Christmas Tree Time Lapse – In A Colorado Minute (Week 190) from Luci Westphal on Vimeo.
Decorating the Christmas Tree is one of my favorite holiday
traditions – even though, in a way, I didn’t grow up with the actual
activity as a tradition.
Back at home in Germany, my mother would
set up the tree and decorate it behind closed doors on Christmas Eve. We
then would wait in the dark hallway until my mother would chime a bell
and open the door. In the middle of the otherwise pitch-dark house shone
the Christmas tree lit-up by candles and with presents all around. We
would sing a song as we walked in and then the fun began…
In
America, people decorate their tree weeks if not even almost a month in
advance (the day after Thanksgiving) – and wrapped presents start
compiling under the tree in plain view as they come into the house.
For
all those years that my American husband Scott and I have spent the
holiday away from our families, we have combined our traditions by
getting a tree just a few days before Christmas and decorating it
together. On Christmas Eve we have a nice dinner and open the German
presents and talk to my folks. On Christmas day we open the American
presents and talk to his folks – and then have friends come over for
food and drink. Over ten years ago we also added the tradition to read funny stories (usually by David Sedaris) and maybe watch a funny movie, like A Christmas Story.
Every
year we have added special Christmas ornaments. Unfortunately, right
now they are still packed up in a green wooden hat box (that Becky Hawk
gave me) in Brooklyn. So we started all over again this time with new
ornaments and created wonderful new memories to mix in with lovely old
memories of holidays together.
This video shows a lot of us (Scott, me and our dog Whiskey)
and our current home… we made it especially to share this personal
and happy time with you, our friends and family – here in America, in
Germany, and around the world.
Wishing all of you a happy holiday with love and peace in your heart and mind.
xx Luci
P.S.: The song was recorded by James D. Blodget and is kindly available via Wiki Commons. Thank you, James!
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| Frohe Weihnachten – Merry Christmas – Happy Holidays |