Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

hupa The chocolate fudge came out a bit crumbly, but still delicious. I'd never made fudge as an adult before because I remembered it involved 3 hours of constant stirring, then it suddenly occured to me recently that if it did actually take 3 hours, then my mum would never in a million years have suggested making it. Anyway, the vanilla fudge took about 40 min on the hob and the chocolate about 30 min, both with occasional stirring.

Friction here about clashing Christmas traditions hasn't really reached a head yet. DD received a box full of goodies from the kiga and another from MIL. I got a bit wound up when DD thanked MIL and she responded with "oh no, it wasn't from me, it was from the Nikolaus". I mean, if a 2 1/2 yo is given a present and says thank you without being prompted, then you respond normally and/or praise them, not try to confuse them by lying about who bought the present.

Christmas eve will test me even more, though, as PIL will be forced to dress up as the Weihnachtsmann and personally hand DD a present. This happened last year and I have been told off for saying "look there's Opi" when DD looks at the photos. I just think there's a difference between telling dc that the presents that magically appear under the tree/in a stocking have been delivered by FC and confronting them with a flesh-and-blood FC who they are clearly scared by which isn't magical at all.

I am a total Scrooge, though. As you were.

I shall join you in being a Scrooge, ladder. I'm definitely with you re your MIL's response; that would have really annoyed me too. Personally, I think that all the presents coming from the Christkind means that the child doesn't have to be grateful to anyone (and yes, I know IABU as there's plenty of time for them to learn to say thank you once they've found out that the Christkind no longer exists) - although I suppose it's the same as when Father Christmas brings everything (he only brings the presents in the stocking in our house). But the fact that the majority of children here seem incapable of saying please or thank you is a topic in itself (was it 5more who suggested saying, "in our house, we say please/thank you"? - I must start trying that).

The chocolate fudge sounds delicious btw and is making me feel hungry!

Canella Hope the drive goes OK - what I wouldn't give for a bit of peace here! The DC are at each other's throats the whole time atm; DD2 even bit DS yesterday. I've already told them that there will be no more Nikolo presents this week thanks to their behaviour yesterday (partly to ward off my ILs arriving with yet more sweets and chocolate, I must admit!).

Their friends' mum was working yesterday so asked if it was OK if her DC stayed until just after 7 pm. I said yes as I know she'd have my three like a shot if it was the other way round; she'll go out of her way to help people and is always incredibly grateful when I have her DC. She even "paid" me ?20 yesterday; I tried and failed to give it back to her twice and said in the end that I'd only accept it on condition that it's payment for the English lessons, but she said no...

I've never had a contract phone before and have an iPod touch too, but the amount of times we've been out and about and I've said to DH, "now if I had an iPhone, I could look that up" or I've wanted to check my e-mails (for work) is getting ridiculous so I think he's agreed to an iPhone to shut me up! (It's my Christmas present.)

I think I would like to just hibernate till spring ...

and miss the whole christmas cock up
dh still is sorting out his rostas

but
shock ds did his homework yesterday
very odd,

Hibernation sounds good to me, too, Cinders.

Is the Christkind not Jesus then? Trying to work out how a Christian explains the non-existance of one but not the other to their dc. Or does Jesus only bring presents to dc whose youngest sibling is under age 7?

My personal preference would be along the lines of "some people believe..." and then do the whole stocking/mince pie/carrot thing without expressly lying about it. Then let the kids work it out for themselves when they start questioning exactly how FC delivers so many presents in one night. It's still exciting to wake up to a stocking-full of presents even when you are 30 and the presents have appeared before you got back from the pub.

(I realise I am in a tiny minority on this subject.)

Well, I used to think the Christkind was Jesus but now I'm not so sure. They were discussing on the radio the other day whether "it" is a boy or a girl - and it's often represented by a girl with blonde curly hair (it seems to be more like an angel than anything).

DD1 phoned me on the way home from school today to ask what was for lunch and then passed the phone to DD2, who complained that she didn't want to walk home... maybe giving DD1 her own phone wasn't such a good idea after all! It's actually an old one that she had (but never used) when she first started walking to school on her own; I just found a new SIM card to put in it (which must have been from the phone I bought to replace the one that went in the washing machine - shall have to be a bit more careful with the iPhone).

ladder according to wikipedia

The Christkind is a sprite-like child, usually depicted with blond hair and angelic wings. Martin Luther intended it to be a reference to the incarnation of Jesus as an infant. Sometimes the Christ Child is, instead of the infant Jesus, interpreted as a specific angel bringing the presents, as it appears in some processions together with an image of little Jesus Christ. It seems also to be rooted in the Alsatian-born myth of a child bringing gifts to the baby Jesus.

