German Christmas is on its way!

We have had some beautiful experiences in the last three weeks. Elder Howlett got an assignment to help several Family History centers that were having trouble with their computers. He had to call and email, and work through problems with people. He got all but two of them done, but hasn't been able to make any contact with the people at those two centers. It isn't easy working through such things in German.
German tradition is that the Christmas season officially begins with what they call the first day of Advent. There are four advent days - always on Sunday. So the first advent is on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. There are always lots of things going on on each of the Advent days - communities have special events planned for each one. They are often held in the large squares or any other open spaces in the cities and villages.
This is a huge model of a traditional German Christmas decoration. The heat of candles around the base produces a little updraft that turns the top, and that turns the figurines mounted on disks on several levels. Also notice the huge nutcracker on the right side. Sr. Howlett is in the pictures to give you a sense of the size of these things.
They almost always have a huge decorated Christmas tree. In the Pictures of Michelstadt in a previous posting there is one showing workers using a cherry picker to reach up into the tops of the tree that they have cut and brought into the open space near the Rathaus. They are decorated much like the traditional (that means old fashioned) trees in America, but since they are outside and big, the ornaments and decorations are big ones. We've seen trees set up that were around fifty feet tall. There is one we see close to our work that is even bigger. It is made only of lights, and it is visible almost two miles away.
In addition to the Christmas tree, there is often a special market set up where there are many temporary shops set up to sell items relating to Christmas - a lot of Christmas decorations, etc. We visited one shop that specialized in figures and all kinds of things connected with displays of the Nativity. There were hundreds of different styles of them, ranging from tiny ones in a small match box, to huge units that would cover a table top. That particular shop did sell complete displays, but their specialty was the various pieces that you could assemble together to make your own. There were more than a dozen basic styles, with between a dozen and fifty different pieces available in each style. It is really refreshing to be where you won't be ridiculed if you display your belief in Jesus Christ. By the way. Those displays were expensive. You'd have to pay about a hundred dollars for a lot of them, and the prices went up to close to $2000.
The Weinachtsmarkt was not open in Michelstadt when we were there, but we got a few pictures of things there. This is the Nativity display set up in Michelstadt.
One thing we looked for in the Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt that we went to was Christmas music. A few years ago there was a German Weinachtsmarkt set up in Columbus, Ohio, that we went to, and we found among the other shops a music shop that sold German music. But here we couldn't find any music. We asked a few questions and were directed to local stores that had a little. We visited one, but didn't have time to find anything. A few days later we took a little time to call other music CD shops, and finally found one that had quite a bit, and when we found out they had a CD of the old German music we listened to years ago ("Freddy") we immediately took a break and drove to the store to buy it. We found that Freddy wasn't the best of singers, but he surely carried a lot of memories in his voice.

(Just a side note on that old record we used to listen to: That was given to us by a teacher at Liahona High School who was from Fiji. I don't know how she got it, but she couldn't enjoy it very much, so she gave it to us when she found out I had been in Germany. The CD we got here was exactly the same album.) The German music is so beautiful that we wanted to get other German Christmas CD's. So we purchased several and are enjoying them. We also got a special CD Christmas present from the Area Presidency of The Tabernacle Choir singing with Sissel. Oh, it is beautiful!! We love Christmas music, and the Tabernacle Choir CD's are really special.
Well, to get back to the Advents celebrations: each of the Advents days has something going on somewhere, but in the individual homes they have a traditional lighting of the advents candles. They start with a wreath of evergreen branches to which four candles have been attached. Often the wreath is just laying on a table, but years ago it was usually hung from a little stand. When Elder Howlett was on his first mission he acquired one of those stands, and ever since then it has been the place where we have kept our keys. On the "First Advent" they light one of the candles and let it burn for a few minutes. On the second, they light that one again, and an additional one. Yesterday was the "Third Advent" and we visited in the home of some German Friends, and they had the three candles burning. Next week they will have all four. Actually, they have changed things a little. Since they don't suspend it on the little stand any more, they put a fifth candle in the middle of the wreath, and light that one too. Germans are very good at candle making, so it was a delightful thing to see. Because we were visiting around the table on which it sat, they let it burn for over an hour yesterday, but there was still plenty of candle left for the last Advent next Sunday.
