CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITIONS

Christmas Eve is a night of traditions at the Schulze home. Every year the evening begins with a meal of fresh Schlesien Wurst. Even the preparing of the sausage is tradition, as it is done differently in different families. In Benny's family the sausage is first boiled and then fried in butter and served with Sauerkraut with pinapple chunks, boiled potatoes, gravy and most recently - Finnish sweet mustard. For desert we have a huge bowl of fresh fruit with fresh whipping cream. Besides that, the table is lavishly decorated with Christmas goodies and cookies that Benny's mom has spent the last month painstakingly preparing for this night. After dinner the program begins. We were "only" 12 persons this year - a relatively small group.

We act out the Christmas Story with costumes and all. This year we had the angel, the three wise men, Maria, Joseph and a baby lamb (not pictured - the pillow laid in swaddling clothes)...



Then many share something on an instrument they are learning or share a poem they have memorized...



Then we sing lots of Christmas carols, ending of course with Silent Night. This song is not typically sung until Christmas Eve.


In the end we open our gifts and enjoy what is left of the evening together, talking, eating, reading, playing games, eating some more or whatever we feel like doing. I coerced my children into posing for a picture (or more) in front of the tree.



I was asked on the post about Nikolaus how we celbrate Christmas [with conflicting traditions], actually though, my mom's family always had the tradition to go to Granny's house Christmas Eve and then the rest of the presents and stockings and Santa gifts were opened Christmas morning at home. This suits us perfectly, so that is how we do it too. We are then also keeping the traditions started in my mom's family and I love this!

QUINN'S CULTURAL QUIPS #3 - Burgdorfer Spargelstrasse

Have you ever heard of the Romantic Road, or the Fairytale Road or even the Wine Road? Well, the city we live in is on the Asparagus Road. It has taken me many years of living here to fully appreciate the ramifications of living on this site-seeing road. When we first moved here it also took me quite some time to figure out what the actual symbolism was behind such pictures and statues that are found all over the city.



Today, as I was driving in my car listening to the radio, there was an announcement that made me remember living in Coos Bay and having my best friend named as the County Dairy Princess. I never knew such a thing existed. Such was my reaction today when they asked for eligible women between the ages of 18 and 25 to apply to become the Burgdorfer Asparagus Representative (for lack of a better translation) it used to be called the Asparagus King or Queen, but they have changed that this year. Well what do you know! Add another thing to living along this great road that I was not aware of.


Representatives from 2008

CAUGHT YA!!

After we decorated our Christmas tree this year, I often found Tyler rearranging the beads. The bottom of my tree is actually always plastic ornaments, so there are no worries about breakage. Tyler thoroughly enjoyed taking all the beads and hanging them on one branch - again and again and again. For awhile I tried to spread them out again, at some point I just gave up though. When I caught him in this picture, he didn't even have the nerve to look guilty!

FRIENDS

This post pays tribute to our friends Sam and Liz, whom we miss a whole lot. We hope they are doing well in America though. True FRIENDS fans forever! Till next summer...

A GERMAN THANKSGIVING / FIRST ADVENT

It has become a tradition now that we celebrate Thanksgiving in the Schulze family. In fact, it has taken on quite a large proportion. Most of the family living further away all travel in for the celebration. We have some greater obstacles to overcome here in preparing a turkey feast akin to that of one in America. First of all, there is no Thanksgiving holiday, thus no time off of work or four day weekend. We have conveniently moved Thanksgiving to Friday or Saturday depending on travel arrangements from those coming home. Problem number two would probably be the bird. We don't buy such a big one because the ovens are not big enough to fit it anyway. Please notice we have roasted two turkeys instead. Other than that we put on a pretty traditional feast. The menu includes cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole, green bean bake, stuffing and various pies for dessert. We TRY to keep it basic and simple.

Here we are enjoying the spread. Note that Tobi and Coni and kids missed the beginning.

FIRST ADVENT:

Before the guests arrived, we took our 2008 Schulze family portrait:

The third problem is not really a problem but more of a dilemma, but for those traveling here provides a double header. Thanksgiving most often falls the same weekend as the first Advent (or 4th Sunday before Christmas). The first Advent is the start of the Christmas season here in Germany. It is also marked by tradition. The Schulze family spends it traditionally with Tante Bärbel and Onkel Gerd. (The dilemma being two fun filled days of overeating!) Tante Bärbel traditionally makes meat rouladen, a typical German fare. Due to health reasons, we skipped the dinner this year and they came to Schulze Sr. house for pies and cake. Onkel Hagen and Tante Angela were there again too. It is fun to have the family all together.

As part of the evening we sing Christmas carols and then play some games.

Two highlights of the weekend were the announcements of new additions to the family. Congratulations to Julia (Benny's sister)and Levin who are expecting their first child in May.

Congratulations also to Steffen (Benny's brother) and Mariella who are engaged to be married in March.

BENJAMIN AND TYLER'S BIRTHDAYS

I am now of course playing catch-up. There were quite a few things that happened in the last 2 months, that I haven't blogged about yet. We've had two birthdays... Here a just a few pictures.

Benjamin's birthday party we celebrated probably for the last time with Liz together. Her birthday is the day before Benjamin's and for years they've celebrated together. (Often with Annelie too - she has the same day as Liz) This year though, Sam and Liz moved back to the states just a couple of weeks later.

We just hung out with our friends and played pool and ate yummy food. It was great to have Becky and Boris back amongst us after living for years in Berlin. As you can see, Benny enjoyed himself immensely.


A couple of close-ups of friends: Lars and Mimi

Susan and Lasse

Jen, me, Liz


Tyler's 2nd Birthday we celebrated with family. He was soo excited. He almost burned his lips trying to blow out the candle.

Tyler got a Thomas the Train take-a-long set. He used to play with his buddy Isaac with his and I knew he loved them. Thomas makes noise and it is his favorite toy right now to take to bed with him.

TARZAN - THE MUSICAL

So, finally the pictures from our trip to Tarzan. Of course the pictures aren't really stellar. You are not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the theater, but I had to take my camera anyway and do my best. I wanted something to document the event. It was an absolute hit for the kids and something I am sure they will not forget. This picture was taken in the lobby by the poster advertisement for the show.

This is an actual picture of Kerchak (Tarzan's ape father) from the musical.

We pressed our luck and made the kids stand on the side of the auditorium during the break to take their picture. The whole background was done in jungle green. They actually tolerated us taking a few pictures and then very nicely informed us we weren't allowed to have a camera in there.
I think the hardest thing for the kids is knowing that they can't just go back and watch it again. They still listen almost daily to the music. They have all memorized ALL the songs. Jeffrey will often not walk somewhere, but get down on all fours and swing like a monkey. All of them hang from Niklas' bunkbed to practice swinging like the monkeys from Tarzan. Niklas and Jeffrey are both dreaming of getting to play the lead as the child Tarzan someday. (They believe if they practice enough there is a chance.) It has become somewhat of a small obsession. It was really an amazing musical and it was a night of fantasy and dreams come true. Thanks Phil Collins for the great music and Disney for the time old tale of Tarzan.