THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190113
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CARRIE ANSELL, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
I'VE BEEN WAITING to write this Christmas article since the beginning of November. That's when the first Christmas things appeared in the stores here in Germany.
In the beginning of November, the Christmas candy came out, and then all the wrapping paper and Christmas ornaments followed. In mid-November, Christmas decorations appeared on street lamps and in people's windows. Christmas always starts early in America, but not that early. Or does it?
Christmas in Germany is something so special and full of tradition that it merits two whole months of the year. As far as I can tell, the official start of Christmas here in Germany is Dec. 6. That's Saint Nicholas Day. On the evening of the Dec. 5, all children put a cleaned shoe (if it's not cleaned, Saint Nicholas won't leave anything) outside their bedroom doors. In the night, Saint Nicholas comes and fills the shoes with candy. It's a wonderful tradition but definitely part of the conspiracy to send me back to the United States with an extra 20 pounds.
After Saint Nicholas Day, I don't get a break either, food-wise, because then the baking really gets started. In November we had already baked Stollen, a cakelike dessert that is traditional at Christmas. We had to bake it ahead of time because it must sit in a cool place for a month to reach its full state of tastiness.
In addition to Stollen, we baked every type of Plaetzchen (Christmas cookies) imaginable. Every day I would look forward to coming home from school and helping out in the kitchen. Clara, my host sister, and I were in charge of decorating and taste testing (guess which is more important).
Once the baking was done, Christmas could really get started. A German Christmas is really a perfectly planned torture.
The main day of Christmas here, or at least the day when you get presents, is the 24th. My host father always says that the one advantage I have of coming to Germany is that I get to open my presents one day earlier.
On the 23rd, after the children are in bed, the Christmas tree is brought into the living room and decorated. German tradition calls for real candles, but some German families use lights. Then the presents are laid out; each person gets his own pile. That's quite different from home, but it definitely cuts down on all the present shaking that my brother and I did as we were growing up.
Unlike America, where the presents are the first focus on Christmas morning, presents aren't opened until the evening, when it's dark. Basically that means that kids have to waste a day.
Children are no longer allowed in the living room once the tree is decorated, but once it's dark enough, the candles are lit and the children are signaled by a bell to enter. At least that's how it goes in theory. We were simply ushered in by my host father because Paul, my not-quite-2-year-old host brother, had broken the bell. Oh well, not everything can go as planned.
Well, that's Christmas here in Germany. How was mine you may ask? Terrific. My family and my best friend sent me presents from Virginia Beach, and my mom even sent me my stocking - stuffed.
The best present of all was the simplest. Snow. For the first time in my life, I had a white Christmas. What could be more perfect than that? ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Carrie Ansell graduated from First Colonial High School one year
early so that she could spend a year in Germany. She files
occasional dispatches about her life there.
by CNB