Christmas is very exciting for children here, too. On December 5 the children are supposed to shine their shoes and put them out for Nikolaus to come and fill the shoes with candy and small toys. If the shoes are not shined they don't get anything. Mothers are very busy at this time baking Christmas Cookies, 7 to 10 different kinds, and lots of fruit breads called "Stollen." But back in October and November the parents and children go find chestnuts that had fallen on the ground. Then in December when the mothers are so busy, the children make little toy animals and characters out of those chestnuts tying them together with match sticks stuck into holes made in the nuts. They also roast chestnuts ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire!"). We got some at the Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt and Elder Howlett liked them, but Sr. Howlett ate only one. For Germans the main use for them is to make toys for children. Grandparents probably help. It's a busy time. Then the mothers share the cookies and baked goods on Christmas with lots of friends and family, if the kids haven't already found the hiding place for them and eaten them up.
About two weeks before Christmas the children write letters to the Christ Child asking for presents. They don't write to Santa Claus. Then they put their letters on the window sills hoping for their letters to disappear. If they do then they will probably receive what they want or need.
Christmas Eve is the busiest day of all. They traditionally wait until that day to get and decorate their Christmas tree. That tradition is changing now, though, for many Christmas tree yards are appearing in the beginning of December. Many people are decorating them early now. After the tree is decorated the family all goes to the cemetary to decorate the graves of their ancestors with candles. Then they all come home, eat a light supper and open their presents. Later many people go to church that evening.
Christmas day is quieter, though they have a big dinner of whatever special meat they want, duck, goose, turkey, fish, or whatever.
We heard that January 6th is also a very big celebration day with large dinners to remember the coming of the Wise men to visit the Christ Child.
So, they have a lot of special traditions. The music is special too. We sure wish we could put several of the songs of that "Freddy" album on this blog to play for you, but we don't have the set up to do that. There are a lot of great German Christmas songs on that, and many memories.
Last Saturday our ward had a Christmas party, and they had several ward members of foreign birth give some information about the Christmas traditions of their homelands. All of them were interesting. Our ward has members born in 22 different countries. Part of the reason for that is that the Area Offices and operations of the Church as well as the temple are in this area. The Church Distribution Center for Europe is here, and the Family History Support Office and the translation center. There is an International Ward in our stake that holds meetings in German, English and French. The Church employes quite a few people, and they almost all live in our stake - several in our ward.
Two weeks ago, Sr. Howlett and two other senior missionaries gave talks in our ward. Elder Howlett was on the list too, but they didn't have time since the translation of those three doubled the time of their talks. So Elder Howlett gave his yesterday. He had written his in German, and got help with it from a native speaker. He was asked by the Bishop to include our reasons for wanting to serve a mission, but that request didn't come until last Friday. So he had to rewrite part of it, print it Sunday Morning, and read it at the pulpit. It is amazing how much it has done to make us a part of the ward to have given these talks. In the two and a half months up to this time we have really struggled to get to know people. Then suddenly we've had our first three invitations to dinner.
As we approach the last week before Christmas we have a lot of things we're trying to get into our schedule. There have been or will be several Christmas devotionals. We heard the First Presidency's devotional a week later. The Area Office provided a devotional and dinner last Friday. Our ward had a party, and will have a devotional next on Christmas Eve. At about the same time as this devotional, there will be a half-hour of bells at the Frankfurt Weinachtmarkt - fifty bells in ten churches will all be ringing at the same time.
Another picture in Michelstadt showing the bell tower(on the left) that has so many bells in it they can play music on the bells. (We are sorry that we don't have any pictures of the Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt. We were told not to take cameras there because there are thieves looking for things like that to steal.) Since we heard those fifty bells the weekend of the first Advent, we have decided to support our ward. But the sound of those bells is a real temptation for us because they are so beautiful.
We have had one really good "Adventskonzert" by a Church Musical Group, and there will be another one this next Saturday. The first one was by an international choral group that included members from several nations. The one this week is the Heidelberg Stake Choir. When I worked in Heidelberg 45 years ago they just had a small branch, and for their Christmas Party their branch president played a tune on a harmonica.
We have several groups of senior missionaries that will be assembling for Christmas dinners. There is a group that have asked us to be with them. We've also received an invitation from the former Bishop of our ward to go to their home. We'd love to include our family tradition of carolling in our schedule, but don't know if we can. Two doesn't make a very good carolling group, and most Germans are very cautious of any carollers. We are trying to plan visits to our neighbors. We are trying to make it a good time.
We hope all our family and friends will be able to carry out traditions that bring the Spirit of Christ into your lives during this season. We will certainly miss being with you. We wish you all a Merry Christmas.