The rhythmic sound of the accordion fills the air, while yodelers call across the Alpine landscapes. Pungent scents of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, apples, and juniper berries ravage my nostrils. The heat surrounding the sizzling pans reaches out like tentacles in a momentary embrace as I draw close, only to release its gentle grasp when I pass. When I shut my eyes, I feel my fingers graze the leather of my lederhosen, followed by the intricate woven designs that decorate the front of my legs. I hear the voices mingling in sweet harmony and, for a moment, the nostalgic wave encapsulates me. I recall walking the streets of Nuremberg or Dresden or Rothenburg ob der Tauber, hand in hand with Amanda while Sarah dons her lebkuchenherzen.
Suddenly, I am jolted thousands of miles across the Atlantic back to my home in our quaint little Texas town by the sound of a baby crying. Then, the kitchen timers begin to wail, the fire alarm joins the clamor, Amanda rushes away from the kitchen to feed Little Adrian, and my parents ask if they can help us for what seems like the hundredth time. I close my eyes again, a smile breaks across my face, and a warmth (one that only comes when surrounded by your loved ones) fills my heart as I realize one thing:
I am home for Christmas.
Yes, all the sounds and smells and sensations are there. If I close my eyes, our home is transformed into a Weinachtsmarkte. For that matter, when I look around our kitchen and living room, the handmade decorations, garland filled with German ornaments, and various wooden relics we brought home when we moved away from Amberg do well mimicking many German villages at Christmastime. That was our plan, after all, when we decided to start a new Christmas Eve tradition.
The Setting
Amanda and I absolutely love travel. We are both enamored by culture and equally share a deep yearning to be immersed in the enlivening and challenging experience of living all over the world. Our good fortune has enabled us to travel to multiple countries over the years…I believe our tallies are:
Me - 26
Amanda - 23
Sarah - 20
Taking into account that Amanda has been to two countries I have not, our collective total is 28 countries. It seems like a lot until you do the math. There are 193 members in the United Nations and 195 total sovereign states to date. So, that means we have only seen 14.36% of the world’s countries! We have a LONG way to go!
But, it is ok. That is why we are building Novel Excursion Travel and leveraging every opportunity to shape our life to accomplish this goal. We will get there. For the time being, we will have to be patient and bring the world to us. And, that is where our idea was born.
Since pulling our daughter out of public school, we decided that every moment in our daily life has the possibility to be a learning opportunity. How, then, could we create a learning experience when celebrating with friends and family for the holidays?
EUREKA!
We will host a Christmas Eve dinner each year where we will transform our home into a different country. This will give us the chance to “travel” from the comfort of our own home and share the experience with our loved ones (most having never visited another country outside the US, with the exception of maybe Mexico). To accomplish this, we needed to spend countless hours researching local traditions, folklore, clothing, language, music, and more. Sarah would have the opportunity to teach her chosen topic about a given culture, along with taking lead in the crafting and decorating to enhance the experience.
Our goal is to make each experience as culturally accurate as possible. Now, we only need to pick a country.
Germany: The Birthplace of the Christmas Tree
For our first year, we picked Germany. Our justification was threefold: (1) Our first family home was in Germany so it holds a special place in our hearts, (2) Sarah will probably only fit her dirndl one more year, and (3) we want start our guests (who are not particularly adventurous in the culinary department) with something relatively tame so they will return next year.
First on the agenda was deciding what to cook.
Cuisine takes center stage in the German Christmas tradition. The culinary mastery emerging out of centuries of seasonal cooking has largely influenced how the rest of the world eats. For that reason, many of the dishes and deserts filling German tables are really not too foreign to your average American, especially those from Texas, where the German heritage is spread across the state.
For the main course, Germans often enjoy a Gänsebraten. The roasted goose tradition is attributed to various legends, but my favorite is the one involving St. Martin hiding among geese to avoid becoming a Bishop when a goose’s honk gave him away. Medieval Christians would feast on the fatty goose before and after fasting between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and Christmas.
Lucky for us, while goose may be the typical star of the show, duck and hare also appear on the list of traditional entrees. Amanda searched everywhere for a goose, then narrowed a list of stores for me to hunt the elusive bird. At long last, I found a large frozen goose at Central Market by HEB. It is currently listed at $5.97/lb but when I walked in, I picked up an 9-pound bird priced at $7.99/lb.
