In Germany, today, Christmas Eve, is when we celebrate Christmas. The day is spent decorating the Christmas tree and waiting for the "Christkind" to bring the presents. The day is spent in anticipation, and there is just nothing like being called into the living room and seeing the lit candles on the tree (yes, we used to have real candles on the tree) and the presents under the tree. My mom would always make us sing Christmas songs before opening the presents, which was actually quite dreadful since none of us can hold a tune. Our family tradition is to have fondue on Christmas Eve, and to this day I refuse to have anything different for dinner on Christmas Eve. At midnight, we'd go to mass in one of the nearby churches.
I always get
a little very home sick on Christmas and miss my parents, my friends, and Germany in general. We'll see how long I'll make it today before I'm in tears ;-).
I also miss being little and being able to enjoy this day to the fullest.
This year may be the last year that The Husband and I spend Christmas without children. I've managed to keep as much of "my" traditions alive as possible since we moved to the US and I hope that we can keep some of these traditions when the Litte One is home. It makes me a little sad that our child will never be able to experience Christmas the way that I did, but I do hope that this day will be as special and magical to him/her as it was to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment