My Christmas Eve

Although Christmas is originally a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, for many people today this Christian thought has taken a back seat. Unlike in Japan where people usually spend this day with their girlfriend or boyfriend, Christmas Eve in Germany is traditionally celebrated at home with the family. Nevertheless, the way it is celebrated differs from family to family – beginning with the size of the Christmas tree, the Christmas decorations, the obligatory church-going, and ending with the traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Below, we would like to introduce to you two families and their typical Christmas Eves.

Colette Miyoko Kronenberg (Tübingen University)

  Unlike for most Germans, who for the most part go to Church on Christmas Eve, for my family Christmas is not a Christian Holiday. Since my elder brothers do not live at home any more, and they come back home only twice or thrice a year, we regard the Christmas holidays as an opportunity to get the whole family together and have a nice time.
  Since I was a kid, the 24th of December has always been the same; in the morning, the Christmas tree is brought upstairs from the basement and is placed in the middle of our living room. Usually my mother and I are responsible for the decoration of the tree, but we often force one of my brothers to help a little bit. In the afternoon, my parents prepare the dinner, and everyone uses the time until the gift giving to wrap the Christmas presents or to make fancy hand-made gift coupons. Around 5 pm when it becomes dark outside, my brothers and I – the kids - have to stay upstairs while our parents prepare the gift giving. Next to the Christmas tree, there is a big table where they place the presents and for everyone a bowl full of hand-made Christmas cookies, chocolates, peanuts, mandarins and other candies. The fairy lights are turned on, and the candles of the Advent wreath and of the Christmas tree are lit up. Once everything is done, they ring the bell, which is usually used to show that dinner is ready, and we are finally allowed to come downstairs! Fully loaded with presents ourselves, we are still very excited every single year as we go down the stairs. When we were younger, we had to perform a Christmas song before we could open the presents: a real challenge for my brother, who has never learned any instrument and used to practice the easiest song he knew on the harmonica a few hours before the actual performance! My other brother plays guitar and I can play the piano, so for us it was not as much of a problem. But in the meantime, because of continuing resistance on our part this tradition has been successfully abolished.
  Before the unpacking of the presents begins, we always try to take the perfect Christmas family photo first, as you can see on the right. Of course, our tomcat Luzi must not be missing! The actual gift giving is always very fun. In our family, every member does not only get one present from each person but one or more. Often we get together in groups; for example, my brothers and I find a present together for my father or my mother. Therefore, in the end there are always mountains of wrapping-paper under the gift table! Our “traditional” Christmas meal, which is in fact very untypical for a German Christmas, is a Swiss dish called raclette; you put cheese and vegetables such as corn, sliced onion, mushrooms and bell pepper, or bacon and wiener, on little pans, and you heat them with a special electric table-top grill. After the cheese is melted, you scrape it off and eat it with some baguette or cooked potatoes. There are various ways to eat raclette, so you can just add whatever you like. After the dinner we usually watch a movie together while eating Christmas cookies and enjoying our presents. Later in the evening, we usually get calls from relatives, or we call them ourselves to wish them a merry Christmas and to thank them for their presents.
  Unfortunately, this year I couldn’t celebrate Christmas at home with my family, but thanks to my lovely host family and new friends, this year’s Christmas was different but just as nice as usual. (^_^)/

Katharina Kuhring (Tübingen University)

  Although I am not very fond of cold wintertime, Christmas has always been my favorite holiday since I can remember.
  My typical Christmas Eve usually starts with a wake-up call from my mom to tell me what still has to be done before lunch. So I spend my morning by giving our house the final Christmas touch and preparing food for lunch and dinner while constantly listening to Christmas music. When all preparations are done, it is time to call relatives and friends to wish them a merry Christmas and thank them for their Christmas cards and presents. Of course we aren’t allowed to open the presents until the “Christkind” hopefully brings the presents we’ve wished for.
  During Advent’s time, everyone, especially my grandma, is very busy with baking tons of Christmas cookies. Unfortunately it is always a big challenge to save some of these delicious treats until Christmas Eve. Whenever my mom does not tell us kids to eat “normal” food, we would end up having a diet of different flavored Christmas cookies. They are just too good to eat them only during Christmas!
  My family normally spends most of the time in the living room; and this is where the Christmas tree glitters and sparkles in all its splendor. The “evolution” from normal tree to Christmas tree is carried out by us children before 24th December. It always calms my mind and gives me the pleasant thrill of Christmas Eve anticipation. A decorated Christmas tree is not only nice to look at, but also fun to mess with – at least that is what our pets seem to think. If it isn’t the cat that tries to eat the shiny tinsel, then it is the dog that may bring down a Christmas ball with one swift whip of its tail. Once or twice, my dog, a hybrid of a German shepherd and a Bernese mountain dog, even managed to knock over the whole tree! Luckily my dog did not get hurt and only a few Christmas balls broke. During the more quiet moments, I often snack on Christmas cookies, chocolates or healthier food like walnuts or mandarins until my family goes to church. The service usually starts around 6pm and takes forty-five minutes. After listing to the story of Jesus Christ’s birth and singing along to religious Christmas songs, the worshippers part with merry blessings. Because of my eight-year-old brother, my mom would take a few minutes longer to wish everyone “Fröhliche Weihnachten,” so that my other brother and I can sneak back to our home and place the Christmas presents under the tree. Then, when my youngest brother finally enters the house, we would rush over to him and announce that the “Christkind” must have come because there are presents under the tree now. With a happy scream and smiling face he storms to the tree, ready to open them. However, he has to be patient until dinner is over – which always is kind of a hassle for him. Who needs to eat when there are presents waiting to be unwrapped, right? Dinner is traditional potato salad with Vienna sausages and a cup of hot glühwein or tea. After that the best part of Christmas has finally come: Christmas presents! Everyone is looking for his or her name that is written on the gifts and starts guessing what the wrapped something could be. This typically does not take too long, and in a few seconds everywhere around the Christmas tree there are scraps of wrapping paper. After thanking the present giver (the “Christkind”) for their generosity, my family spends the rest of the evening with playing the new board game or reading the long-wanted book while enjoying festive music and the family evening at home.