I have always wondered, as I have seen it represented as a teenaged girl before now too...

I am agnostic/ atheist and do the "some people believe" about religious stuff - dd has always had no problem with this, and has in fact relished discussing who believes what and what she might believe, since she first started asking questions at 3, but I am a little flummoxed by ds1, who is a much more literal child and believes all the Christian -propaganda- stories they are fed at KiGa, but has some of it mixed up and thinks Jesus - only to be pronounced the German way - lives in a big church. He gets upset by the more graphic Catholic crucifixes too... I think "Some people believe" works for some children but not all of them can grasp the concept of different beliefs so young...

On the other hand I expressly lie about all kid specific magical stuff like fairies, father Christmas, Nikolaus - and class the Christkind in that category but will happily confirm the truth when the kids outright ask (and ask them to play along for the littler ones).

BTW I have been confused by references on here to 'The Nikolo' but have just asked the kids who confirm he is called Nikolaus, they screwed up their faces at 'Nikolo' and dd asked "Where did you hear that Mummy" - so I guess he goes by slightly different names in Austria than here in Bayern.

I saw my dad put my stocking on my bed when I was 6 and was unsurprised but never told my parents... Stockings stay on the wood burner here, like Nikolaus boots they arte not brought upstairs (until she was 5 dd was terrified about letting either of the strange bearded men in the house anyway, so the idea of them creeping into her room while she slept would probably have sent her over the edge anyway!)

Both Nikolo and Nikolaus are used here, but I tend to type Nikolo as it's a millisecond quicker. I don't expect Nikolosackerl is widely used outside Austria either.

Luckily the DC don't ask too much about God; I'm an agnostic but usually go along to the monthly Kindermessen (and the first communion services are starting up soon too) as I like going to the Pfarrcafe afterwards for a coffee and a chat with friends. The congregation is much younger here than at my parents' church and the Kindermesse is full of families. I'm a little about the Austrian attitude to religion, though - especially crucifixes in bedrooms if you're not a churchgoer.

Linzer, hope your afternoon was better than yesterday, sounds like you must be exhausted by the time you get them all to bed.

Canella, enjoy the peace while it lasts. Your ds will probably be having a great time too!

5more, I'm lucky not to have any problems with explaining who brings the pressies or how etc as dh was brought up in 2 countries where Christmas isn't celebrated so he doesn't really get it but just follows what I say so my 2 only got the one story! When they realised that Germans did it differently (on the 24th) it was just passed off as one of those things that the Germans just do!

Ladder, I also find it very strange that dc are brought up not having to say thankyou for presents. So do they not have to sit and write thankyou letters in January?! There's no way my 2 would get away with that, although now they do thank you emails!

Just got back from dd's hockey training and there's a storm starting, my car was rocking in the wind when I was parked outside the club. Glad we're home.
Cinders, hibernating sounds good to me too!

Stormy weather here too - it looks like we might be blown away if we venture outside.

Yes, had a much better afternoon yesterday thanks; we went over to friends and the six girls all played nicely together (the lack of boys around definitely helped - DS was at a friend's) while the other mums and I chatted over coffee.

I was, however, slightly annoyed when I went to pick up DS, and his friend's mum and her older DD were asking me about which secondary school we'd be sending DD1 to; they couldn't seem to understand that anyone would actually want to send their child to the NMS (I couldn't quite get out of them why). The thing is, her older two are at Gymnasium, are very bright, found primary school in Austria easy and boring after Germany (where they lived for a few years) and so I think have the attitude that anyone would be able to cope at Gymnasium if only they put their mind to it. In the end, I told them that DD1 was only getting 3s and 4s in her Schularbeiten so is unlikely to get into Gymnasium anyway, so that shut them up!

On a lighter note, they were in London at the same time as us during the Semesterferien and said that they'd bumped into Herbert Grönemeyer at Harrod's. However, I was slightly less impressed when "bumping into" turned out just to mean that they'd spotted him (plus girlfriend) and had nudged each other. He stood out apparently because he was wearing a large jacket!

Linzer, sounds like you had a nice afternoon. Now my 2 are older we never get afternoon coffee invites.

Canella, forgot to answer about getting them to sleep in the afternoon. My dc never slept in primary but the past year or so it has changed and they go to rest after lunch with a book and sometimes just fall asleep! It's an exhausting day really when they're up at 6:30am and by 2pm they've been on the go for quite a few hours. I also think they're trying to cram so much information into a short day at school due to the new shnell Abi.

Lol at Linzer's friend's claim to fame by spotting a German star in Harrods! My claim to fame is I once served tea and toasted tea cakes to Rowan Atkinson - I was working in my school holidays at a tea shop and he and his crew came in for tea. I admit I didn't recognise him but the kitchen staff were flipping out in the kitchen and getting all excited!

I hardly ever get afternoon invites any more either - this was the first time in ages as it's usually a quick coffee when I'm picking the DC up at most - so it was really nice.

So what was Rowan Atkinson like? I never recognise celebs either; my mum would always see famous people when she came to visit us in London (Victoria Wood and her family walked past us on the Strand once, apparently), but either I wouldn't spot them or they'd be old actors I'd never heard of. The only famous people I've spotted (apologies if I've told this one before - I know I have on one thread, but can't remember if it was this one) were Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence having afternoon tea at the Pump Rooms in Bath. The only reason I spotted them was that they were both wearing dark glasses and looked very out of place - if they'd been dressed "normally", I probably wouldn't have recognised them.

Bank holiday here today, although - very unusually - most shops are open. Only Billa and Baumax are schenking their employees a day off. (Apologies for Denglish, but schenken sounds more generous than give.)

My German celebrity claim to fame is that Flo rian Simb eck (I have copied somebody else's technique of insterting spaces in case the name is googled because of what I am going to say next...) lives in a town not far from us - I had never heard of him and just heard somebody talking English to their kids in the supermarket and said hello and made the normal inane chat about it being unusual to hear English spoken here, do you live locally etc - at first he was a bit weird but then I think he realised I had no idea who he was and he got more friendly and told me his wife is American and gave me her phone number.

She called and we went for coffee at theirs but she is a weird lady! Not nasty, perfectly polite and friendly in a way but very vague - she asked us to come at 4pm (I think it was) but when we got there she and the kids were napping! It was her who set the time! Then she went out (to an audition in Munich) soon after getting up - my kids played with theirs for a bit longer and I chatted to him but it felt a bit odd, and then they invited us to their son's birthday party, which we went to but we lost touch after that - I was only looking for other English speakers and she was too flaky even for me (and I can be vague myself, esp when sleep deprived, but not like that! She set the time for us to come, it was too late by my standards but apparently convenient for them, but she was asleep and then went out!).

Linzer DS's friend's mum sounds very pushy - I don't get everyone thinking the Gymnasium is the be all and end all, obviously it only suits certain children!

Admystletoe I actually prefer presents on 24th evening - my kids are early risers at the best of times (think 5.45 for DS1 without even counting in the baby) so I dread to think what time they'd try to get up if they were waiting to open presents on Christmas eve morning, and I like making up our own way of combining British and German as I have no wish to do Christmas exactly like my parents!

Christmas morning not eve morning obviously

5more, I think by the sound of all your early risers I've been lucky with my dc, they sleep alot and even as babies they slept until 9am! I had to start waking them at 8am to get to Kindergarden on time when they got abit older as it was frowned upon to arrive later than 9am and we usually only just made it!

It's a shame about the American lady, she maybe didn't need any new friends? Or he was maybe thinking it'd be good for his dc to have English speaking dc to play with! I'm always listening for someone speaking english when I'm out but up to now have only heard one man and he was drunk and returning his empty bottles so I didn't bother speaking!

Linzer, Mr Atkinson was very quiet and they all sat around the tea pot mumbling to each other! The young girl in the kitchen was past herself with excitment but didn't dare come out (thank goodness). In Berlin we lived around the corner from Oskar Fischer ex-foreign minister and when my friend was visiting we passed him buying his newspaper at a kiosk and she was walking down the street saying to her dd, look, look, it's Oskar Fischer, look, did you see..all excited and I was so embarrassed.

5more, I admit I had to google your claim to fame, never heard of him and didn't recognise him on photos either! That just goes to show, we never watch German films or TV!

5more that's quite an impressive brush with celebrity. I had to google him as well, though.

My brushes with celebrity: teaching English to Stefan Lindemann (the ice skater who fell over), Katrin Apel, Andrea and Manuela Henkel (all skiers, iirc).
I've mentioned before that I was on Wetten, dass..., playing/miming in a backing orchestra for Rolando Villazon. REM, Udo Lindenberg and Paris Hilton were also there, but I didn't speak to any of them, so that probably doesn't count.

