Christmas – Weihnachten

On the morning of 24th December Barbara and Armin were up early to go and pick up all the food they had organised and ordered for Christmas. Shops close at midday on Christmas Eve, so that the poor shop keepers get a chance to get organised for their Christmas, too.
When they were home again and all the food treasures sorted and stored, Armin and Barara had a little rest as they still struggled with their energy from having been sick in the days leading up to this.
Once re-energised it was time for the tree to be brought in that had been patiently waiting at the side of the house for its glorious moment. Most German households set up the tree on the day of Christmas, which is Christmas Eve. It traditionally gets taken down on 6th January, Holy Three Kings, which is another holiday, or at least in the more southern areas of Germany it is so as these regions are predominantly Catholic.
Armin and Barbara expertly set up the tree, which comes neatly ‘wrapped’ (a bit like a present in itself) and makes it so much easier to handle.

The ‘wrapped’ tree.

The tree stands/holder here are very funcitional and may yet be another product worth importing into the land of the long white cloud! Personally we couldn’t fit another thing into our bags though, so it will have to wait.
Tessa, Ben and Nick were keen to help decorate the tree, interspersed with moments of exhaustion and needing a rest. Unlike our tree at home though, this one had some chocolates amongst the decorations which we were allowed to eat later on!

Tree decorating

Ben taking a break from being a movie maker.

The finished tree.

Cheese and Meat Fondue were on the menu so Barbara and I started things of in the kitchen with a little help from Ben who transferred various sauces into dishes. Barbara makes fabulous salad dressings and I must ask her for some of her recipes before I leave. Even the bitter salads like Chicory (Witloaf) and the dark red one (Radicchio I think) were very enjoyable.

Ben assisting Barbara in the kitchen

Barbara takes a little break after all the preparations were done.

In between Amira turned up, Armin and Barbara’s other daughter (she is their foster daughter). Amira is 25 years old now and Tessa and I got ot meet her seven years ago on our last trip. She lives in Berlin now were she teaches dance pedagogic and everyone was very pleased to see her. Esther and Raphael love seeing their older sister when she is in Munich.

Amira and Armin

The timing went very smoothly with the table being fully set and prepared just minutes before the Michalskis from Norderstedt turned up. They had spent the last day in Munich recuperating from the seven hour car journey from the north.
It was wonderful seeing them again and now only my aunt Ingrid was missing but she sadly had decided not to come to Munich for Christmas.
At this point we all needed some air and a little excercise, so we went for a walk and the children had a play on the playground.

The Family on the move.

Once back it was time for our feast, which was delicious and fun. I must make more fondues once we are back!

Great food fun!

After dinner it was time to light the (real) candles on the tree and for it to be revealed to the children. We all sang some Christmas songs, some in English, some in German and there was at least one in Polish as well. Marek connected with his Dad on his iPhone and so Bogdan in Warsaw could be part of our Christmas, too.

‘Yule time’ game time

We then played a Yule Time Game. Everyone brought one wrapped present with them to the value of Euro 10 to 15. I had helped the children to buy theirs at Tollwood.
We sat in a circle and everyone got to role the dice. If you had a one or a six you were allowed to pick one of the presents from under the tree and put it in front of you.
When we all had a present we opened them one by one in order of age, starting with the youngest one. All the presents were now revealed.

‘Yule time’ game time

Much excitement during the game.

Nick loves hugs.

Then we set the alarm for 8 minutes and the rolling of the dice started all over again. This time when you had a one or six you had to swop your present (even if you liked the one you had) with someone else. This was getting more and more exciting as time was coming to an end.
Big excitement at the end when it became clear which present was going to be yours. There was still some swopping going on afterwards and in the end everyone was pleased with what they had.
It was a fun game and interesting to see all the different things one can buy for Euro 10-15.
It was then time for Nick and Ben to go to bed, they were already late at 20:45 and the rest of us played ‘Activity’, a game where you had to either ‘act’, ‘draw’ or ‘explain’ a word from cards. It was really good fun.
What a lovely day we have had and we would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Armin and Barbara who hosted us all to an amazing day and dinner. We had such a great, great time!!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Tanja
xxx