In Canada, my Christmas is generally very uneventful and predictable. On December 25th you wake up share presents with family and have a turkey dinner. The holidays are always nice because you make the time to see Family you don’t see very often and try to get them gifts you hope they will like or need. That is not to say that in Germany Christmas is that much different, it is however nice to enjoy holiday customs that are  a little different from my own.

On the morning of December 24th, My cousin Melissa requested my help to make desert for dinner that evening. We were to make “Mascarpone- Apfelcreme” which roughly translates to Apple cream Mascarpone. The layered desert required chopped apples, apple sauce, Mascarpone cream, and crunchy chocolates.

After making the desert we decorated the Christmas

Tree. My cousin said that they usually decorate the tree right after they finish School for the winter holidays but since school got out so late (on the 21st of December!) the morning of the 24th was our soonestopportunity to decorate.  In Germany family trees are generally decorated in a single colour, the color of my cousin’s tree is purple.  It was really exciting to decorate the tree with the elaborate purple decorations, especially since it was the first tree Gavin had ever decorated.

After we finished decorating my cousin Raven surprised is with an Itinerary for the evening, “Weihnachtskonzert am 24.12.12” which roughly translates to Christmas Eve concert December 24 2012.  Raven and Melissa had prepared christmas music to perform on his trumpet and her flute for the family and Raven  thought it was pertinent to write up an itinerary. and them make make amendments to the Itinerary.

At four thirty the entire family went to Flachslanden and went to the local church for the Christmas sermon. The entire sermon was in German so for Gavin and I there was a lot of standing up sitting down, standing up and holding our heads down while the pastor read from the German bible. The sermon lasted an hour at which the entire family was starving and excited to go home for the feast that was waiting for us.

Back at home we ate so much we couldn’t even move. My Aunt Karin made fresh baked bread,  Turkey Gorgonzola,  Green salad, and the desert that Melissa and I made. While everyone was digesting their food Raven, my youngest cousin, was jumping up and down trying to get everyone to open their presents! After everyone opened their presents we listened to Raven play Silent night and then went to bed so full and excited about all of the presents we received!

The next morning was December 25th, Christmas day. It was strange  waking up and not opening presents because we had done it all the day before. Instead we woke up to the dinning table set up again because My Aunt Karin’s parents and brother were coming to celebrate christmas day with us. In Germany the large family meal is usually lunch so we had a huge lunch.

My Aunt made goose and duck (the goose did not sit well with me and Gavin), Knödel, Spätzel, and salad.  Gavin and I were excited to be eating something we had never had before.  After a long day of visiting with family and tons of food, Gavin and I were happy we got to experience Christmas in Germany together.