I'm at some of my FB friends' lives, though. One was introduced to Gary Barlow recently! And Gareth Malone occasionally comments on another friend's statuses .

Wow - what a celeb-friendly bunch we are! I used to serve Christopher Eccleston in a shop I once worked in & had a HUGE crush on him. I also served John Thomson & Damien Lewis when I worked on the Christmas market for a while. A friend of a friend (tall, blonde, slim, gorgeous) was one of Mark Owen's, erm, dalliances.

Silken I had forgotten about your Wetten, dass.... appearance!

5more The American lady does sound a little odd!

Linzer I wonder if the Gymnasium attitude is to do with the parents' insecurities? V. jealous of the Groenemeyer spot - I always imagine him to be really lovely & friendly.

Yesterday was the day from hell!! I has a huge, painful, rock-hard lump so had to abandon the bottle for the day to try & clear it. I could only feed from that side anyway as I have another big blood blister on the other side. The midwife recommended another gel for the thrush but it's not suitable for babies under 6 months so that was ?10 wasted & my cold turned really aggressive & I was really sick & feverish & DS wanted to feed all day so poor DH had to take the day off work to look after us!
Things are much better today though - DS cleared the lump last night & my cold is much better today. DH is back to work to hear all about the Christmas party he had to miss last night & DS is nice & calm & snoozy after a morning of smiling & playing :)

Oh I forgot my favourite celeb - a friend of mine from uni is now a stand-up comedian & has been on things like Mock the Week & 8 Out of Ten Cats etc. It always makes me smile to see how well he is doing as he's rreally lovely.

There´s some very impressive claims to fame here. I´ve racked my brains, but can´t come up with anyone even though I lived in London for over 10 years.

When we first had children I hated the opening of presents on the evening of the 24th. It just felt wrong - the children were already tired and then they didn´t get to play much before going to bed. Now that I´ve got used to it and we´ve built up our own tradtions for the whole day I really enjoy it.

I´m meant to be writing my Christmas cards this morning, but can´t work up any enthusiasm. Have you all been organised and posted them already?

later sorry we crossed posts. You really have been having a hard time of it lately. Glad to hear you feel a bit better today.

Hupa I've only got as far as sending DH to buy cards - not a single one has been written or posted yet so you're not the only one :)

Please don't remind me about Xmas cards. I'm having difficulties prioritising today - have a massive to do list, but can't decide what is most urgent/must be done in natural light, so have ended up procrastinating on MN most of the morning.

silken I'm exactly the same; the more I have to do, the more stressed I feel and the more I end up procrastinating on MN. Very impressed at your claims to fame - I shall have to google Gareth Malone, though.

hupa Argh, Christmas cards! I've actually written about five now but am waiting for some Christmas stamps before I post them (am hoping DH will buy some tomorrow) as I just can't send them with normal stamps. Have also been helping DD2 to write her Christmas cards this afternoon. DS even wrote one, although whether it's legible is another matter.

Later Glad to hear you're feeling better today - yesterday must have been awful for you. Don't tell anyone, but I used to have a bit of a crush on HG (when I was about 18).

admylin I'm always on the lookout for people speaking English too; they're few and far between where we live, but I've met three friends that way.

5more I hadn't heard of FS either, so had to google him - I have vaguely heard of Erk an and Stef an (thought I'd better do the spaces too!), though.
We open some of our presents on the 24th and some on the 25th (and then DD1 has more to open on the 26th). DH actually prefers opening them on the 25th as he says that he couldn't stand the waiting on the 24th when he was a child and spent practically all day watching TV waiting for the time to pass! We were never allowed to open presents on the 25th until after lunch, and that was bad enough.

Anyway, DH has taken the DC out food shopping so that I can prepare tomorrow's English lesson so I'd better get on with it.

Google Gareth Malone !!! he was on threads of the day earlier this week . My friend is a professional singer working in London, so it's not particularly surprising she knows him.

I actually galvanised myself into getting quite a few things done with that last post. Looks like I guilted the rest of the thread into doing similar .

Well, I've googled him - definitely not someone I'd have recognised. So am I the only one on this thread who has never heard of him? I do keep seeing the Military Wives Choir on FB, though.

Still haven't finished planning tomorrow's lesson (making flashcards is very time-consuming), but DH and the DC are back so am off for tea and mince pies now.