Tuesday 24 December 2013

Mere Hours To Go...

...until we'll all (i. e. my parents, my sister, some close family friends and myself) meet at my parents' place for Christmas Eve. That is the most important part of Christmas for most Germans, and we are no exception.
Most families have a traditional meal they serve for festive occasions; ours on Christmas Eve is Frankfurters and spuds salad. Of course, it is the same delicious spuds salad my Dad always makes; you can find his recipe here.
We will also exchange our gifts tonight. The (real) candles on the tree will be lit. It will be a cosy evening of togetherness and harmony (provided we don't sing!).


I wrapped my presents yesterday. Together with the ones sent from England to my parents and sister, they make quite a nice pile, don't they!

Another impressive pile is sitting on the sideboard in my living room, next to the Christmas cards I found in my mail box this year. There have been a few more cards arriving since I took the picture, but you get the idea. These presents are all from my Yorkshire family (they really do spoil me!), and I will open them on Christmas morning. I will then ring my mother-in-law for a nice chat (usually takes an hour).

On the 26th, RJ will join me here for a few days. We'll be at my parents' again for dinner, and probably go for walks (weather permitting) and generally just enjoy spending time together and try not to talk about work too much :-)

I am very much looking forward to all of this, and I hope you have plenty of reasons for looking forward to Christmas, too, no matter which way you choose to spend it. 

Let me end this post with some pictures I took over the last 2 weeks.

On the morning of the 13th, I still had hopes for a White Christmas:
But it was all gone by the next day, and now we are having temperatures more like March than what you'd expect in December. The birds seem to believe it, too, and I am almost waiting for the first flowers to pop up.



This one was taken on the 17th. I just had to try and capture that beautiful sunrise, seen from my kitchen window.

One day and one hour later, a different picture:

And this morning:


Merry Christmas to all of you!

14 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you. We lived in Germany off and on for 10 years, in Bad Kreuznach, Darmstadt and Stuttgart and only once had a white Christmas, in Stuttgart.

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    1. Thank you, and the same to you!
      I am only 14 km from Stuttgart. We had a white Christmas in 2011.

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  2. Beautiful in every season! Happy Christmas!

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    1. Thank you, and the same to you!
      Yes, I really like the view from my kitchen window - as is quite obvious from how many times it appears on my blog :-)

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  3. May you have a joyous Christmas with those you love, Meike! I am in Maryland with my son Andy, daughter Em, German sil Ingmar, and sweet granddaughters Fia and Clara.Such happiness!

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    1. Dear Kristi, you have all the ingredients for happiness on Christmas, too, with your family, and I imagine it is extra special to see your granddaughters' joy.

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  4. I hope that you had a lovely evening. I have used your Dad's recipe but I can't recall whether I told you. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

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    1. You have just now, Graham, thank you!
      Yes, it was a lovely evening, and today I am indulging in doing NOTHING (washing doesn't count, since it is the machine that does the actual work). It is raining, so I am not even tempted to go for a walk.

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  5. An evening of harmony, as long as we don't sing! HA, that's funny!!
    Beautiful post, love your cards! I see the one I sent you, the angel stands out like the one you sent me with the heart! Thank you!!
    I love the view from your window, I think you should have a go at painting it!

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    1. Me, painting? I was rather good at sketching when I was younger, but never quite got the hang of handling a paint brush very well, I'm afraid :-)
      Glad you like my card - you know I had to choose the one with the heart for you!

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  6. Now it’s all over for another year!

    I had Kartoffelsalat for Heiligabend too, like every year, mit Wuerstchen und Raeucherlachs und Riesling im Glas. Lecker!

    Ich wuensche dir und deinen Lieben einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr.

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    1. Vielen Dank, Friko, das Gleiche wünsche ich Dir auch!

      Ja, schon wieder vorbei... und die nächsten 12 Monate werden auch wieder wie im Flug vergehen. Riesling gab's bei uns nicht, aber (vor dem Essen) Kessler-Sekt Hochgewächs. Auch fein!

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  7. I'm a bit late with this, Meike, but I still want to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Take care and God bless, xoxox Carol

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    1. Thank you, Carol! For me, this time of the year is still part of Christmas, until New Year's Eve at least, and officially, the Christmas period only ends on January the 6th - so, you're not really late :-)
      All the best to you for 2014, too!

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