Christmas Week

As almost always (with the exception of 2022, when the grief for my Dad and my sister's closest friend was still raw), Christmas was wonderful for me, and this year even more than usual - read on, and you'll see why :-)

On Monday (22 December), my trains back home were on time, and I only had a few hours of work left to do before I did a spot of shopping and then spent the afternoon resting, reading and playing my favourite computer game. It was cold and grey and I had no inclination to go for a walk.

Tuesday (23 December) was the true and proper start of the Christmas/New Year holidays for me; I was officially off work and did not switch on my work computer at all, having stowed it away until Jan. 5th.

It was cold, very windy and grey again, but I still went to walk for two hours, looking at the Christmas decorations people had put up.

Next, I wrapped the Christmas presents and then spent a quiet evening in front of the TV, later talking to O.K. on the phone and then some reading before lights out.

A white Christmas was not on the cards, but on Wednesday (24 December), a handful of tiny snow flakes fell; it was still cold, grey and very windy.

My sister and I went to our Mum's late morning to decorate her small tree - for the first time in our lives without any real candles! In spite of its funny shape and no real candles, it turned out prettily and festively.

See the tiny nativity under the tree? It's the one my sister made as a child, and that was part of the exhibition in our local museum in November.

We had lunch together and then we each spent the afternoon separately at home before meeting at Mum's again at 6:00 pm.

Christmas Eve for us is the most important part of Christmas, where we sing carols, exchange gifts and have a traditional meal. In our family, that meals has been the same for generations: Wiener sausages and potato salad, and it is something I look forward to each year.

My sister wrapped her gifts most prettily, even adding a fortune cookie!

We sang together, and I read the Christmas story I have written and that I had first read to my colleagues last week during our mini Christmas celebration.

Great gifts were waiting for me under the tree; among many other things, a hand-knitted top from my Mum with matching bracelet, a handbag I had seen in a shop in town and liked very much, and a ticket to Lenny Kravitz (yay!) in Stuttgart next summer from my sister.

On Christmas morning (Thursday, 25 December) I rang Mary, my 91-year-old mother-in-law in Yorkshire. Usually we talk for about an hour, but this time I just about managed to wish her Merry Christmas when after 11 minutes she said "I have to go - my nurse has just arrived", and off she was! Still, we had a quick chat and I know she is reasonably well, all things considered.

I then packed my little red suitcase and was off to the train station, with all three trains on time. When O.K. picked me up in Offenburg at 2:30 pm, it was sunny (still cold and a bit windy), so that the first thing we did after arriving at the cottage was go for a walk.

We had coffee and then exchanged our gifts... and the most wonderful gifts of all was... wait for it...

...O.K. proposed, and of course I said YES!!!

It was a moment of intense joy and much excitement, and I still have to pinch myself every now and then to make sure it's real and I wasn't just dreaming!

In February it will be ten years that we're together. For now, living arrangements will stay as they are, and we have not yet decided on a date or how and where exactly we want to get married, we just know that it'll happen some time next year, and all details will be agreed on and made known in due time.

Boxing Day (Friday, 26 December) in Germany is simply called 2. Weihnachtstag, similar to what Monica tells us from Sweden. Traditionally, a family mass is held at the village church with the village band providing the music. It is one of the few occasions during the year when I go to church, to hear them play and be there. I have taken photos of the two nativity scenes in the church and the beautiful tree:

After mass, O.K. changed out of his uniform into regular clothes, and together with his Mum we drove to the nearby village where his sister and her husband live. They had prepared a festive and very delicious lunch for the five of us, and when we started with a glass of sparkling wine, O.K. and I told them our news.

O.K. drove the two of us back to Ludwigsburg on Saturday (27 December) in the evening. During the day, we had been for a walk to take advantage of the sunny but cold weather.

On Sunday (28 December), the sun was shining again, and the wind had as good as died down. O.K. and I went for a walk after breakfast, followed by a rest and from around 2:00 pm onwards, I was mostly in the kitchen stirring sauce pans, peeling and chopping vegetables, laying the table and last but not least making batter for Yorkshire puddings.

In between I sat for a while in the living room while the food was taking care of itself, and shortly before my Mum and sister arrived at 6:00 pm, I poured the Yorkshire pudding batter into the tray of muffin forms I always use for that purpose.

The four of us had glasses of sparkling wine in our hands when O.K. and I announced our engagement, and of course much (but by no means all) of the evening's conversation revolved around the topic.

We ate the meal I had prepared and it turned out well enough even though for some reason the Yorkshire puddings didn't rise properly. It wasn't the first time I made them, and usually they look as they should do, but I suppose I shouldn't have opened the oven door half way through... Anyway, there not being any left over is an indication that they weren't too bad.

Ice cream for dessert was taken in the living room, and the four of us finished the bottle of Merlot we had started on during the meal (I used the same wine for the gravy, both the one with meat and the vegetarian one for my sister).

For the last time this season I lit the four candles on the Advent wreath, and we had a cosy and chatty evening until my sister accompanied our Mum home. I finished loading the dish washer and let it then do its job; not all that long afterwards we were tired enough to go to bed.

That was Christmas 2025!