Traditions

"A time-honored practice or set of such practices." I like traditions; in this fast-paced world, they provide constancy and a link to important events, people, and emotions from the past. Every family has its own traditions, and so do groups of friends, colleagues, and whole populations. It's Christmas time, which makes us remember Christmas traditions. I wanted to share a few of my Christmas traditions. These were established by the German and American members of my family, and continued by me, my sister and cousins.
The Christmas season in northern Europe starts will the first of four Sundays before Christmas Day, a period called "Advent". To mark the Sundays, most homes will light candles on a "Advent-Wreath", wound from pine branches and decorated with baubles and berries. Of course, each child must have an "Advent-Calendar"! Opening each little door and finding a chocolate or other surprise is a highlight of the day.
December 6th is St. Nicholas' Day. On this day, children wake up to find a"Rute" - a few tree branches tied together - at the end of their bed. If they've been 'good', the Rute has chocolates hanging from it; if they've been naughty, they just find the bare Rute, or a lump of coal.
All through December, towns have "Christkindl-Markets", and these are very much part of the Christmas tradition. Wrapped up against the cold, and fortified with some mulled wine, these markets are a great place to while away a few hours. The smells are amazing, from the spiced wine exuding smells of cinnamon and cloves, the gingerbread hearts, and of course, the hot chestnuts roasting in a large pan (they keep your fingers warm through your mittens). Not to be missed are the sausages on fresh bread rolls, and the roasted and caramelised nuts. Stand after stand tries to tempt you into buying Christmassy things, and let me tell you, they're quite successful! A typical item is one of the "Zwetschgen-Maenner" (prune men), little people made of prunes and dressed in a variety of costumes; they are local to the Frankfurt area.
In Germany, Christmas is celebrated mainly on 24th December, when the "Christkind" (Christ child) comes in the late afternoon or early evening, announced by the ringing of a bell. The Christmas tree is usually decorated in the afternoon of the 24th, while the children are distracted or baking cookies. Once the bell rang, all the family celebrated, with Christmas music playing, or singing, and the presents were opened. My sister and I always received a plate containing oranges, mandarines, dates, nuts, cookies, and chocolates. When we were little, there was also a doll's house and a little shop to play with. The shop was full of goodies, such as lollies and chocolate coins, which didn't last much past Christmas! Then Mum made dinner, usually a shrimp salad (Dad's favourite), a grilled pork roast with potato salad, and some home made cookies for afters. I still make the pork roast and potato salad on Christmas Eve. If my Grandmother was visiting, we went to midnight mass, well wrapped up because of the cold. In those days, mass was in Latin, and combined with the decorations, the late hour, and well known hymns, it was a special time. Often it snowed, and everybody was dressed in heavy woolen coats.
On Christmas Day, we kids played with our presents, and chatted to relatives on the phone, while Mum was busy making a turkey. This was the American Christmas tradition. Dad loved his turkey, and was happiest when Mum cooked the whole bird. It had all the trimmings, cranberry jelly, mash and gravy, peas and carrots, and little onions in white sauce. She never cooked stuffing, so that's a tradition I started. Other German families ate goose at Christmas, served with potato dumplings and red cabbage. In those days, turkey was not widely available in German shops, so duck or goose, or game was the meat of choice. In the afternoon, we often went for walks, to see how people decorated their home and trees. Before WW2, Christmas lights were unknown in Germany, trees were lit with real candles (resulting in quite a few fires!). Once the US forces were in Germany, they brought the Christmas lights along and so a new tradition was started.
My sister kept all my German grandmother's recipes for cookies and Stollen, a type of Christmas cake. She still uses the recipes to make cinnamon stars, bear paws, coconut macaroons, hazelnut and walnut cookies, butter cookies, and "Spitzbuben" ('rascals'), which are butter cookies baked with a layer of rose hip jam. The American contribution to our cookie collection were toll house cookies, still a favourite of mine. Other seasonal delicacies were "Domino-Steine" (little cookies made from layers of gingerbread, marzipan, and jam, then coated with chocolate. Gingerbread is very popular, and there are many varieties - all of which have to be sampled, of course!
When we were little, Dad got us a real Christmas tree, and it was just magical for us kids. The smell of fresh pine was wonderful. The tree was adorned with home-made decorations made by my sister and me in school, some glass baubles, and lots of tinsel. Can one still find old-fashioned tinsel? Now I have only one glass ornament left from our family tree, a little Santa in a yellow coat, and it always has pride of place on my tree.
Even though I don't have children, I love celebrating Christmas, decorating the house and tree, and finding things that remind me of my heritage. I still like to cook a turkey, complete with stuffing, even if it's just for the two of us (sometime a few 'orphans' come together to celebrate!). I'm not a baker, but might try my hand at baking a batch of butter cookies again this year. I still light candles on the Advent Sundays, no matter if it's 40C outside. I try and get together with as many friends as possible around Christmastime; it's more fun celebrating together. And occasionally, I just have to experience a real German Christmas - and fly off to the real Winter Wonderland! What's your Christmas tradition?
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

Pets, critters, beasties(1)

