Merry Christmas!

Aah, how nice it is to be home for Christmas and to celebrate it in the traditional way. In winter, with a real Christmas tree (Nordmann Fir) with real candles (in addition to electric ones), with my parents, granny, sisters and nieces.

Yesterday at Christmas Eve we lit the candles and sang German Christmas carols by the piano. Then we had dinner (Schweizer Käsefondue with Schichtsalat, yum!). Time to unwrap the presents. The cat -- my parent's pet is a fat, good-natured white male with the absurd name of "Pixie" -- liked his present too, a piece of sausage. To our shock, he gulped it down with the bow (mit der Schleife) before we could stop him! But he seems all right -- it will go the normal way.

The evening ended with church. I don't usually attend church, but made an exception because my mom performed in the Gospel choir. From there we walked home in the 'silent night', with a torch (Fackel) to light the way, for the mood. Unfortunately we did not have white Christmas because it had thawed. Well, you can't have everything. Today we're going to have turkey for lunch (with potatoe dumplings and red cabbage) and then we'll celebrate with my elder sister and her family.

Merry Christmas to everybody!