I didn’t have much of any sort of Thanksgiving this year but I hope to make up for it with Christmas and New Year’s. My only regret is not spending it with family and friends like I did last year even though I came back at least 10lbs heavier. Just breathing the American air tends to make one fat especially someone like me who is prone to corpulence. Fat, fat, the water rat, Fifty bullets in my hat. Oh well, when you eat breakfast and then eat 2 meals out everyday, what can you expect? Instead of the gluttonous American Christmas, this year it will be a gluttonous Kraut Christmas.
This year I will be in Munich fighting the German crowds. Yes, they get crazy too. There not as reserved as some people think. You can be forgiven thinking that. In Munich, particularly, they are aggressive. They also seem to be ravenous for McDonald’s. Sadly, it’s always jam-packed. Frankly, I always credited them with better taste. Why eat reconstituted beef and shriveled up potato-like things when you can have some awesome local cuisine? Of course there is the national dish of Wiener Schnitzel served with pomme frittes(french fries) that no one can resist. There is also Germany’s answer to pasta which is Spaetzle served with meat sauce or cheese. Yum. Their diet is mostly meat and potatoes though, nice and hearty. There is every type of sausage you can imagine – puts American sausage to shame. I hate American sausage. If you come over here, you will eat very well. You can have a big pint of beer and a side of pretzels to go with you meal but I don’t like either so I stick to carbonated water and a side of nothing. I have come love carbonated water which is so popular in Europe. I can’t go back to plain old water now. I need the bubbly sort. Everything is better with bubbles. Okay, back to Christmas.
Germany is an magical place to spend Christmas with their Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt but, luckily, there is one here in Munich too. This opens on the first advent, so December 1st. They have a bunch of booths set up with ornaments, food, and hot drinks. What I love is walking around, looking at the Christmas displays in the department store windows and watching people ice skating. The national cookie seems to be gingerbread(Lebkuchen) which is good if you like gingerbread which I don’t. Maybe I’m in the wrong place but I don’t think so. Then there are my personal favorites glühwein(mulled wine) , or glowing wine and stollen. Stollen is a loaf of sweet bread with fruit and marzipan. Mandarins are eaten at around this time as well. It’s perfectly lovely.
Being American, there is one thing I don’t understand. The Germans decorate their trees on Christmas Eve as a surprise to the children. We Americans like to be all decked out the day after Thanksgiving, nothing left uncovered in lights or tinsel. Not in keeping with tradition, my box of decorations is still in the attic. I will try to get it down this week. The talking Homer Santa is beckoning to me. Actually he didn’t want to be put in the box but it had to be. Leaving Santa up all year is not a good look and the essence ot tacky. It goes along the same lines as people who leave up their lights year round. I admit, there is a Christmas angel who escaped the box in January. I was just too lazy to get everything back out. She’s getting put up this year. I’m sorta tired of looking at her.
Though I don’t live in the US anymore, I still go by the traditions I grew up on. I refuse to change just because I moved. I do, however, observe some of their traditions along with mine, like a melting pot, giving it a prefect blend of traditions to pass on to my offspring.
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