O Tannenbaum!

Without a doubt, the Christmas tree is the biggest German contribution to Christmas and it was the centerpiece of German Christmas celebrtion. Trimming and lighting a tree in the dead of winter goes back to pagan times, but it eventually came to be accepted and morphed into Christian tradition. The tree skirt is made of straw, to symbolize the manger. The non-catholic Martin Luther is often credited with hanging the first candle on the tree to bring "illumination." The tree is decorated with cookies that are made during the holidays. The cookies also decorate the windows, as do candles as a sign of welcome and illumination.

In Germany, Christmas is supposed to be magical. The pure can see rivers turn to wine at midnight and hear Christmas bells at the bottom of the ocean. On the prairie, that belief wasn't so extraordinary, but it was special. Our German Catholic Christmas is rather meager, because it is considered a bit farther back in history when there weren't alot of goods out on the prairie. Most all gifts were homemade, but treasured.

St. Nicholas Day, December 6th, is observed when Children leave their shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill. Kris Kringle stems from the word Christkindl which means Christ Child who brought gifts on Christmas Eve--not Santa Claus!

Christmas Carols like Silent Night and O Christmas Tree hail from Germany. The Germans loved music and much of the holiday fun surrounds bells and instruments.

Advent wreaths and Advent calendars started in Germany as a way to countdown to Christmas. Christmas Eve is when the tree is revealed, and when the family starts celebrating with eating and carols.

If Catholic families lived close enough to a church, they would definitely attend Mass.

On Christmas Eve, there was a large feast and a belief that if you did not eat well on that day then demons would haunt you during the night. On Christmas day, the eating is good too... with goose, stollen (bread with fruit), lebkuchen (spice bars), and other treats.

I didn't get to journey down to our German cabin to take fresh Christmas pictures this year... so this entry is rather dismal. My apologies to our German catholic friends.