Christmas in Germany is celebrated on Christmas Eve, with Christmas Dinner and gift-opening taking place in the evening. This means that a) I already opened my presents and got an excellent dinner of cheese fondue and b) It is six in the evening on Christmas Day and I have nothing to do.
My host family chose to celebrate Christmas quite traditionally. This means lots of staying inside and enjoying the holiday with family. Because of this, I got to meet my host sister for the first time, as she came by train from Berlin to visit. Additionally, my host brother is staying with us for a few days as well, meaning that we have quite a full house. So far it's been a laid-back, cozy sort of Christmas. If you know a lot about my parents and I, you might know already that we don't really 'do' traditional Christmases. I actually can't think of one that was spent in my own home. Last year we were in Austin, Texas, staying at a hotel and exploring the city. We spent Christmas morning in a soup kitchen, helping to organize supplies in the back room. The year before, we spent Christmas on a boat in Mexico, which made for by far the warmest Christmas I've ever had. Taking this into account, it's a nice change to sit at home and relax on Christmas (even though by 'home' I mean my current residence in Germany.)
As for a white Christmas, we were briefly tempted by one before it was cruelly yanked away by Mother Nature. We had around four days of snowfall in Roetgen (which is higher elevation than Aachen and the surrounding areas, meaning that I got snow when none of my friends did.) After these beautiful, fleeting days of snow it began to melt off in a slow process that left not a speck of white on the ground for Christmas Eve. Our poor snowman crumpled into a small tuft of slush with a carrot on top. As a Californian I enjoyed my first real snow experience, but I won't miss falling down over and over again while stepping on ice on my way to the bus stop.
To wrap up this mishmash of a blog post, I'll say that I finally was released from school on Thursday afternoon (the day before Christmas Eve Eve) and I will get a full two weeks of vacation, which I am very happy for.
I promise to blog more in the future! I have ideas to write about, I just need to actually put them on (virtual) paper. The fact that my German immersion is ruining my English abilities does not help at all, but I promise to struggle past it and publish a few more posts soon.
My backyard on the first day of snow.
Our Snowman with his proud parents