Yeah…well, given that we needed at least 12 pounds of meat for our guest list, I opted to go for the more affordable Maple Leaf Farms Frozen Duck. (Side note - I purchased two 5.5-pound birds at HEB for $3.99/lb but later saw them at Walmart for $2.98/lb. Every penny counts when you’re prepping a feast!)
Choosing the side dishes was much simpler. It is customary for Germans to highlight the centerpiece by accompanying it with a standard assortment of sides. For the rotkraut, we used Adina’s delicious German Red Cabbage Recipe available at Where is My Spoon. Tasty had a simple German Bratkartoffeln recipe that satisfied the potato portion of the feast. I ended up following the spirit of the recipes more than to the letter when it came time to prepare them as things got a little chaotic in the kitchen.
Amanda is much better than I at following recipes and handling the chaos. So her Serviettenknödel, or German bread dumplings, came out looking much more like the photos on Kuechen Kitchen.
Finally, we decided to make Lebkuchen, the German answer to gingerbread, to sweeten the palate. We followed Kristy Norrell’s Lebkuchen recipe on 12 Tomatoes, which was adapted from One Acre Vintage Home. Lebkuchen is a ubiquitous treat in much of the western world but is a particularly German favorite. Monks used to prepare unleavened cakes that were most akin to lebkuchen in the same oblates they used to prepare communion wafers to prevent sticking, thus the Classic Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a soft pile of gingerbread dough baked onto a flavorless base. We went with Brown Lebkuchen which is baked without oblaten.
Culture trip has a cool article about the history of Lebkuchen that you can find here if you are interested in learning more.
Decorating and Preparing the Feast
We started the preparations by dry-brining the ducks on the 22nd. The recipe told us to leave the birds uncovered to dry out in the refrigerator but I vetoed that after taking a whiff. Let me tell you, those were some foul fowls!!! Our cats (Toulouse, Berlioz, and Taz) seemed to enjoy the smell much more than I. They congregated at our feet the entire time, desperately begging for a bite.
On the 23rd, we organized all the ingredients and did what prep work we could, like chopping the cabbage and peeling and slicing the apples to make cooking day a bit easier. Amanda scoured the ducks to allow the fat to trickle out while cooking and I zested oranges and lemons. We knew guests would be arriving around 11 a.m. on the 24th which would require an early wakeup. This wouldn’t have been a problem but our 2-month old little boy likes to determine our schedule for us. :)
We also took the opportunity to make our decorations. While Amanda baked Santa’s cookies, Sarah and I crafted multiple German flags out of construction paper, a salutatory sign out of felt and cardboard that says “Fröhliche Weihnacten Familie,” and lebkuchenherzen. The lebkuchenherzen were a family favorite. Since we have budding Mercari and Poshmark shops, we have a plethora of cardboard hanging around. I had the stroke of genius (yes, I’m proud of this) to cut out cardboard hearts and paint messages and designs on them. Using cardboard reduced traffic in the oven and allowed us to turn our wall decorations into party favors, while replicating the traditional accessory you would don while walking among the stalls at a German Weihnactsmarkt. Each lebkuchenherzen displayed “Ich liebe” (I love) followed by the German term of the respective family member.
The final task was finding and ironing our trachten for the big day!
Guten Morgen!
We began cooking around 10 a.m. on the 24th. It was a little later than we planned, so we thanked our stars for the previous day of prepping. I started up the surround sound, excitedly filling the rooms with the sound of yodeling and German polka music. I also wound up our cuckoo clock which we purchased at Oli’s Schnitzstube in Triberg. It is a long way from the Black Forest, now!
Time decided it did not like me and started running away as fast as possible. I was racing around trying to get the the potatoes boiling and the cabbage started while Amanda stuffed the ducks (one with apples, onions and juniper berries, one with oranges, lemon, and rosemary). Meanwhile Sarah incessantly asked for help with the lesson she wanted to teach.
I found a fantastic little guidebook to Bavarian clothing on Alpenclassics. It was the perfect place to set my little one free to learn while I went back to cooking. I had her review Chapter 1-4 and take notes on whatever she thought was important so she could teach our guests when they arrived. Of course, she had to put on her pretty pink and green dirndl before she started her task.