Whoever follows this will know by now that I'm a fan of all creatures great and small - occasionally I even like humans! So I figured this is a good way to remember some of the critters that have shared my life, and some that are still sharing.
When I was little, we travelled a lot. Dad was with the US Air Force, so we never put down roots anywhere for long, which is why we never had a pet as a child. My first encounter, as a toddler, was with 'Baby', my Grandma's springer spaniel. We got on like a house on fire, shared ice cream and cheerios (often from the same spoon, much to Mum's chagrin). Because of Baby, I was never scared of animals and would approach even the most ferocious looking dog for a pat, no doubt causing more heart attacks for my folks. When we moved to Germany, we lived in flats, and pets were not really a good idea in that environment. Mum & Dad were not pet people although they liked animals. Dad once had a dachshund called 'Oggie' but then he left for overseas, so Oggie got a new home.
When my sister was a toddler, we 'rescued' a sparrow that probably had been mauled by a cat, but it didn't last they day. My folks then decided to get a canary, 'Hansi', who lived with us for several years and sang his little heart out for us! Mum had gotten used to a bird, so when Hansi died, she got herself a little green Amazon parrot, 'Suesse' (Sweetie). Mum had a lively, slightly high pitched voice, which the parrot responded to well. It took no time at all for Suesse to imitate Mum, even her laugh! Whenever we laughed, Suesse laughed too! This bird was amazing. She insisted sitting at the table with us when we had dinner, with her own little dish and woe betide! if she didn't have the same things we were eating - she went and got it from the bowl herself! Having eaten, she graciously allowed us to carry her back to her cage. Suesse was only in her cage when we went out, other times the cage was open and she sat on top of it, surveying her kingdom. Suesse couldn't fly, her wings had been damaged. Mum trained her to sit on a walking stick which hung on the cage, so when Suesse wanted to explore, she dumped the walking stick on the floor, climbed down, and then pulled it along behind herself. In the mornings, she followed Mum around the house, with the walking stick, knowing her routine by heart, and watched her make the bed and clean the bathroom. And the carry-on if Mum was late, you wouldn't believe it! In the evening, Suesse sat on Mum's knee, munching on a piece of apple, watching TV with her. Mum had her for 18 years and we all missed Suesse when she died. In the meantime, I had moved into my own flat and was thinking of getting a cat....(to be continued).

picture from /www.free-pet-wallpapers.com

Toys

DH and I grew up in very different places. I was pretty much a city kid growing up in the US and Germany, taking toys and TV for granted, while Wayne was a country kid in Australia, without TV for much of his childhood and toys a rarity. "What did you do when you wanted to play?" I asked him, and he fondly recalled his cowboys and indians battles with his 3 brothers, pouring kerosene into puddles and lighting them (!), and playing with marbles. We did have marbles in common!
The first toy I remember having is this gorgeous Steiff teddy, which is still one of my treasures. I was about three years old that Christmas, and the box under the Xmas tree was nearly as tall as I was. My parents said I should open the box, and when I did, it tipped over and unleashed an almighty GRRROOOWWWL! Terrified, I ran into the bedroom and hid behind the bed! It took a lot of cajoling to get me back into the lounge room with that fearsome box! Once Mum & Dad opened it, the most adorable teddy appeared, and after Dad tipped him over a few times to show that the growl was harmless, we became fast friends. Most of my toys were of the animal variety. The Steiff company was very well represented, and I had an amazing wooden circus wagon on wheels, a great prop for playing circus with all my animals. One of my favourites was a little puppy dog, which accompanied me everywhere. After losing him on a flight between the US and Germany, I was inconsolable, and the first thing Mum had to do after landing was find exactly the same one - which she did! My godson inherited the puppy, and now his little girl plays with it. I was never that fond of dolls, except for one I remember for her long hair, which I turned into elaborate hairdos using Mum's rollers and bobby pins. When my sister came along, we played with Lego a lot. We also had a supermarket and a dolls house, but they only came out on Christmas. We spent hours 'shopping' for miniature groceries with chocolate coins, and stacking shelves, and eating the produce.... Later toys were novelties, such as green 'slime' - icky! Or those troll dolls with nothing but hair and a squashed nose - remember those? And Smurfs! I think we had every Smurf under the sun! What were your favourite toys?

The old fashioned scrap quilt

"I have found nothing so desirable for summer covers as the old-fashioned scrap quilt of which our mothers were so proud. Every girl should piece one at least to carry away to her husband's home. And if her lot happens to be cast among strangers, the quilt when she unfolds it will seem like the face of a familiar friend, bringing up a host of memories .... too sacred to intrude upon."
Annie Curd, Good Housekeeping, 1888 (from Voices of the Past, Kaye England)

Well my lot has cast me among strangers, but without a quilt! The closest thing to a 'comfort' quilt I brought to Australia those many years ago was my mum's last dressing gown - and I still have it and use it! No quilts in my heritage I'm afraid - I failed needlework in school (along with maths & physics), mum could just about sew on a button, and I ran screaming from a dress-making class after the first session! And my grandfather a tailor! Still, genes will out - after standing gobsmacked in front of a quilted masterpiece at my first art & craft show, I just had to try it. And never looked back....My name is Donna and I've been addicted to quilting since 1999....