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"Because we were special" - a german american christmas story

December 21, 2012

Ann's mum is from Germany so they celebrated some of the German Christmas traditions at their house. The excitement started in anticipation of St Nick to come on December 6.

https://p.dw.com/p/177LT
Image: DW/H. Jüngst

Where is St Nick?
"We always were wondering if we were good throughout the year so that he'd bring us goodies or were we bad and he'd bring us coal and switches. Our house had a vestibule inside the front door with another inner door before you entered the hallway. My brothers and I would be eating dinner with my parents when there would be a knock on the inner door. We'd run to open it to find bags with our names sitting on the step in the vestibule. But where was St Nick? He disappeared before we could get a glimpse of him. However, one year his cape got caught in the door and we tried pulling it so we could see him but somehow he managed to get away before we got to see his face. We must have been good because every year our bags were filled with oranges, apples and nuts. What a treat it was!

Waiting for Santa Claus
Then our excitement turned to the anticipation of Christmas and Santa Claus. Christmas was very special at our house when we were little because Santa literally transformed our house into Christmas overnight. What made it so very special was that not only did Santa bring us our presents. He decorated the inside of our house and brought us a real live Christmas tree and decorated it. My parents had it easy because Santa did all the work.

Santa would come to our house Christmas Eve while we were sleeping. My brothers and I would wake up early Christmas morning and scurry down the stairs while my parents were still sleeping. The first sign we knew Santa was there was the ivy and holly wrapped around the stair railing. Paper bells hung from the lamp in the hallway and the inside of the front door was decorated with a huge red ribbon. Smelling the fresh pine scent of the Christmas tree, we knew Santa didn't forget coming to our house. Christmas decorations hung from the chandelier over the dinner table and decorations were everywhere and on all the tables. It was so amazing.

The mistletoe hung from the partition that separated the dining room and living room. In the corner of the living room was the large Christmas tree that stood from floor to ceiling, decorated with ornaments, garland and electric candles which my grandparents in Germany sent to us. Presents wrapped with colorful Christmas paper were piled around the tree and beneath the tree was the beautiful nativity scene that my grandparents (my father's parents) brought back from their trip to Germany in 1923.

We would look in the fireplace to see if any ornaments were broken as Santa Claus would always have the tree decorated as he brought it down the chimney. Sure enough, a Christmas ball was always broken in the fireplace. The cookies left out for Santa were eaten and there were always a few crumbs and a hand-written note from Santa thanking us.

After taking in the excitement, we'd run back upstairs and wake up my parents and let them know Santa had come. We weren't allowed to open any presents until my grandparents joined us for Christmas breakfast. You can just imagine the anxiety of us children not being able to open a present until we've had breakfast.

The Three Wise Men
Our Christmas tree and decorations stayed up until January 6 (Epiphany holiday). Santa didn't come back to take down the tree or put the decorations away so we did that ourselves. It never crossed my mind that Santa would not know where we stored the ornaments and decorations for his return next year. Santa knows everything – not only if we were bad or good but where our decorations were stored.

A very special family
Friends in school would tell me they would go out with their families and get their tree and decorate it and put up all the decorations in the house. Santa would bring them their presents. I had asked my parents why Santa Claus brought us our tree and did all the decorations yet he only brought presents to my friends' homes. They said it was because we were special. It was my parents and grandparents who made our Christmas special when we were growing up. I’ll never forget waking up Christmas morning, coming down the stairs and seeing the Christmas tree, the decorations and the presents. It really was the magic and wonderment of Christmas when we were little."

Ann Regar Weihnachtsbräuche für Weltgeschichten - Krippe
Image: privat
Ann Regar Weihnachtsbräuche für Weltgeschichten - Weihnachtsbaum
Image: privat