12-22-2010, 09:59 PM
faraway Wrote:Merry Christmas to all of you and my all your wishes come true.
The "big date" for the kids of all age is the xmas eve (24th) here in Germany. That is when the candles on the xmas tree will be inflamed and the gifts are presented and unwrapped. Most families have a tradition to serve at that evening a relative simple dinner (e.g. sausages with potato salad) only to make sure the wife/mother is not buried with work in the kitchen. 25th and 26th are very prominent days to visit relatives and get visits from close relatives. That are the dates when the lunch will run "full throttle" (and the lady stays in the kitchen... until she gets some help).
Mmm - we decorate the tree and light the lights on the evening of the 23rd - i.e. tonight. And it will stay up until the 13th or 20th day of Christmas or thereabouts - some weekend in early/mid January :-)
Dinner on Xmas eve is the big extended family meal - pretty much a given that it will be a traditional regional based food. Pork ribs & sauerkraut in the SE, steamed lamb on the west coast, codfish on the NW coast etc. Often rice pudding for dessert. Dinner usually takes half the day to prepare, and is served an hour or two after night falls - i.e. around 4 or 5 pm. Then walking around the tree, singing Christmas carols, and the opening of Christmas gifts, which are either stacked under the tree or (if you have small kids) brought in by a dad more or less successfully disguised as Santa Claus.
Christmas morning (ie the 25th) usually have a brunch (late breakfast/early lunch) with warmed up leftover from dinner, and various smorgasbord classics. In our family, since we have mixed Norwegian/American traditions, we do immediate family gifts, gifts from American relatives and Christmas stockings in the morning of the 25th, before brunch. We probably will go up to the church in the afternoon, and put a wreath on my mother's grave. The first and second day of Christmas are quiet, peaceful days - all stores (except a few gas stations and kiosks) will be closed.
The celebration of Christmas really started 4 weeks ago - on the first Sunday of Advent, when we put up the star in the window.
Anyways - whatever (including Festivus and Saturnalia) you celebrate, however you celebrate and whenever you celebrate - have a good one!
Big grin,
Stein, up at 5 am to wrap some gifts before the kids wake up