Back in the kitchen, there was a momentary calm while we waited for the timers to chime. Amanda went to get her dirndl on (I already had my lederhosen on, just needed the shirt). Shortly after she left, the potatoes started boiling, Adrian started screaming, and I heard the knock at the door as the family arrived. Then, the fire alarm sounded!
That peace was short-lived. :)
Finally back to cooking, I realized I overcooked the potatoes in the turmoil. No harm, no foul. At least, that is the sentiment Amanda took. I, on the other hand, was nearly at critical mass. I think I offered to serve the Wassail (we used the Rustlin’ Rob’s mix for simplicity) at least 3 times but kept forgetting. At least, everyone was entertained by the grandparents dancing polka with the babies while the cousins played card games with our special German card deck (each card has a beautiful photo of a German village on its face).
My bratkartoffeln ended up looking a bit more like a hash since my overcooked potatoes lost their shape while frying. But the smell (and certainly the taste) made up for the less-than-stellar presentation! Bratkartoffeln, while not the typical Knödel, or potato dumpling, served on the Christmas table, has been my favorite German potato variant since the first time I tasted it. The recipe could not be simpler, relying on onions, bacon, potatoes, salt, and pepper.
It is absolutely mouthwatering!
Around that time, Amanda finished shaping and wrapping her Serviettenknödel in a lint-free kitchen towel. She placed it in our red stockpot which held boiling water and told me to take it out when the timer finished. I was astounded by this particular item. I thought it was so strange that she just dunked a towel in a boiling pot of water. Apparently, the ‘napkin dumpling’ is a perfectly normal inclusion dating back centuries in Austria and eastern Germany with roots spanning from Bohemia. Ginger & Bread gives an interesting summary of the dish.
As the bratkartoffeln started to crisp up, we turned up the heat on the duck to seer the outer skin. The rotkraut boiled down perfectly and the smell of juniper berries and red wine enveloped the entire kitchen. I removed the ducks to cool and rewarmed the Wassail for the 5th time. The final touch was boiling the sugar and water for the glaze that would adorn the Lebkuchen. The mix we used for the glaze was overly sticky. I’d recommend trying a different recipe for that one.
At long last, we rounded up everyone and began filling the table with serving dishes. Each table setting had a distinct Christmas mug awaiting a warm beverage. This was an implicitly German touch.
Christmas markets in Germany serve glühwein or other warm beverages in ceramic mugs that are typically designed with a picture of the particular alstadt in which the market is held. When you purchase one at a stall, your price includes a cup deposit, often around 1 euro. You can get your deposit back if you return your mug, or you can leave with a nice souvenir. Amanda and I collected two sets from every market we went to so we can bequeath both of our little ones with their own collection.
After finally serving the Wassail, I stumbled through carving the ducks while Amanda helped serve the sides. Sarah lit the candles on our Advent wreath while explaining its significance and handing out the lebkuchenherzen. The amount of pride I felt as she taught our guests German words is immeasurable. I’m sure any of you with children would understand.
I’m very lucky to be a váter.
Ich liebe meine Familie!
Auf Wiedersehen
This post ended up being much longer than I intended. If you stuck with me this far, let me say thanks! I hope the experience was entertaining and that the resources I shared help you satiate any craving you may have for further knowledge. Please share your thoughts in the comments or contact me directly. I greatly appreciate your feedback.
We are currently deliberating our country selection for 2021. Right now, we are leaning toward Poland. I’d love to hear your input. What country would you like to learn about?
Follow our travels on Instagram. I’m posting a daily Christmas Market photo until January 6, 2021 (Day of Epiphany).
If you want to learn more about Advent wreaths or other German Christmas traditions check out this article at German Foods. All the recipes we used can be found on our Pinterest page.
Fröhliche Weihnachten
- Michael & Amanda
~"Change the world one nameless stranger at a time."~
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If you're ready to start planning out travel for 2022 and beyond, or maybe even later this year, feel free to contact us! You can find info and good deals for travel visas at CIBT Visas. Click the icon below and let them know Michael Camarillo sent you.
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