All I want for Christmas is ...

Family and Friends!

We have spent the last few weeks getting everything ready for the  Christmas holiday. Not only were we expecting a visit from Jef, the first exchange student we ever hosted, but we also received an invitation to visit friends in Lage, a town about two hours away by train. 

Jef lived with us five years ago for about seven months. He was a wonderful big brother then and still is! He was a great sport for letting us whisk him off on another train ride so soon after arriving from Berlin. The morning after his own arrival, we took off to Lage. We are incredibly lucky that friends from Norfolk happened to be in Germany at the same time as we are. Christina and Ingo are visiting his parents and were gracious enough to ask if we could come up for a few days to experience a real German Christmas.

I must add that Ingo and Christina are both historians and were able to tell us a wealth of information about the area.

Our first night we went to the little Christmas market in the town. After the larger markets in Münster, it was fun to visit a smaller one. There was definitely a more small town feel - not so many tourists and a little more camaraderie. Since the crowd was lighter, you could actually have conversations.

The next morning we visited the Weekend Market. Most cities in Germany have a market that is open on the weekends and sometimes during the middle of the week. Merchants selling just about any kind of fresh food you can think of as well as other items like plants, clothes and household goods come together in a specified location to sale their goods. Often these Markets are in the square in front of a church.  Ingo's mother needed to pick up a few items at the market, so we all tagged along.

While she was making her purchases we popped into the church (original foundation started around year 800). Ingo mentioned that the walls originally would have been covered in Frescos, but they were painted white later. Church was supposed to be religiously centered, focused on God  rather than elaborate decorations. Some churches went as far as removing the organs as even music was thought to be too elaborate. You can barely see that the top part of this Organ, the original part, was built in 1702. The bottom part was build in 1947.

As we walked home from the market, we passed this beautifully carved door. Could you imagine having this for your own?

We went on a foot tour of Lage after lunch with Ingo and Christina as our guides. Our destination was at the end of a hike that took us past an industrial area, a shopping area, a few neighborhoods and a wooded area where we passed over several foot bridges to the edge of town. There we saw a couple of  large boulders left over from the last ice age.

One part of our walk took us past this sugar manufacturing plant. Here, sugar is produced from sugar beets rather than sugar cane. It tastes just as good, but cooks a little differently. Apparently, it has been a very good year for sugar beets. They were still unloading trucks filled with sugar beets for processing even though they usually stop a two months or so earlier.

The Heidbrink  family were such gracious hosts. Knowing we were looking forward to traditional German food, they amply provided. We were treated to meats, cheeses, desserts, breads, bread toppings and decorations at every meal.

Christmas Eve meant it was time to go home. We were just a little concerned about our train ride as the news had mentioned that a group of Neo Nazis were staging a protest in Bielefeld, a neighboring town. Many students and other more tolerant people planned to stage a counter protest. Our friends were a little concerned that there could be a commotion on the train between the two groups. We certainly saw a number of people making their way to the protest, but we had a peaceful ride. The news mentioned that there were fewer than 70 Neo Nazis, while there were about 6,500 counter protesters.

Once we were home, it was time to start our own Christmas Eve meal. I planned on making Sweinehaxe, a traditional German recipe. It turned out ok, but not nearly as good as the one we had while staying with friends in Bavaria. I served it on a bed of Spätzle.

Having Pumpkin pie definitely made up for any shortcomings in the rest of the meal. I brought 2 cans of pumpkin puree with me, which is apparently called "smuggling" when you bring it in from another country.

I also made another Green Bean Casserole because I love it! If you have never made it from scratch, you are really missing out, plus it is totally easy to make yourself. I followed Alton Brown's recipe, but I substituted condensed milk for the half and half and vegetable  broth for the chicken broth.

Santa seemed to find us all the way in Germany and brought the boys a few of their favorite things. they each received two boxes of American cereal and a mix of American candy and German candy.

Then it was present time!

Christmas day also meant another Haines family tradition comes into play - Ice cream for breakfast!

Preston was thrilled to get his own model train - an ICE.

Later that day it was time to take Jef to the Train Station so he could begin the next leg of his trip. He is off to Berlin and then Paris before returning to Brasil.

On Second Weihnnachts Tag (the day after the 25th) we were again lucky enough to have a short visit with the Kellersmann family. They brought several presents and treats, and left Paulina with us for a bit so we could have a lovely chat.

We had about an hour and a half till Pauina's father returned for her. Of course they brought more gifts. One was a floor lamp to help lighten our rather dark apartment. The other was this plate of cakes Ute made. Paulina told us that her mother made three cakes for Christmas: a Walnut cake, an Apple pie (not the same but similar to the American version) and a layered cake. The layer cake was made especially for Ute's father and we are very grateful they shared it with us. We are looking forward to spending New Year Holiday with them in Ronnenberg.

All I wanted for Christmas was to be with people I love and for those people as well as all our other friends and family to know that I love them. We are so grateful for the kind and gracious friends we have here in Germany that have really helped us to feel at home here.