Christmas isn’t everywhere: Part 16 of the FR Advent stories.
There was no Christmas. At least there was nothing special about Christmas, back then, far away from Germany. Back then, far away, the special thing was the evening with gifts, the New Year celebrations. But Christmas? There wasn’t.
My first Christmas in Germany was in 1990 and it was too much for me. Too many incomprehensible songs, too colorful, too many toys in the shops. Too large chicken thighs on the plates.
Traditions, or what I recognize today as tradition, I saw with friends who were born and raised in Germany. In a family, dice were rolled to determine who was allowed to open a present and when. In another family, fun gifts were cheated under the right gifts. Another friend talked about piano music and singing together. But learning Christmas carols in a new language in a new country at the age of 15 or 16? There were bigger problems back then.
Today I ask myself: Was there really no Christmas tradition in the family? I pick up the phone.
“Dad, when you were little, did you celebrate Christmas?”
“Yes. We still had German neighbors, the Franz family from the farm across the street. They came to us or we went to them, then we celebrated together, ate together on the 24th, and gifts were given on the morning of the 25th. “
“Did you sing together?”
christmas rituals
For some it is the goose on Christmas Eve, for others it has to be “Three Nuts for Cinderella” in the afternoon program. We all have certain stories, films or rituals that belong to Christmas – and without which our Advent season would only be half as festive. This year you will not only find the popular personal stories in the FR advent calendar, but also raffles every now and then. Good luck and in any case: Happy Holidays! FR
“No, but mother could still speak German poems, we learned them too.”
“Can you do another one?”
“No, that was too long ago. I can not remember anymore.”
“Why didn’t you pass it on to us?”
Yes why not? Father couldn’t find a correct answer. Later, when he and my mother started their own family, Christmas hardly played a role, he says. Although, it’s not entirely true: “We set up the Christmas tree earlier and earlier, not just on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s. We already had it standing over Christmas. That wasn’t common over there. ”And nothing more. Christmas days were normal working days, we children went to school or kindergarten.
In the meantime I wonder how a tradition can come into being. Because my child, the next generation, was born in Germany, is growing up here and is looking forward to Christmas – and the gifts. In the past few years – when the offspring no longer believed in Santa Claus, but still held on to the childlike anticipation of the holidays – my child decorated the Christmas tree all by himself. It didn’t want any help, hung up the balls by itself, decorated the branches with glittering snakes and placed toy figures underneath. The tree looked small because of the wide window front. And my child was lying underneath, playing with figures and cars. Every now and then it would sweep away the broken pieces of a Christmas ball.
Every evening, and not just during the festive season, my child wants to have a story read or told, even if he or she has long since read it himself. And now, while writing, an idea comes up: Perhaps the Christmas tree, which has always been put up despite the confusion in the family’s history, is something of a tradition after all. Perhaps the traditional bedtime story can be adapted on Christmas Eve. Maybe in the future we can read the Christmas story together on Christmas Eve. Or poems.
Perhaps, I am currently thinking, it is never too late to start a tradition.
