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| Our "Tannenbaum" |
I think it’s time for me to fill you guys
in on Christmas, New Years, and January. You have all been very patient, thank
you J
An Austrian Christmas is not to be missed.
Many friends of mine asked me, “Why don’t you go visit your family and friends
for the holidays! That’s so unfair to you!” I reply, “and go back to see all
those ugly, cheep wall-mart decorations limply hanging on trees, cars and
houses? I don’t think so!” (To be fair, I did miss home- a lot. But thankfully
we were all so busy I had no chance to get lethargically melodramatic) (that
don’t fly with me)
We had a HUGE tree. Absolutely gigantic. My
family didn’t think so because it’s usually bigger but compared to my family’s
Charlie Brown style tree, it was a giant. We used only white, gold and red
decorations-sometimes I tried to sneak a blue ornament under a thick, bushy
branch, but I was always found out and got a scolding. “Nein, nein, nein, Cleo.
Das ist blau. Das passt nicht!”
Sooner or later my host sister, Veronika
went to take a nap (it was far too stressful to moderate the tree-decorating
process) when suddenly a golden fairy out of nowhere came and completely took
over. Golden tinsel! Golden bows! Golden everything! I thought it was
absolutely magnificent. But then from above came a scream, “WAS HAST IHR
GEMACHT?????” uh oh……. Veronika comes back down stairs and says, “I leave for a
10 minute nap when the tree looked great. I come back and a gold pandemic has
taken over!”
Oops! I blamed Martin, one of my host sibz.
It was hilarious.
Christmas spirits start developing on the 1st
day of the Advent. Suddenly you’re walking through Vienna and BAM you bump into
a punch and roasted chestnuts stand. On every street corner up sprung Christmas
markets and over every street were beautiful Christmas lights hanging overhead.
It’s called “walking in a winter wonderland” minus the snow. Which we did get, eventually, and a lot of
it, too! You have to watch out for Krampus, he’s coming with chains and sticks
and will beat you! Really! I got a good wack on my bum. Owwa!
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| Table's all decked out |
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Christmas is celebrated on the 24th,
and we cook and clean and sing around the tree and get all dressed up fancy and
finish up packing our last present and then we eat a little snack then a little
bell rings then we all rush (or not rush) to the tree because the Chriskind has come! Then we sing to the glittering, golden tree and… I bet you
can guess the rest of the story.
“Jingle bells” was always part of the
program. They loved it. I just wish I knew the second verse…
Then we had a couple of days to digest the
feast before we packed up our bags and drove off to…. Switzerland!
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