merry christmas

Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas) to all my wonderful friends, wherever you might be finding yourselves this Christmas.

Great guy and I had a nice Heilige Abend (Christmas Eve) yesterday.  First, in the morning, we did a little Weihnachtsbummel (Christmas stroll/shopping trip) through Bad Kreuznach.  This is a beautiful, little town on the Nahe River.  We walked the cobblestoned pedestrian zones, stopped to have some glühwein (I just can't help myself), and enjoyed the Christmassy frenzy of last minute shoppers.  I find the atmosphere, here in Germany at Christmas, incredibly romantic; the cobblestone shuffling, snowflakes falling, cathedral bells ringing, glühwein smelling, and people merrying.  We didn't shop much, but wandered through the shopping area, crossed the bridge spanning the tiny island (which only holds a cathedral) splitting the Nahe, and explored the quaint, picturesque Altstadt.  We bumped into a friend of great guy's who seemed harried, a bit frantic maybe, with the idea of too much last minute shopping, or as great guy put it, he might have just been enjoying a few too many glühweins at the Christmas market.  It was a relaxed and happy morning for us.

(Great guy just down beside me, having a smoke break, and after reading the 2nd line of this post, said, "Really, is that true, did you have a nice Heilige Abend?"  Does that mean that he didn't?)

Ok, so we didn't get everything done yesterday (or during the entire week for that matter) that we wanted to.  The kitchen chaos is really stressing him out.  I've been feeling quite un-Christmassy.  So, the idea that somehow we were going to have a Christmas meal in the new, non-kitchen/baustelle, and also decorate the house, and bring in the giant Christmas tree (which a friend chopped down for us) and decorate that, overwhelmed us both.  And...I really wanted to go to the Christmas Eve service at 5:30pm.    I did not think we would get everything, or anything, done.

But, great guy is an architect.  A German architect.  He is precise and logical and determined.  Sure, some things take a bit longer because of his genau-ness (exact-ness) but he gets them done well.  So, after a wonderful visit from Bärbel and Max, we brought the tree inside to dry. He chopped it down to a manageable 2.5 metres so that it could actually stand up in the highest part of the ceiling.  We got ready for church super-quickly.  Had a lovely time in the soft, candle-it, old cathedral, listening to the church choir sing familiar songs. Then, headed back home to put up lights and kügeln (Oh my gosh!  I can't think of the English word!  It's starting!!  I'm losing my English! What are those things called?  They aren't Christmas balls are they?  Surely, they can't be.  Shoot.).  Anyways, the tree turned out to look, well, fine.  Actually, I think it looks pretty great in our cool, little place.  Then, we decided to skip the big meal and just eat some bratwurst with fresh brötchen, and have a glass of wine.  After that, great guy was pretty much finished.  So, we didn't go to Schrille Nacht (screaming night?), a party here in town, but hung out and stared at the tree for while, listening to Harmony Radio's Christmas broadcast, and went to bed early.

A lovely Christmas Eve.  With great guy.  In Deutschland.