We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

Posted by Kalie on December 17, 2009

This song has been the soundtrack of our flat since the beginning of December!  It can be heard (especially whistled by Pauline and sung by Nicki) at any moment of the day.  We have done many things to get into the Christmas spirit…

One night after a flatmate food night, we played a German chocolate game.  Here’s how it works: a bar of chocolate is wrapped in many layers of wrapping paper.  The object is to use a knife and fork to cut through the wrapping paper and be the first person to take a bite of the chocolate.  Before being able to cut the chocolate, though, the person must first put on a hat, scarf, and gloves.  A person is able to try cutting the chocolate once they roll a six.  The dice is quickly handed around the table, each person rolling the dice to try and get a six.  We played this traditional children’s game with six girls, all over the age of 20.  Needless to say, it was quite an entertaining way to spend the evening!

One morning we woke up to find a large Christmas calendar taped to the kitchen wall.  Each day leading up to Christmas, a different gift is opened (usually it’s chocolate).  We also each have our own smaller calendars.  In Germany, the calendars are often homemade by parents and given to their children.

Another morning (December 6), we found our entire kitchen table filled with chocolates from Pauline.  It was St. Nicholas’ Day, which is celebrated in Belgium.  The tradition to celebrate this day is for children to put their shoes outside of their house, which St. Nicholas will fill during the night with a gift. Rather than filling of our shoes, though, she used our table instead.  Later that day some friends and I decorated a gingerbread house and baked Hershey’s Kisses cookies.  Kisses don’t seem to be sold in Europe, so it was a new treat for my friends.

Just the other night we exchanged Secret Santa gifts.  Nicki’s sister who is visiting dressed up as Santa Claus and distributed our gifts.  My gift from Sarah was a homemade 2010 calendar filled with photos from my time in Scotland.  It’s such a special gift that will always remind of these great memories!

Tonight we will be doing another European tradition of Christmas crackers (which are in a way similar to fireworks, but without explosives).  I’m told that everyone stands in a circle, each holding onto one end of a cracker.  At the same time, everyone pulls and the crackers explode and out comes various goodies.  I’m excited to try this as I’ve never seen it done before!

So from my flat to you…We wish you a Merry Christmas!  We wish you a Merry Christmas!  We wish you a Merry Christmas!  And a Happy New Year!

Cheers!

P.S. We had a bit of snow today and there is more snow in the forecast, so perhaps it will be a white Christmas in Scotland!

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