On October 29, I saw a box of Christmas lights on the kitchen island of my host family and some were already put out around the windows, before Halloween. That really surprised me. Where I’m from, in Germany, we start decorating at the end of November and the Christmas trees are getting sold just mid-or end of November, not earlier.
Michigan, America:
There are some big differences between Christmas here and in Germany, and I’m pretty excited to experience the American version.
The pre-Christmas season is alway something special. I was amazed by the decorations that were arranged in the store windows, the choice of different Christmas decorations, sweets and clothes. The Pre-Christmas season in Germany is amazing, but here, it is even better and more impressive. Me and my host family went two days after Halloween to Downtown and I was a little bit confused, how fast the Halloween decorations were replaced by Christmas trees, Christmas lights and Christmas themed clothes. Downtown Holland is decorated now with Christmas lights, shining in a warm yellow light in the morning and the evening, providing comfort and Christmas vibes, shining invitingly from shop windows.
The Apothecary Gift Shop provides a big assortment of Christmas decorations in their shop window, with the fake snow, the Christmas trees, tons of beautiful, yellow-white shining Christmas lights, small gifts and Plush Animals in Christmas costumes. The shop windows are formally dragging you inside, with the Christmas mood, I was totally amazed. In Germany we have something similar in the Downtown Area of a city called Kassel, close to Frankfurt. There they have a big shop called ‘Galeria Kaufhof’ and in their shop windows they have Christmas scenes set up, with moving Plush Animals in different sizes, where they are cooking, clean the road in front of their houses from snow, go ice skating on a piece of fake snow covered plastic and much more, this all in a Winter-Christmas set up, surrounded by the decorated stands of the Christmas Market and the delicious smells coming with the wind, of roasted almonds, Bratwurst, mulled wine and fire from the big ovens inside the stalls.
Inside the stores present a big assortment of Christmas candles, smelling like sugar cookies, fir branches or peppermint sticks. Decorations, like Christmas ornaments of birds, classic ones, snow globes, cozy blankets with penguins and Christmas trees on them. Christmas themed clothes, like The Grinch Pyjamas or Snowflake patterned, red sweaters and accessories, like earrings in the form of snowmans and Christmas trees. In Germany there are Christmas decorations and Christmas clothing, as well as accessories too, but the presentation isn’t as big as in America.
A really popular store for Christmas shopping is T. J. Maxx with their assortment of different christmas candles, their christmas decorations and so much more, they have really everything there for an affordable price and in a good quality, I totally love it. There are actually some small stores in Germany which sell decorations or clothing, but are never as big as T.J.Maxx and usually pretty expensive. We also have T.J.Maxx in Germany but only in bigger cities like Kassel.
I have the feeling that everything is so much bigger celebrated and presented than in Germany, with all the lights and the effort people put in to decorate their homes and stores, to welcome the upcoming Christmas season and snow in, and this is absolutely amazing and the results of the effort are so pretty. The season has changed now and a slight feeling of snow is coming up. In Germany we usually don’t get that much snow, but it is really enjoyable to go sledding or do snowball fights. Something really interesting to see was a Hallmark movie for the first time and that after Halloween it is practically Christmas. Me and my family back in Germany don’t really watch Christmas movies, except Home Alone 1 & 2 and Mr. Bean Celebrates Christmas.
In between there is Thanksgiving, something that is completely new to me, because we don’t have Thanksgiving in Germany and I’m really excited for it. We decorated our home already with Christmas lights, outside and inside the house, which makes the atmosphere cozy and inviting, when they are shining in their red, green, blue and yellow light. We also watch a lot of Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music through the radio when we drive somewhere. I’m really curious, how the actual Christmas is going to be and how it is different from Christmas in Germany.
Germany:
The season changes around the time of late fall. The weather is cold and rainy now. Different from Michigan, the snow comes not earlier than the end of December, more often actually January, which is pretty sad. I heard that it is supposed to snow more often in Michigan and snow is the best part of the before Christmas season. Starting from December 1st, the Christmas markets open, which is also different in Michigan, because here they seem not to be as popular as in Germany. There people sell a lot of different sorts of things, like cozy winter clothing, food and decorations. On the 6th December Nicholas day is celebrated, a celebration not present in America, where people put out a shoe or a sock and the next morning they have chocolate, mandarines, a small note or toys in their shoe or sock and usually the day is mostly for the younger children. Traditionally the parents put the small gifts into the shoes or socks, but say that Nicholas has brought the presents. Some popular Christmas markets to do and to try out are mulled wine, children’s punch and Bratwurst, but also sweets like roasted almonds and decorations like beeswax candles. My personal favorite is the children’s punch and Bratwurst, the children’s punch served hot in a Christmas themed mug and Bratwurst with a crispy bread roll and some ketchup, it is delicious.
A lot of people have something called an ‘Adventskranz’, which means translated advent wreath. It is in the shape of a circle made of fir branches and has four candles. On each advent, a candle is lit, some sort of countdown till Christmas. We had one last year and we lit up one candle on each Sunday of December, until Christmas eve. As far as I know, there are no advent wreaths in the American Pre-Christmas season, which is as I learned an old German advent tradition. I miss this a little bit here, but the Christmas spirit and decorations make up for it.
When visiting the church, usually a ‘Krippe’, a set up of the birth of Jesus will be there, this kind of decoration is also present in Michigan. There are also small ones, for inside as a decoration. Different from Michigan, most people buy their Christmas trees at the end of November till the middle of December, but there is a giant one set up on the town hall square, with Christmas lights, in the village I live in.
At home, a lot of people have a christmas tree which they decorate and place in their living room. It is a lot of fun to decorate the tree with family and listen to Christmas songs like Felize Navidad or Jingle Bells. Also kids get a calendar, an advent calendar to count down until Christmas. There are a lot of different variations, some are filled with makeup, some have chocolate and others are self made and filled with mandarins, small pieces of chocolates.
A popular activity around Christmas is cookie baking and making gingerbread houses. The gingerbread houses in America are different from those in Germany. In Germany they are brown and soft and kids eat pieces of it. In America they have a cream colored dough and are rock hard and are only planned as decoration not as actual food. Some popular Christmas decorations are nutcrackers and an advent pyramide, in which there are small figures, which rotate when a candle is lit in it. Many people in Germany celebrate Christmas and Christmas eve with their families. Some people exchange their presents in the evening of the 24th, others open their presents the next morning. I love Christmas in Germany, but actually in America it is so different, but so much bigger and nicer.
