Well, it has been a while so I'll try to catch up. Our Christmas here was very different, as expected. We were all a little out of sorts at not having our regular schedule of things we do but had a good time anyway. As I mentioned in a previous post the Germans do not put up their tree until Christmas Eve morning and then have their family festivities that night. Much to Dayna's dismay, we didn't do the tree thing - we just decorated our window sill (it's huge) with greenery, decorations and lots of lights and presents. We truly had no room for even the smallest tree unless it would fit on the coffee table!
Our apartment complex had a Christmas dinner the week before Christmas which was a lot of fun. The apartment manager asked people to sing, tell a story, etc. as part of the entertainment. There weren't a whole lot of volunteers so I rallied the kids in the complex and we did a nativity play. The kids loved it. It was very interesting in that some of the people had never heard the story of Jesus' birth before! Our Chinese neighbors even asked to take Dayna's Kids' Bible home with them so they could read the story for themselves. Needless to say, our experience here has been eye opening. As Americans, we forget that there is a whole different world out there.
On Christmas Day we bucked the German trend and had Santa come visit (they don't do that either) so the girls were thrilled when they woke up to a mound of presents. Karissa was pretty sure that there wouldn't be much Christmas this year - she said she'd settle for an extra big Christmas next year! We managed to find some things that are disposable or small and they were delighted mostly with their "crafty" items. Later in the day we joined quite a few people (including our Icelandic friends) at the indoor ice rink. Christmas Day here is less of a holiday than Christmas Eve! We had fun and spent the weekend snuggling up inside since everything was closed from Thursday through Monday. NO after Christmas sales here!! We also enjoyed some special goodies shipped from home which was a big treat including some homemade cookies ready for decorating - the girls loved that of course. Thanks to all who remembered us vagabonds!
New Year's Eve is a completely different animal in Europe. They celebrate in a BIG way. We were invited to the home of a German couple (from what used to be East Germany) through our Icelandic friends. People do a lot of small parties at home and then at 12:00 everyone (I mean EVERYONE) shoots off fireworks at home for a solid half hour at least. It was absolutely crazy and we could see fireworks in every direction and there was smoke everywhere. The Germans couldn't believe that we don't do fireworks on New Year's. Nearly all European countries celebrate with fireworks. Our Icelandic friends said that the German display was very "small potatoes" compared to the Icelandic fireworks! We just sat there with our mouths open! We were amazed.
As you may have heard Europe is having one of the coldest winters in a decade (figures!!). We had several small snowfalls which kept the girls quite busy during their break. See the photo taken from our balcony. Our apartment is unusually warm so we haven't suffered much. People don't let the weather stop them here. The Germans have a saying, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes!" They pile the layers on and everyone regularly sports "hat head". So much for the blow dry and style!!
As the year ended we count ourselves so blessed. In spite of the beauty of this land, we feel so privileged to be called Americans and to have so many freedoms that we take for granted. We had dinner with a young family from Bulgaria on "Boxing Day" (the day after Christmas) who studied in the U.S. With much sincerity, they marveled at the freedoms we have in the U.S., we were humbled by what they had to say. They shared with us the days of communism in their country when the government would make people work on Christmas Day and then shut off the power at 6:00 pm so that people could not prepare or enjoy any kind of normal Christmas celebrations when they returned from the normal workday. We just can't imagine those kinds of things taking place in our day but they have and they do continue. May God bless and protect our country and may we all fight to uphold the freedoms that we do have. Amen!
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