Christmas in the USA
Christmas is celebrated around the world, but as a person who lived in the USA for my whole life, this Christmas season has revealed many surprises. Here’s a brief overview of a US Christmas.
As a general rule, most people abstain from doing anything Christmasy until after Thanksgiving. Of course, commercialism has molded Christmas season into a gigantic money pot and every year, by Halloween, every store is decorated with the legendary colors of red, green, and white.
The day after Thanksgiving is a day of excitement, millions of homes around the country are decorated with bright lights and giant blow-up snowmen. My mom insists that we take a night walk every year-for exercise- but it gives us a chance to gawk at each house and pick a favorite.
This whole month is filled with Christmas music (my personal favorites include “O Holy Night” or “Let it Snow”), snow (I am devastated with the amount of snow here), and amazing cookies. My mom loves to bake pumpkin bread every year, which is made from our homemade pumpkin puree (the pumpkins are grown in our garden). Usually, people purchase this, premade, in stores, and I cannot find this anywhere in GermanyL. Other treats include Eggnog- the best drink on the planet. This is also unavailable in Germany (as far as I know), much to my dismay.
One thing that I find amazing about Germany is the Christmas Markets! These don’t exist in the US… well, I think there’s a little corner on the 16th Street Mall in Denver that has one, but I have never stepped into there because it looked a little shady. Deutschland definitely has the upper hand on those.
One specialty for Germany is also Nikolas Day. I’m always open to candy, so the stash that I got this year was much appreciated. And the advent calendar!!!! A present every day! This means more chocolate for my ever hungry belly and the occasional lotion or ornament.
Decorating the Christmas tree is also a little bit different. Yes, there are fake trees. I’m sure there are here too. My family chooses to go into the forest and chop their own tree down- I have quite a story which I will tell if one asks, but it’s much too long to put here. Most families, however, go to a store and pick out an already cut tree.
The most important part about Christmas, is Christmas. December 25th can’t come too quickly. Except this year… it’s December 24th! December 24th is Christmas Eve in the US, which usually means a big dinner with family, but no presents. A good children’s book, called The Night Before Christmas, tells the story of how every year Santa Claus comes from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled by reindeer with a giant bag of presents and stops on the roof of every home around the world, climbs down the chimney, and leaves presents under the Christmas Tree. Our Santa is big, with a fat belly, a long, white beard, and a red suit. Stories say that in the night of Christmas eve, one can hear the bells of Santa’s sleigh as he passes by and his symbolic, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” I highly recommend watching the following movies: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and The Polar Express. I’m sure if they haven’t been translated into German, there will be German captions. But these movies are so amazing, my life wouldn’t be complete without them.
On the morning of December 25th, every girl and boy wakes up, stretches, realizes it’s Christmas, and runs downstairs to find presents under the tree! Bad children get coal. Since one can’t open presents without parents, the parents are usually woken up by their children jumping on the bed. The morning is spent unwrapping presents, and then of course having breakfast. Monkey bread is a tradition in some families. I highly recommend it. My family usually spends the rest of the day out in the snow, sledding, building snowmen, having snowball fights, and drinking tons of hot chocolate.
Now, it’s only a couple of days until New Years, and the celebrations reign again.
I still have a lot to learn about German Christmas, and I’m not sure how different the two are yet, but I am so excited to find out.
Alessandra