! Will still let you know if I ever make it up North :)
ReplyDeleteIt's from Primark, but actually seems pretty good quality. I love it!
ReplyDeleteI back up my photos on Google+ and it auto does it when there's a series of photos - I love it! And most of my friends are still gone for NYE sadly, but I'm sure something fun will come up!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's a North/South thing? Jan is from Niedersachsen.
ReplyDeleteI definitely didn't know they celebrated early! We just got to use those grills at the fondue place we ate, so now I want one! Glad you had fun, but I know you missed your family!
ReplyDelete[…] Animated GIF idea robbed from Alex Butts’ Christmas post on IfsAndsAndButts […]
ReplyDeleteGirl, you had me at Raclette!
ReplyDeleteRaclette is so delicous! We will have it tomorrow night too! I know it is hard to be away from home on Christmas. My first Christmas in America was fantastic but also weird! :)
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