Christmas Winterwonderland

Christine Zimmermann

Christmas Winterwonderland

Christmas is a Christian holiday, and millions of people around the earth celebrate it. Each country and religion has their own traditions about Christmas. I have spent most of my life living in Gehringswalde which is a litte village, in the area called Erzgebirge in the east of Germany. Thus, I spend the most Chrismas holidays in my life there, and I really loved them. I believe that Christmas in Germany, particularly in Erzgebirge, has the most beautiful, heartwarming and unique Christmas time compared to others . Since I am an au Pair in the USA for one year and I celebrated my first Christmas here in the USA, I had nostalgia for the Christmas celebration in my home village.

The most important part that I missed was the Christmas decoration. In Germany, people have a lot of traditional Christmas decoration. I miss the candle arches which make the heartwarming light in each room and the smoky houses, called “Räuchermännchen”, blowing there frankincense smoke up in the air. Also, there are all the handmade wooden figures, for example, the nutcracker in the each shelves of the cupboard. However, something has to be included: the angel and the pitmen. They symbolize women and men. Who bring happiness and affluence. The Erzgebirge has a long history of underground mining and handicrafts for example, lace-making and carving. That’s why I asked my parents to send some of the handmade presents to my host family here to the US. As the package arrived at our house, and the kids opened the presents, they broke the pyramid and the candle holders (angels and pit man), which were handmade and really expensive. Their first reaction of the incense smoker was:”uh that’s so stinky and boring”. This reaction made me really sad and a kind of homesick because they could not appreciate what they meant to me

In addition the traditional Christmas dinner is really important for me. My family has had one tradition over many years. My grandparents delivered this to my parents and them to us. We eat “neunerlei”, which means we have to eat nine different kinds of food during the Christmas dinner. It has to include: lentil stew, dumplings, bratwurst, bread, red cabbage or sauerkraut and gravy. For desert we have different kinds of fruit. Something really unique is that during the meal we have to put some cents under our plate. This year I missed that tradition, because I had stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, cooked cranberries and Brussels sprouts. That was it. Also annoying was the situation that all the relatives of my host family eat so fast and when they are done with dinner they clear directly their dishes. I missed my Family tradition of sitting unhurried together and talk about the last Year.

Going to the Christmas market is something that I also missed this year. In Germany we have a lot of Christmas markets. They opening on the first Advent and close at the fourth. The most famous and biggest one is the “Nuernberger Christkindelmarket”. However for me the loveliest is the "Annaberger" because it is a real traditional Erzgebirge’s Christmas market. Something really unique there is the house high pyramid in the middle of the market. Usually I drink hot wine punch with my friends there and eat gingerbread and bratwurst with sauerkraut. This year we celebrated Christmas in San Francisco, so what I had this year was driving with the famous cable cars, going to Alcatraz and eating hot dogs in the sun next to the golden gate bridge. I love San Francisco, but I didn't had any Chrismas feelings there. In my mind I realy missed my home country. Staying home like together with my friends and family, next to the pyramid and enjoying the christmas feeling was something what I realy missed.

It is December 24, 2009, I am driving together with my brother with the horse wagon through our village . I am so excited to see my family and the kids with their big eyes when they see us coming. We have those red costumes and the long white beard and a mask on our face so they couldn´t see our eyes. We have the wagon full of presents for around one houndred children which is realy a lot when you know that our village only has about 900 residents. Through our way to the christmas market, we see all the windows of the houses and they are all decoraded. I mean really, in all the windows. The people stand around that giant pyramid and drink hot wine punch. It’s a real peaceful atmosphere in the air. It looks like a fable landscape. We drive around the corner where all the kids are waiting only for as. My brother and I are the most important person at the fourth advent weekend in our village, we pretend to be Santa Clause. As we had done all our work to give the presents to the kids I felt really great and more connected with my community and my homevillage.

I never thought about that I could miss my home village so much over Christmas this year abroad. The first time I was aware how much I love this, was this year when I didn´t have these traditions.